Craig Kelly (Hughes, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

On the point of order, this is a subject that was widely debated by many other speakers earlier in this debate, and I believe I am totally able to raise these issues as they have already been raised through this debate. I'm quoting from Forbes magazine:

Covid Surges In 4 Of 5 Most Vaccinated Countries …

Countries with the world's highest vaccination rates—including four of the top five most vaccinated—are fighting to contain coronavirus outbreaks that are, on a per-capita basis, higher than the surge devastating India, a trend that has experts questioning the efficacy of some vaccines …

It notes:

Of the Seychelles, Israel, the UAE, Chile and Bahrain—respectively the world's five most vaccinated countries—only Israel is not fighting to contain a dangerous surge in Covid-19 infections.

It goes on:

Controlling for population, the Seychelles and Bahrain, alongside other highly vaccinated countries like the Maldives and Uruguay, recorded the highest number of daily coronavirus cases worldwide.

So the idea that there is somehow a great correlation between high rates of vaccination and opening up your country and having low rates of COVID infection is simply not borne out by the evidence.

Also, coming back to what has been discussed by other members of parliament during this bill, about recommending that someone should or should not have a medical treatment in this country—with many treatments, of course, covered by Medicare—I think we should note what a few doctors are saying. A Dr Damian Wojcik of New Zealand said only in the last couple of days, and I quote directly, that, in the five months to March, 4,434 deaths have been reported to the US adverse reporting system. This is more than the total combined number for all vaccine deaths in the preceding 10 years. It is 113 to 165 times the number of deaths than the annual flu vaccine. He went on—again, a direct quote:

By way of comparison, the attempted rollout of the swine flu vaccine to 19 million Americans in 1976 was halted immediately after 50 deaths and … 500 cases of severe paralysis.

He said that one would anticipate that, with this data, there would be an 'immediate halting of the COVID vaccination program, but it seems not'. He said some would say this is the 'price we must pay' to end the pandemic. To this he would say, and again I am quoting Dr Damian Wojcik:

… not on my watch, not in my patients. My patients are living persons with names and families, not laboratory rats to be sacrificed in a global vaccine experiment.

Professor Peter McCullough, MD, MPH, FACP, FACC, FAHA, FNKF, FNLA, a professor of medicine from the US, stated only a few days ago, 'I can no longer recommend the vaccinations to any individual.'

Now, I don't know with these doctors are right or whether they are wrong. But I do know that I do not believe in the concept of ignorance is strength. We should be able to debate these doctors' views, not vilify them, not criticise them. We must look at the evidence calmly, with clear heads, and look at the data. Unfortunately, that is not happening in our society today, and we are all the poorer for it.

I'd also note that, when it comes to the fantastic Medicare system that we have in our country—probably second to none anywhere around the world—the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship is absolutely critical to its success, and I have been greatly concerned that we have state government chief medical officers that have violated the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship. Nowhere have we seen that more than in the state of Queensland, where they have criminalised a doctor for prescribing hydroxychloroquine to a sick patient. That is the current state of play for a doctor in Queensland who looks at the evidence, studies the evidence, speaks to doctors overseas, sees the success that they are having with hydroxychloroquine as a treatment, understands that many countries around the world have that in their protocol, looks at the 29 early treatment studies of treatment by hydroxychloroquine, sees that 100 per cent of those studies report a positive effect and that the random chance of that happening is 537 billion to one. That's the random chance of it being an effective treatment. But, if a doctor in Queensland, using his ingenuity and his research and his skills and his ability, thinks, 'This treatment would be best for my patient,' there is legislation in place that threatens to send that doctor to jail.

That is a violation of the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship, and it goes against the principles of everything that Medicare stands for. We must do this on the evidence, on the research, on the data, on the science, not on the emotion and the politics because that is where this decision has come from. So I call on the Chief Health Officer of Queensland and the chief health officers of all states to look at the science, to look at the evidence, especially when it comes to early treatment, and to remove their bans from allowing doctors in this country to prescribe hydroxychloroquine. That is fundamental to the promise that we in this federal parliament give to all Australians with our Medicare system. I thank the House.

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