Ezra Levant highlights Australia’s escalating "police state" through Rebel News’ visual coverage, with CFMEU protests in Melbourne demanding vaccine exemptions amid no police presence despite prior crackdowns—including officers tackling unvaccinated construction workers. In Sydney’s Bass Hill Plaza, drones and helicopters monitored checkpoints targeting shoppers like an elderly couple and a nurse, while lockdowns disproportionately hit western suburbs. A 25,000-strong Brisbane march chanted "Our body, our choice," criticizing government censorship and labeling protesters as criminals. Rebel journalists faced harassment, with Avi Yamini’s team questioned for permits in Melbourne, and security guard Daniel arrested—his legal defense at standwithdaniel.com. Levant underscores systemic suppression of dissent, framing Rebel News’ Australia team as embattled yet indispensable watchdogs. [Automatically generated summary]
Thanksgiving Special: Best of Australian Coverage00:04:51
Hello my rebels, today a Thanksgiving special, the best of our recent Australian coverage.
It's not just Avi Yamini, we've got a growing team down under.
Before I get to that, let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus.
You get the video version, and that is so essential for our Australian coverage because the visual spectacle of the police state that's emerging there is something you don't want to miss.
You'll be able to understand some of it with your ears.
But this really is one for your eyes.
Just go to RebelNewsPlus.com, click subscribe.
It's eight bucks a month, which is a bargain, frankly.
We haven't raised that rate since we began.
It's half the price of Netflix.
Anyways, check it out.
Tonight, the best of our Australian coverage.
It's August 11th, and this is the Eslevant Show.
Why should others go to jail when you're the biggest carbon consumer I know?
There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
The only thing I have to say to the government is because it's my bloody right to do so.
It's Thanksgiving, and traditionally on these holidays, we run a best-of special show of compilations, some of our interesting work.
And I will show you the best of our recent Australian coverage.
But I saw a Jordan Peterson comment about the importance of Thanksgiving.
There's a lot of reasons to be to support Thanksgiving.
It's a holiday.
It reminds us to be grateful for what we have.
We don't believe in smashing old statues or tearing down old customs, including holidays.
But he said the giving thanks is sort of a, it inoculates you against a victim mentality because it reminds you of how good you have it.
I thought that was a good thing to keep in mind.
Anyways, that's all I have to say about Thanksgiving.
Instead, let me show you four of our best recent videos from Australia, starting with the most hopeful thing I've seen around the world.
A blue-collar construction workers union in the city of Melbourne rebelling against its own union leadership for refusing to back them on vaccine exemptions.
Take a look at this.
Abiyamini here for Rebel News in Melbourne, Australia.
We're outside the CFMEU headquarters where thousands of members are gathering to protest the health tyranny here in Victoria.
No police, barely a couple policies blocking the road, no police.
I suspect they are a little bit concerned about taking on this lot.
We're here all day to bring you the exclusive story to rebelnews.com.au.
We'll tell you the other side of this story.
Watch this face.
Now you want us to serve the whole community?
If you think this story is important, make sure to like, comment and share.
And if anything like this, love the truth, head over to your minireport.com, give us your name and email, and we'll send you the other side of the story from the front line.
I tell you, the police began a week-long attack on anyone who looked like a construction worker.
I don't know if you've seen obvious other videos.
Literally, if you were walking down the street and had like a high-visibility vest on or a hard hat, police would tackle you.
Bass Hill Plaza Showdown00:07:19
Pure police state stuff, just out of control.
Mario Malik did this video for us from Sydney, but not just any part of Sydney, from a heavily ethnic, actually heavily Muslim part of Sydney.
I found it heartbreaking, very touching, and so have rebel viewers.
This is the most viewed video that we have had, I think, in 2021.
I'd have to check that, but this is over a million views on all our different platforms.
Take a look.
It's intimidating.
It's scary.
They're everywhere.
They're everywhere.
Scary as.
There were drones, helicopters.
And when you ask them, they just say, oh, we're just maintaining public health order.
Police are setting up a road checkpoint just over here, right to the entry of the Bass Hill shopping centre.
So this is the Bass Hill Plaza in Western Sydney, where police have launched an enormous operation.
Warning.
Censorship.
So the inspector knows we're here.
He's looking at us and he's just calling for backup.
So let's see how this one goes.
How are you guys?
Good morning, sir.
Good morning.
Where are you from, mate?
Rebel News, sir.
Okay.
Yep.
We're a Canadian media outlet.
Okay.
Yep.
You know you need to wear a mask?
Not while we're on camera.
Practically everyone who's walking into the shopping center or driving into the shopping centre is being stopped and it's a bizarre scene but locals are saying that this is becoming the norm here.
Around here, lately, yeah, I think the sad reality is it's becoming the new norm.
All right, and people are getting used to this and they're going to understand that, you know, this is coming to the police state.
I've seen this f ⁇ ing chaos is what I've seen.
What is going on?
It's been very traumatic to come here, I have to say.
Turned up to about 50 police standing at the front door.
Did you know about any rallies today?
No.
Had no idea about any rally.
So you've just come to your local shopping centre and you're greeted with this?
Massive show of force and wondering why Bass Hill Plaza this morning is having this problem.
There's no indication of any violence or anything else there, but we're all wondering why as we're coming out with so many police.
So keep fingers crossed as well.
Are you here to protest today?
Absolutely not.
So as you can see behind me, every single person is being stopped.
The young, the elderly, every person is being checked by police.
You can see that the plaza is the only people here for shopping.
There's no more social life anymore.
You know what I mean?
Everything's online.
So that's all we want, man.
The West just wants their life back.
That's all it is.
And I really don't understand.
Our kids are going through hard times at home.
Schooling and looking after the kids at home and people partying out in the eastern suburbs and carrying on like normal.
Man, they just sit at home and look at four walls all day.
So we do go out for walks, but what's a walk every day?
You know, kids want to go on a playground, kids want to do things.
We actually get it.
If you go down to Georgia's River, if you look at Bondi, the swings are all out.
If you go down to George River, they've locked up the swings.
What do you think that is?
What are they saying for what?
I mean, because of COVID, not catching COVID or anything, but you know, we've got masks, we've got sanitisers.
I think it's wrong how they've got all these police here, like the children like my, such as my daughter.
It does scare them off, like it gives them mixed messages, so you don't know whether to like them or hate them.
And these, you know, I'm going to call them dogs.
I used to respect the cops, but after a couple of incidents that I've seen in front of me here, people get treated differently on their skin colour or religion and what areas their postcodes.
They're not going to leave us alone.
We tell our kids to respect the cops and they don't even respect us, the dogs.
What do you do?
And I mean, like, I feel like we are being targeted.
This is causing massive mental health issues to everyone.
And everyone's just exploding because they've got nowhere else to go.
Let us free.
So there is a drone flying overhead searching the local streets and the parks around this shopping centre.
Police command is right behind us.
There is an enormous police presence here.
We've spoken to so many people who feel distressed by what's happening and it's going to be interesting to see how the mainstream media covers this story.
They were arresting a girl when I arrived.
Didn't even know if I can just do my plane shopping.
So we've been looking for you.
Did they take you away?
They took my phone off me, they took my belongings off me, they searched me, they arrested me, did some checks, whatever they did, only because I came to my local shopping centre.
I live down the road.
Have they fined you for anything?
Yes.
What for?
A breach of the public health order.
Again, I don't know what for, exactly.
And you live within five kilometres of the shopping centre?
Which they've checked upon entering.
This isn't governing anymore.
It's a dystopia.
I'm a second-class citizen.
No matter how educated I am, no matter how much taxes I pay, no matter what I do, I have a clean record.
It's intimidating.
It's constant anxiety, it's, I mean, you know, you can't govern with fear-mongering.
History's shown that you can't do so.
I've just started a plumbing company and I'm fresh to the company.
I've just got my contractor's license, which makes me eligible to start a company and start working.
As soon as I've started to advertise and distribute, lockdowns came in.
We can't go nowhere, can't come nowhere.
I've got to pay rent.
I've got three kids.
Like, I'm really impacted.
I've got, you know, repayments on vehicles, regios.
I've lost a big income.
I'm now on a business grant from the government, but what's that do?
Pay my rent and feed my kids?
That's all it does.
We can't even buy clothes, put shoes on us.
We can't even enjoy our life anymore.
So you said that you're a nurse?
How long have you been a nurse for?
And you can tell us.
Some years.
Many years.
So I was stood down the other day and it's just outrageous.
And why were you stood down?
Because I wouldn't take the vaccine.
That's exactly why.
It's just not on.
It just can't happen.
Just can't happen.
I'm very upset about this.
As I said to patients, we don't walk up to them and just give them an injection.
We say, hey, Mrs. Jones, we'll give this injection to you.
We do that.
We do your blood pressure.
If they don't want a blood pressure done, if they don't want an injection done or a tablet, we write refused.
And that's it.
It's divided us.
I don't feel like I'm Australian.
I honestly don't feel like I'm Australian, you know.
Regardless of who you are.
I'm a second class citizen only because I come from a certain demographic, a certain area.
And yeah, if I lived east or north, I think things would be different.
Right To Protest00:09:49
But this is what it is, I mean.
How do you think it's affected the community here?
Because we've been greeted with an incredible reception, people giving us free food, free coffee.
It's actually a really loving community.
How do you feel it's affecting you guys?
This community can't go wrong.
If someone's broken down, there's always a car stopping to help.
If there's a flat tyre, there's always someone stopping to help.
So that's the best thing about the West.
It never stops working.
It keeps going.
I don't see why the police have to come out in such numbers just to stop people from voicing their concerns over what is clearly a regime of tyranny.
You can't even go to the supermarket and get a bottle of water and this is what happens.
So as far as I'm concerned, Australia is dead and buried if this regime continues and people need to really stand up and say no because this is not on and I won't tolerate it so no one else should either.
Okay, so right now this elderly couple are being stopped and they're being told that they can't actually have two people in the vehicle, but they seem like an elderly couple who is visibly distressed by what's going on.
So these are the stories that need to be heard out of Sydney and out of southwestern city.
If you want to continue helping us doing the work that we do please head over to SydneyReporters.com and give what you can so we can keep telling you the other side of the story.
How are you sir?
Sorry?
Mr. Steve Patton told us obviously we don't have to because we're journalists, we're on camera.
So as long as we're on camera we don't have to wear a mask and you can speak to Mr. Steve Patton on the screen.
I do sir.
Mr. Steve Patton has already checked it.
Yeah the other thing is like skip.
If they're on media they'll figure that out.
We've already spoken with Steve Patton and he knows that we're here so you guys can check in with him.
Are you going to catch him?
What is this?
Me I'm on camera I'm working sir.
Okay yeah we don't hear you.
Thanks guys.
We seem to do our shopping and this is what's happening.
Have you bought anything that's demanded this type of police attention?
No I haven't.
You sure?
Is there anything inside the bag?
Maybe Kate Zero's on special.
Come down to Muffin Law.
Has this affected your business today?
Yeah yeah.
Yeah it has.
Oh no worries buddy.
Anyway what else do you want to know man?
I reckon this is on Australia.
You went shopping today and you've been stopped about 10 times.
Why?
I don't know mate.
Maybe because I'm good looking.
So how's it affected your business today?
Oh yeah, all of this police in front of my shop, no more customers.
I need more customers.
If you just want to come in buy one meat and cheese, get a free can of coke.
You want to come down?
Ask for Joe.
We're doing the investigation, sorry guys, if you just wait for a moment.
Can you tell us what's in the cup?
It's a bit of water mixed with a colour.
It's a bit of water.
MDMA.
With what?
MDMA.
Cup.
I'm not really a cop, but I think we should search this clown.
We're going to get back to work.
Well, we're not just in Sydney and Melbourne.
We've got a great young team in Brisbane.
Can you believe it?
I mean, we've got a super big team in Canada now, as you know.
We just hired Kelly Lamb in Saskatchewan.
I think that brings us to 18 reporters from Canada.
But we're growing in Australia too.
There's so much demand for the other side of the story.
Here's our Brisbane team in the state of Queensland.
Anything that's happening at the moment?
A lot more police presence than last time.
Freedom and hope.
Well, it's for them.
The children.
Rebel, we love you.
Right, so we should find another way home.
Guys, this is Yasmin from Rebel News, Brisbane, Australia.
As you can see, this march is absolutely incredible today.
To keep on showing the other side of the story, we need your support.
So please go to BrisbaneReporters.com and donate now because you wouldn't want to miss less.
I'm at the end now there at the beginning, you know.
That's what it's all about, isn't it?
That's exactly what it's about.
It's the future of these ones we need to look out for.
So I had to come to this one.
I did to all the others.
That's awesome!
How many have you been to?
Oh, since 2020.
And now just comes a time that they're creating a divide.
Divide and conquer, as you know, with the vax or no vax, and it's very simple.
There's choice whether they take the antivirus or not, right?
The people that take it, right, they can do what they like, but the people that don't take it, it's their choice.
They have to suffer the consequences if they do get it.
There is no people aren't stupid anymore.
You've educated people.
So this is the future.
And we should all be proud of it and we should stand under it, stand together and fight for it.
And let the Holy Spirit flow through you all.
Rebel News, I'm a bit of a supporter of Army, so it's good to see you here.
Yeah, real news.
Yes!
Because you're the only news I listen to.
Great some people and our leaders are showing them that it's okay to do that.
If Furnace Avenue News came off to me, the only thing I'd say is Rebel Lewis.
So then they can't do shit, dude.
So what does your umbrellas say?
A bit of everything actually.
We got some Trump one.
Mainstream media equals fake news.
What's that one?
World in crisis.
Peace, love and unity.
Leave our children alone.
Our body, our choice.
If not now, when?
And free Monica Smith.
You know, there's quite a few people here that are just here because of the mandate and the choice thing and that's the only reason we're here.
Continue freedom of movement, lockdown.
Glad there's so many people standing up today.
It's a real good way.
Saying what we're doing is starting to cause a little bit of anxiety for these guys behind the desk and they say to keep doing what you're doing.
Her partner took this shirt for me last night.
Yeah, it's for my deaf rights generally.
Thank you so much, Jackie.
And I do for my first one.
Amazing.
Like sharing everything that needed to be shared in the best possible way and shared the world as we're out of the way.
You got to rise above it.
Keep your mind healthy.
It's a mental war.
I'm disgusted in our government.
I've taken orders all my friggin' life and to see people put in jail for incitement, for protesting or speaking out against what's happening, it disgusts me.
We are one, we are many.
Stand off for freedom, otherwise we'll lose it all.
I believe everybody has the right choice.
I stand for our kids, men, I stand for the future generations and their freedoms.
They don't let us work, but they still expect the ransomware.
As I've done children, I say.
No news wafers, no TV, no radio.
This energy is incredible.
Go Avi, go Jody.
And the People's Revolution March has shut it down.
There must be 25,000 people here from the top all the way up to the bottom of Queen Street Mall.
I haven't spoken to such a large audience ever.
Lockdown, anti-hard government.
People need to be informed of what they're doing, how they're doing it.
There's not enough information out there.
People have a right to protest what they believe.
They have a free choice.
They're going straight down the gerbil.
Who's going to stun Australian crowd?
As you can see today, an incredible march of 25,000 people.
We had children, grandmothers, tradies, nurses.
Everyone's fighting for their freedom here today.
But in order to keep giving you the other side of the story, we need your support.
So please go to BrisbaneReporters.com and donate now because you don't want to miss these stories.
This is a mark in history.
A lot of power in the march today, a lot of power.
Well, of course, the star of our Australia contingent is our chief Australia correspondent, Avi Yamini, who's got a great sense of humour, very smart, high energy, and very quick on his feet.
And he needs all that because the police, well, they do everything they can to shut him up.
He knows the law better than they do.
And we provide Avi, as you know, with insurance, with bodyguards, and with lawyers.
And in this video, you'll see two out of those three supports manifest themselves.
Avi is an outstanding journalist and it is my honour to be able to provide him with the protection he needs in the form of lawyers, insurance and bodyguards to do world-class journalism.
This is an incredible video.
Take a look.
Well, I'm here to discuss your right to be here.
I appreciate that you're reporting on behalf of the media, but there is criteria that has to be met for people to be in our city today.
Yep.
Do you have a workers' permit?
Absolutely, mate.
Third time's a charm.
How many times are you guys going to?
Papers and Permits00:05:13
Can you send a message out once I show you it that I've showed it three times and we're good?
You know what we do well at Rebel News?
Cover yourself.
We're just going to record them.
Obviously, it's what we're going to do.
You're going to record my details.
Mate, you and I both know my details.
You probably know my details better than I know my details.
These people don't.
Yeah, yeah, we've done that.
We've got that.
Oh, you got it all?
Yeah, there you go.
Yeah, these guys are right.
You should keep them.
Is that this gentleman's?
Is that your one?
Did you give me that one?
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
You see, this is alright.
We don't mind when they come up respectfully and check your papers like they did in Nazi Germany.
We're cool with that.
It's just when they unlawfully arrest and assault us and our staff, that's when there's a problem.
You just need to have a look.
This one seems pretty expired.
Your new security.
Past your date.
I thought it went 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 89.
With my understanding.
So just ask it, call the security company, tell them to send you a new one now.
Just get a new one sent here.
Yours doesn't have a roster or schedule of work as well.
No, it says all weeks.
Ongoing all weeks.
It's me that signs it.
Well, it is me that signs that was just masks rules, just in case, because I've noticed some of your officers need the education.
I reckon I should be giving classes at Vic Pole Academy.
I'm willing to donate my time.
Too kind.
All weeks.
He said, I've got to just tick that box, but it's all weeks those times.
Yeah.
So I've just got to.
Have you got a pen?
I'm the one that filled that for him.
I'm happy to tick that for him.
Listen, these paperwork gets very confusing.
Paperwork's all our job.
No, it isn't.
These days it's also arresting, unarmed.
I'm good to see you.
I'm happy to see you guys without any rubber bullet guns here.
I'll take your pen starting to charge with theft.
Don't have much.
I like it.
This is the ludicrous of it all.
They know exactly why I'm here.
They know it's legitimate purpose.
What they're checking out is if there's a technicality on the paperwork, can it be fixed?
Anyways, I'll call a lawyer because we might as well get that sorted now.
Got a lawyer working on the server, eh?
Well, you know, you guys, you guys are funny, so I need a lawyer 24-7 with you guys.
They like to play those old tricks, finding those technicalities.
How are you doing, Madeline?
The police here are so surprised that I have a lawyer on standby on a Saturday.
They're impressed.
My lawyer's on the phone.
She just wants to know what's the issue with that one.
We just need to confirm that they're all valid.
They seem to be incomplete to me.
So we're just getting someone down here who's aware of these and how they need to be filled in to check them out.
And then once that's done, we'll show them as far as your library.
So you're saying to me you're so confused by these permits that you don't know how to do it.
We're expected to fill them out.
He's got to get an expert.
Did you hear that, Madeline?
She advises that basically if you believe it's legit and there's a problem with the way we filled it out, we're happy to fix it.
Yours would?
Yeah, mine's good.
Well, that was good the whole time.
So they just mucked with you.
All right, no worries.
Daniel's was actually kosher.
It was.
I think the Academy needs some training on these papers.
I think we might need to educate them.
I offered my services.
Anyways, I'll speak to you.
Bye.
So yours was cool?
Yeah, mine's good.
I think mine's fine as well.
I just got to tick that box for me to get that.
I've got to mine correctly.
Big man, I'm happy to tick that box and then it's complete.
This is just funny.
They've called in a specialist in their specialist vehicle, unmarked police vehicle, to make sure that our paperwork is kosher.
This is because science.
The science says that if your permit isn't ticked in the right box, things can get deadly.
They're really trying hard to invalidate those permits.
How are you going, officer?
Boss?
So they're satisfied with that.
So that's it.
So these are your workers' permits.
So who, just so I know for my own reference, which specialist division made sure that this is kosher?
So I can speak to the next person who stops me.
It's from our prosecutions, our legal people.
Oh, the legal.
Oh, they know me well.
We're on first name basis.
So you got your workers' permit.
You're free to go.
That's fine.
Obviously, you know not to get in our way if things do get out.
We know that better than anyone.
All right, thanks, Arby.
Have a good day.
No worries.
So that took 20 minutes for the police to verify and validate that our workers' permit are legit, even though they know exactly what we're doing here.
They have to call the specialist legal department of Victoria Police to confirm it.
I have a feeling it was really just to hold us up so we can't get to doing our job.
Maybe that's, maybe we should charge them with hindering a journalist.
Legal Scrutiny00:01:11
But here we go.
We're going to continue our work.
Let's go to the protest.
You know what, the saddest thing from this whole story is that I've become almost immune to this COVID crazy enforcement.
To me, that whole interaction is an everyday occurrence.
But the fact that a journalist in 2021 in a so-called free and democratic country has to walk around and show his papers, papers that, by the way, police don't even know how to fill out properly themselves and that police can then detain him for, I think it was about 20 minutes stopping me from doing my job.
That is unacceptable and the world needs to see it.
So please share this story far and wide.
Let the world know what's happening in Melbourne, Australia.
If you want to get behind one of our fights, well, Daniel, our security guard not long ago, was arrested doing his job.
Not that day, that was after we filed in the Supreme Court.
But if you want to help us fight back, go to standwithdaniel.com.
You can see the full story there.
And you can chip in a few bucks to help us with that Supreme Court case.