'Are people dying?': Melbourne man flat out refuses to wear face mask

A man has filmed a 22-minute interaction with police for refusing to wear a face mask in a Melbourne coronavirus hot spot.

The pedestrian said he was stopped by police for the second time that day “14 hours into the new mandatory mask regulation”.

Describing Melbourne as “fascist”, the man filmed his conversation with police who asked him to show ID after he insisted he had a medical reason for not wearing a face covering.

“I’ve got light asthma,” the man can be heard telling the officers, who are both wearing masks.

“I just wanted to get some fresh air,” he continues.

When the female officer calmly asks the man to show ID so she can verify his claim, the man refuses and argues that he’s not breaking any law.

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When he is informed there is a $200 fine for not wearing a mask in areas around Melbourne, the man insists wearing masks is a direction by the chief health officer and taunts police for enforcing mask wearing.

“So just he says whatever and you guys just enforce it?

“We've gone four months without wearing masks and now we've all of a sudden got to wear them,” the man tells officers.

The man informs the officers that he feels wearing a mask shouldn’t be mandatory as “more people die from the flu than this (coronavirus)”.

“Are people dying everywhere? Are you seeing a lot of sick people? Are you having issues with sick people dying on the street just randomly from this deadly disease?” he continues.

Eventually the officers explain they are willing to not issue him a fine if he tells the police his name, again he refuses and continues to repeat himself.

“I don't really want to wear a mask today, that's the whole thing,” he says.

After continuing his monologue about the “stupid” laws and the “lack of freedom”, the female officer reminds the man that he’s not being singled out and the law applies to everyone in metro Melbourne and Mitchell Shire where cases of COVID-19 continue to soar.

“Mate, you're acting like it's just you, everyone's in the same boat”.

The conversation continues until the man, who never shows his face in the video, agrees to give police his name and address, ending the video.

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