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

I rise to speak on the Therapeutic Goods Amendment (2022 Measures No. 1) Bill 2022. One Nation will not support this legislation. This bill is so flawed. It needs to be reviewed by a committee, but Labor, of course, is following its new procedure and ramming through legislation without giving this Senate the opportunity to review and improve it. Mark Butler should hang his head in shame.

The most concerning provisions in this legislation are a direct attack on a foundational principle of Australian law and a fundamental human right: the presumption of innocence. It's sad to have to say this, but this government needs to be reminded that in Australia it's up to the prosecution to prove guilt, not the defence to prove innocence. I also remind this government that it is simply not allowed to interfere with this human right in any way, most definitely not for the sake of Public Service bureaucrats.

I have to remind this government of this because it's not only this bill which threatens this principle but others on the Notice Paper for this week as well. Labor does not have a mandate to interfere with human rights. It does not have the permission of the Australian people. The committee report on the TGA bill makes it quite clear that the proposed section 45AC, creating an offence for failing to produce information and documents for the secretary, also creates new, strict liability offences that can attract a penalty of up to $27,000. Subsection 45AC(3) provides for a reasonable excuse, but places a burden on the defendant to prove they are innocent. This is, effectively, a presumption that the defendant is guilty of the offence.

Labor has no excuse for this. As a government elected by the people of Australia, one of the most important duties is to protect their rights, not attack them. However, the bill goes further. Proposed new subsection 61(13) explicitly states that the secretary does not need to observe procedural fairness or the natural justice hearing rule with regard to releasing information collected under the act. That's right: Labor doesn't support procedural fairness. Perhaps an even more concerning part of this bill relates to the importation of medicines. The proposed subsection 19A(2B) gives the secretary the power to grant approval to importation or supply of therapeutic goods, including mRNA vaccines, but it does not specify safety testing of these goods and doesn't provide for a sunset clause on the approval. I note there are a range of other conditions for approval, including the catch-all in the interest of public health.

As we saw to our horror during the COVID-19 pandemic, many fundamental human rights in Australia came under direct attack in the so-called interest of public health: freedom to travel, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, freedom to choose and even freedom of speech. It wasn't just Labor governments doing this; coalition governments were equally guilty of trampling all over our rights. They were in it together. Some of us might be forgiven for thinking that, with the pandemic effectively over, that might be the end of the violation of our rights in the name of public health. However, it might have only been the beginning.

In May this year a meeting of the World Health Assembly will consider proposals for a World Health Organization pandemic treaty and changing the international health regulations. These proposals threaten not only our human rights but the sovereignty of Australia. They threaten to transform the hopelessly corrupt World Health Organization from an advisory body to a governing body able to make legally binding proclamations on the world's nations. They threaten to remove the requirement that these corrupt international bodies have respect for the dignity, human rights and fundamental freedom of persons. They threaten to give the WHO control over national means of production, enabling it to force countries to manufacture medicines or vaccines. They threaten to give the WHO the power to force medical examinations and treatments on individuals and force people to carry certifications about tests and vaccinations. They threaten to give the WHO the power to disclose personal health information and to censor whatever it considers to be misinformation.

What's the bet that this Labor government will roll over and just allow this all to happen? No bet here; of course they will. They don't believe the rights of the individual take precedence over the interests of the state, but let me tell you: nothing is more dangerous to a free society. This government and every government which comes after should be required to take an oath that they will not subordinate the rights of human beings to the interests of the state, let alone unelected international bodies wanting a one-world communist government.