Andrew Bolt has declared Victoria the ‘Karen’ capital of Australia in a scathing takedown of the what the state has become under left-wing Labor premier Daniel Andrews.
The prominent political columnist and Sky News host made said an extraordinary number of Victorians each day dobbed in their neighbours to police for not abiding by the state’s Covid-19 rules during the pandemic.
‘No other state has so many Karens,’ Mr Bolt wrote in his Herald Sun column on Wednesday.
‘More than 600 Victorians a day rang the state’s crime-reporting hotline during the lockdowns to denounce neighbours and friends for sneaking over to visit their parents or for not wearing face masks.’
Data released by Victoria Police showed the police assistance line received about 100,000 calls at the height of the pandemic in April 2020 – 66 per cent higher than an average month.
Melbourne also took the title of the most locked down city in the world after the city endured a collective 262 days of stay-at-home orders.
Outspoken political commentator and Sky News host Andrew Bolt (pictured) has declared Victoria the ‘Karen’ capital of Australia in a scathing op-ed attacking the state
Of the 100,000 calls to the police hotline, four in 10 were Victorians dobbing in their own neighbours for breaching Covid-19 restrictions.
Out of 114 offence categories that police track, Covid-19 breaches were the 20th most common crime in the first six months of 2020, with 6,062 recorded between March and June.
Mr Bolt called the Victorian government ‘bullies’ and slammed Daniel Andrew’s brutal Covid-19 restrictions.
‘No other state has people so happy to be bullied by government,’ Mr Bolt wrote.
‘Melbourne was locked down for longer than any other city in the world during the pandemic, yet Victorians still seem keen on the premier who treated them so mean. That’s bizarre, given no other state had lockdown rules so needlessly brutal.’
The columnist also unleashed on Mr Andrews’ proposed suburban rail loop, which is estimated to cost $125 billion, as the most expensive and ‘useless’ piece of infrastructure in Australia.
He also labelled Victoria as the most ‘woke’ and ‘sanctimonious’ state – despite the premier and his government facing ‘at least four’ corruption investigations.
Mr Bolt (left) said Victoria had the most ‘Karens’ in the county after more than 600 residents dobbed in their neighbours per day for flouting Covid restrictions in 2020. He also slammed Premier Daniel Andrews (right) for the state’s brutal Covid lockdowns
The Covid pandemic was littered with viral ‘Karen’ moments that are slightly different from the ones Bolt is alluding to. They have continued this year.
Melbourne woman Kerry Nash was dubbed the ‘Bunnings Karen’ after she berated staff at the hardware chain’s Narre Warren store in July 2020 when she was asked to wear a mask.
She accused staff at the store of abusing her human rights, and was briefly arrested after clashing with police outside.
Then in June this year, a woman dubbed ‘Karen from Kew’ was filmed having a meltdown at tradies for leaving construction signs outside her Melbourne mansion, cutting off her footpath.
The videos showed the woman ripping down ‘footpath closed’ signs and barriers from outside her manor in the exclusive suburb – where the median house price sits at an eyewatering $2.7million.
Dressed in activewear, a puffer jacket and aviators, she was recorded dismantling the safety setup, before returning the next day to tear it all down again.
Mr Bolt’s scathing column comes three days before Victorians prepare to head to the polls for Saturday’s state election.
Melbourne woman Kerry Nash (pictured) was dubbed the ‘Bunnings Karen’ after she berated staff at the hardware chain when asked to wear a mask during the height of the pandemic in July 2020
In June, this year, a woman dubbed ‘Karen from Kew’ was filmed having a meltdown at tradies after they left construction signs out the front of her Melbourne mansion cutting off her footpath (pictured)
Veteran election analyst Malcolm Mackerras has forecasted Daniel Andrew’s Labor Party would lose a dozen seats at the Victorian state election on November 26.
Mr Mackerras said Labor could potentially lose 12 seats forcing the left-wing Premier into minority government.
Mr Mackerras, a former researcher for the Liberal Party during the 1960s, famously designed the Mackerras pendulum plotting the seats most likely to fall if there was a uniform swing against the government.
The 83-year-old visiting fellow at the Australian Catholic University in Canberra, predicted a 3.6 per cent swing against Labor.
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