Each class member had a speaking part. When a crook is arrested on the railway station, one of the one-line actors says, "He looks guilty. I'll bet he's guilty of something!"

I thought of that line when considering Daniel Andrews' now emasculated COVID-19 Omnibus (Emergency Measures) and other Acts Amendment Bill 2020.

Andrews' original draconian legislation, as drafted, would have let him appoint anybody as an "authorised officer" - union leaders, Labor Party officials, neighbourhood spies, even netball coaches (as critics lampooning the bill suggested). These government pimps would have had the power to detain people indefinitely without trial and no right of appeal.

But get this! These "designated authorised officers" would have been able to arrest people deemed "likely" to commit an offence. "I'll bet he's guilty of something!" would have been enough, under Andrews' original proposal.

The arrest of a pregnant woman, Zoe Lee Buhler, for her Facebook post, created howls of protest. Under Andrews' Bill, her supporters could have been arrested too, because they would have been "likely" to oppose the government.

Imagine how the trial would go. "But I didn't do it, Your Honour."

"No, but you thought about it," the magistrate would say. "That's close enough. Guilty! Thirty days!"

The Victorian Upper House killed this authoritarian bill. Not any sudden burst of democratic decency on Andrews' part.

Unless Andrews fails again, COVID-19 should be under control in Victoria soon.

The contrast between COVID-19 Victoria and NSW is stark. Gladys Berejiklian shines above every other premier in Australia.

Dan Andrews knows that he alone could be blamed for the massive COVID spike and the deaths of 700 Victorians, not to mention the slow death of hundreds of businesses. As the board of inquiry into hotel quarantine heard, no-one knew what was going on, or who made decisions - not ministers, not senior public servants - just chaos as Andrews dictated policy on the run.

Melbourne residents have been placed under virtual house arrest for 23 hours a day, with nightly curfews, movement restricted to a five-kilometre radius, businesses ruined or closed for weeks and jobs destroyed. Autocratic rule has been enforced by fear.

Eighteenth-century philosopher Edmund Burke said: "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." Today, good women like Zoe Lee Buhler speak up.

Add 18 QCs, men and women, including a former High Court judge and two former Federal Court judges, who protested to Andrews.

German Pastor Martin Niemoller was arrested in 1937 for opposing Hitler's views. His famous quote has had a good airing.

"First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me."

It is worth reading his 1946 testimony in full: "Then they got rid of the sick, the so-called incurables" .... "a person said ... Perhaps it's right, these incurably sick people just cost the state money."

Consider this famous saying from George Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

As one Age reader commented: "Look at the number and quality of people that have opposed this bill ... It is not just O'Whatsisname. It is just about every senior legal mind in the state. Dan knew he did not have a chance of getting it through and (for once) did the sensible thing."

The people spoke out.