Libertarian Party MP David Limbrick expressed concern regarding the profiling of citizens by the former Andrews Labor government based on their willingness to comply with COVID-19 restrictions. With Melbourne experiencing a significant number of lockdowns during the pandemic, an FOI document revealed that citizens were placed into five categories by officials. These categories could be used again in the future to persuade people on the importance of lockdowns. The third category, which consisted of people who felt restrictions were not needed anymore, was considered the main group to persuade. Meanwhile, the fifth group was discounted as not open to any form of reasoning.
In an interview, Limbrick warned that this practice of profiling citizens could be repeated for anything else in the future, indicating climate change and surveillance as possible areas where the government could profile citizens according to compliance. He noted that instead of basing restrictions on a set of principles, the government might base them on what they could get away with, as demonstrated by the focus groups to which the messaging was targeted.
Asked if former Premier Daniel Andrews was following the science when he locked down the Victorian population, Mr. Limbrick said he believes the health advice was not solely based on science and included a lot of guesswork and the precautionary principle. With Mr. Andrews stepping down as Premier in late September 2023, he expressed his view of the public service, stating it was there to implement the agenda voted for by the citizens.