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

Once again I rise in this chamber, with a heavy heart, to bear witness to the demise of Australian democracy and freedom. Once again I am forced to remind this chamber of the most essential foundation for a successful, free democracy: the right to choose. Once again I am moved to lament the theft of this most fundamental human right from the Australian people by the very representatives who are charged with protecting it. And once again I am obliged to call out rogue premiers for authoritarian overreach and to call on the Prime Minister to show some leadership and rein them in.

Last week the Prime Minister said he didn't support vaccination mandates enforced by governments. He said state governments should 'step back' and let Australians 'take their lives back'. Australians have had a 'gutful', he said, and he's right—not that Steven Miles gives him any credit. This frightened little schoolboy masquerading as Queensland's Deputy Premier is so completely out of his depth that he panics whenever someone threatens Labor's complete command and control of Queensland's captive population.

The Prime Minister said people in Brisbane should be able to go and get a cup of coffee regardless of whether or not they've been vaccinated against COVID-19, but people in Brisbane can't get a cup of coffee if they haven't been vaccinated. People who call Brisbane home will not be permitted to return there from interstate next month if they haven't been vaccinated. Hospitality businesses in Brisbane will be banned from opening if they don't enforce mandates against customers who haven't been vaccinated. Many people in Brisbane, including those in critical positions in health, education, freight and law enforcement, have lost their jobs because they haven't been vaccinated. This Prime Minister has done nothing to prevent this pandemic of discrimination unleashed on the people of Brisbane—or anywhere else in Australia. In the Northern Territory, anyone with a job involving public interaction will lose their job and pay a $5,000 fine if they haven't been vaccinated. In South Australia, every adult who works or volunteers at a school won't be able to do so if they haven't been vaccinated.

State governments are relishing this extraordinary power to command and control the people they are supposed to serve. They're desperate to keep this power for as long as they can. They've ignored the Prime Minister's national plan and the decision of the national cabinet. The Victorian government relishes this power so much they're trying to permanently enshrine it in law, giving the Premier unprecedented authority to act like a dictator—and still the Prime Minister has done nothing to stop this discrimination.

These vaccines were rushed. Their long-term effects are unknown. The Therapeutic Goods Administration has recorded more than 77,000 adverse reactions to the vaccines, including more than 600 deaths. We are part of a grand experiment. Australia is now a continental Petri dish, and those Australians who exercise their right to refuse this experimentation on their bodies face a bleak future as second-class citizens.

What isn't experimental and what has been shown to be highly effective in treating COVID-19 is a medication called ivermectin. It's been in use for more than 40 years, during which time 3½ billion doses have been administered by doctors, with no ill effects. Last year when data emerged on its effectiveness against COVID-19 and Australian doctors screamed for permission to use ivermectin to treat patients, the authorities just banned it—and still the Prime Minister did nothing. No; all the Prime Minister has done is let state governments get away with a grab for power, leaving his national road map and his authority in tatters.

The cost to our economy has been staggering, but it is the cost to our democracy and our freedom which is even more concerning. One Nation will not stand by and witness the demise of Australian democracy and freedom without a fight. We don't do this lightly. We do it with sincere regret that such legislation is even necessary. But make no mistake: it is not only necessary but absolutely vital that Australians' right to choose is protected from the vaccine discrimination running rampant across this country. You might not agree with the choices that the Australian people make, but that doesn't mean the right to choose should be stolen from them.

Senators here are on notice. If you don't support my legislation then you don't support Australian democracy and freedom and you don't support the right to choose. If you don't support my legislation, you are saying to Australians that their rights will be protected only so long as they do not conflict with the state.

Australia is a democracy. It's one of the most successful in the world. We are not here to wield power against the Australian people. We are here to wield the power of the Australian people. We have no right to take away their rights. We are charged with protecting their rights. It is in this spirit that One Nation has introduced the COVID-19 Vaccination Status (Prevention of Discrimination) Bill 2021. This legislation is urgently needed to arrest and reverse the pandemic of discrimination which has been unleashed on the Australian people.

I'd like to relay the words of a doctor, an expert in immunology, who has taken the risk of speaking to me about his concerns about the COVID-19 vaccines: 'I am angry and frustrated at coercive vaccine mandates healthcare workers now face. After two years of sacrificing everything, we have to care for COVID patients at risk to ourselves and our families. We are now being stood down across the country for simply asking to have a choice, even in our health, a topic we alone are experts in. A recent Lancet study shows that vaccination alone is not sufficient to prevent the transmission of the delta variant. This means that both vaccinated and unvaccinated are as contagious as each other. There's no evidence proving that unvaccinated healthcare workers pose an additional risk. Many of my colleagues are alarmed at the failure of Australia's COVID response to deal with the critical issues of informed consent and COVID prevention. We are further alarmed at the censorship of early treatment options. These failures cause direct patient harm, leading to further vaccine hesitancy and forcing doctors to break their Hippocratic oath.'

He goes on: 'Following the position statement by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency on COVID-19 vaccination, several of my colleagues have been threatened with the loss of their registration for simply and honestly discussing vaccine hesitation with their patients. Most of the more educated among my colleagues—the experts in their field—are in fact the most vaccine hesitant group in Australian society. As the health minister, Greg Hunt, said, "The world is engaged in the largest clinical trial, the largest global vaccination trial, ever." Australian patients need to know this. Trials like these must provide long-term data in order to prove safety. How is it possible, in less than two years, by the definition of informed consent, that doctors cannot and are not able to accurately weigh the risks of COVID vaccines without long-term data? We have no way of knowing if these vaccines will cause future autoimmune injuries, which only present months to years after vaccination. The government and media have placed doctors in an impossible position. The public have been told to speak to their doctors if they have concerns about the vaccine, but, due to the AHPRA's gag orders, those doctors are not allowed to deviate from the current narrative for fear of losing their licence to practice. How can doctors possibly inform patients' consent and overcome hesitancy when we're gagged and have no long-term data? This is not informed consent. At best, it is manufactured consent; at worst, it is coercion.'

These are the same doctors who, when we were hit with COVID last year and there were no vaccinations, were on the front line, working in the hospitals beside the nurses. They put their lives on the line when we did not know what course this pandemic would actually take. Now they are treated like criminals. They can't go into hospitals. In Rockhampton Hospital, there are shifts for which no doctor is available, because they won't allow unvaccinated doctors to attend. We are on the verge of dividing our nation and people because of differences of opinion.

As the doctor said, they have been gagged. They are in fear of losing their licence or getting a heavy fine. This is not Australia—people being gagged this way. The whole debate on the issue has been stopped. The media cannot put across anyone who has a different opinion and wants to debate this. This is the only place we can do it—on the floor of parliament. Hence my stance with regards to this vaccination: people have a right to actually choose whether they want to have this vaccination or not.

As I have said quite clearly, under section 51(xxiiiA) of the Constitution, the Prime Minister cannot impose mandatory vaccination on the people. That is what he has said, because it's true; he can't do it. If we actually go back to the signing of the Constitution, in 1901, all the states agreed to the Constitution. They signed off on it. Therefore it is arguable that, if it were challenged in a court of law, the Australian Constitution should override state laws and rein in these premiers, who are wielding their power and forcing people to have this vaccination against their will.

Also, under section 109 of the Australian Constitution, if you have two conflicting laws the federal law will override the state law—hence my bill. If these politicians really care for the freedom and the rights of the people of this nation, they will support this legislation. It states that you cannot force mandatory vaccination. It's exactly what the Prime Minister is stating—no forced mandatory vaccination. It will also stop the discrimination against people in this nation who are being stopped from going into pubs, clubs and even hospitals. They're saying now that you cannot go into a hospital unless you have proven that you have been vaccinated. What is our country coming to?

To those people out there saying: 'Get on with it; just get the vaccination. It's alright. Don't worry about it'—no, it's not alright. If you allow these states, these premiers, to have the power over you and your rights, what will be next? Are they going to say that, because you don't work or pay taxes in this nation, you are not going to have the right to vote? Are they going to say, because we have a crisis in housing, that, just because you have so many bedrooms in your house that you don't use, you're going to have to downsize or open up your house to other people? This could lead to anything being under the control of the premiers.

This is nothing but a political stunt because we're coming into a federal election. Look at the three states: the premiers are all Labor. This is what Labor is doing to actually undermine the Morrison government, so they are seen as weak. And I will say that the Prime Minister is weak because he said there should not be vaccine mandates—well, do something about it. I'm also saying, if the Prime Minister is not happy with my bill, change it. You have the Solicitor-General and you have means to do it, to make changes that will give the people back their rights and their freedoms in this nation. Why do you think so many people have protested on the streets of this nation? A lot of these people are not ratbags; they're not idiots. The media and the premiers are trying to say that they are extremists. They're not extremists, they're everyday Australians. They could be your mother, your sister, your father, your cousins, your neighbours. You know they're not extremists. These are people that have had a gutful—they've had enough—and I can't blame them because so have I. And I thank from the bottom of my heart my colleague Malcolm Roberts for standing strong with me on this.

I know, because the Prime Minister has told me, that they don't intend to support this bill, and neither does the Labor Party. How weak and gutless they are, and so are the Greens. The fact is that the Labor Party are supposed to be there for the workers. They say that they're standing up for the blue-collar workers. These are the police, the nurses, the ambulance drivers that are your voters and they're screaming out, 'Help us.' That's why we've got 7,000 nurses in Queensland, 7,000 nurses in South Australia and nurses right across the country who are refusing to have this vaccination. Why? They are not anti-vaxxers. Remember that under the states' standards for their profession, previously they've had to have all the other vaccinations. Why are they hesitant about this one? I'll tell you why: it's because they've seen the adverse side effects in people now coming into hospital that have had the vaccinations. That's why they don't want it. They're not anti-vaxxers, but they know that they want to have good health for the rest of their lives, and there's no-one that can guarantee that. No-one in the world can guarantee it because we don't know the long-term effects of having COVID-19.

Australians are not against getting vaccinated. You have Petrovsky in South Australia. He's inventing a vaccine that's protein based. Why aren't we taking it up? Why is the TGA slamming doors in his face? Why are we supporting Pfizer and AstraZeneca, which are making billions of dollars out of this? No, I don't believe that this is right and I wish the Prime Minister would stand up with the people and be the leader of this nation, because that's what they want. For those members of parliament who are going to cross the floor and support this bill today, I say thank you and so do the Australian people. But I intend to show up the rest of you who are too bloody gutless to stand up for the rights of the people of Australia. I hope they have their say at the next election and throw you out on your ear. This is about the people's rights and their freedoms, and I will fight to the death for them for that reason. I thank the doctor for his words as well. (Time expired)