Yesterday was on a Skype call with my old roommate in Australia.
He remains in lockdown in Melbourne. The government announced on Sunday that the curfew will be continuing until the end of October but may be extended from 8PM to 9PM (depending on the infection rate). If the numbers go down to 5 a day for 2 weeks straight some of the restrictions might be lifted, people might be allowed to have a meal outside, have 5 visitors to their homes etc. If there are no cases for 28 days straight then Melbourne will be where the rest of Australia is now, limited in door dining, small wedding and funeral parties, movie theaters a third full and so on. Basically the lockdown is to carry on for 6 more weeks. Religious services will continue to be outlawed whatever happens, with at most 10 people allowed to attend Church services, as long as they're held outside (this is a permanent order until there's an effective vaccine). The lockdown in rural areas (most have zero transmission of the virus) will also continue with the promise that it might be reviewed in a couple of weeks.
The cops have set up mobile surveillance units, trailers with cameras fitted with face recognition, in parks and walking trails to ensure people are wearing their masks, walking in groups of no more than two and aren't outside during curfew. The checkpoints will remain around the city and the police have promised they'll continue to arrest anyone who plans resistance.
Journalists did get the government to admit that the curfews had nothing to do with public health but were enacted because the police believed it would make enforcement easier and quell civil unrest. Most of the restaurant and hospitality businesses have given up, with mass insolvency expected. The main business group has asked the Victorian government for help, not to keep the businesses open but to give some money to the owners so they can break their leases and pay off their creditors without having their homes taken from them.
Mostly the population remains compliant. The Aus Federal government are dropping tens of billions in various welfare schemes so no ones starving. Free gibs for everyone. However that's being wound back this month, and with thousands of businesses expected to permanently close severe civil unrest is likely in the coming weeks.
I have absolutely no idea what's motivating this insanity. The Victorian government are controlled by SJW leftists so I guess they're doing what they do. Plus sunk cost fallacy. 'We've put you through all this pain so we MUST eliminate the virus else what was it all for'? Until the third wave hits in the New Year, which it will.