Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have a further question on accountability in the Senate and in parliament. On Monday 23 March 2020, I said One Nation would be waving it through. I said we'd be supporting the government because we had a lot of uncertainty facing the country. But I also said we would hold the government accountable. We expected the government to share data and come up with a detailed comprehensive plan, from start to end. We have not seen the data and we have not seen that comprehensive detailed plan.

In Senate estimates, I asked for some data and that data was given to me afterwards. I asked if the Chief Medical Officer and the Secretary of the Department of Health could verify seven components that would make up strategies for a comprehensive plan. They endorsed the seven components I listed. They endorsed all seven and said there was nothing missing and nothing there that shouldn't be there. Yet we have seen the federal government act in only one area and the state governments acting in only one area, a different area. We have seen the federal government funding that destructive action of the state governments.

Why is there no data on the virus's severity, mortality and transmissibility shared with the public? Why is it that the Chief Medical Officer and the Secretary of the Department of Health can provide me with the data that shows the COVID virus has high transmissibility but ranges from low to moderate severity? I asked them to compare it with other viruses in the past. It's low to moderate severity. Why is it that the public is not given that data? Why is it that the government is not making sure that people have doses of ivermectin, which has been proven effective already? We are talking about Australia lagging now. Other countries, like India, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, have had remarkable success with ivermectin. It's been proven effective in South America and in European countries. It has been recognised here in this country as safe. The Therapeutic Goods Administration approved it in 2013 for other diseases. We know now, from medical and scientific papers, that it is successful in treating COVID. It is cheap, it is highly successful, it is safe and it is effective. Why is the federal government not doing that? We need to stop this waste of money on lockdowns. We need to recognise there are seven major strategies for a plan, a comprehensive plan, and the federal government is blowing money on one.

Furthermore, why is the federal government not putting out data on the breakdown of the small group of people who are vulnerable? We are told it's mainly the aged. We know that this virus kills. We know that some people, including Senator Patrick here, don't even know they have it because they're asymptomatic. We know that for many people it's like a dose of the flu or a cold. We know for others it can be lingering; we know for some it can kill. But this needs a tailored approach based on data. We're not seeing that, we're just seeing buckets of money being shovelled out there. We're seeing small businesses in Queensland shut and multinationals making out like bandits because of these lockdowns. We need to see a measured response from the government, a simple, comprehensive plan with at least seven strategies.

I now come to my question on data sharing. The tax office administers this scheme. Minister, can you advise under what circumstances other government departments would need to receive this information?