Alex Antic (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The people of the world are waking up to the World Health Organization. They are waking up to this unelected globalist body—an organisation seeking to accrue power at the expense of our medical and health sovereignty. During COVID, the WHO advocated for lockdowns and vaccine mandates, which of course turned out to be disastrous, yet they have never taken responsibility for the damage brought by these policies. The WHO also failed to properly investigate the actions of the Chinese government in early 2020. They were uncritical of big pharma, and they exaggerated the deadliness of this virus, yet the Labor government in this country wants to afford the WHO more authority over our public health decision-making, not less.

I've spoken many times in this place about Australia's need to withdraw from the World Health Organization, and I've spoken many times about the need for Australia to vote against the World Health Organization's amendment to the International Health Regulations and the proposed pandemic treaty. If passed, these instruments will pave the way for these unelected global health bureaucrats to have unreasonable control over our public health policies and for there to be even less scrutiny of pharmaceutical companies. The proposed instruments will afford the WHO more authority regarding regular social listening and analysis to identify the prevalence and profiles of misinformation and disinformation and false news. Take my word for it. This proposal has authoritarian intent.

Fortunately for the citizens of Estonia, New Zealand, Slovenia and Slovakia, their leaders have listened to their people and notified the World Health Assembly that they intend to reject the pandemic treaty and the amendments to the International Health Regulations. The new Prime Minister of Slovakia recently announced that Slovakia would uphold the independence of his nation when it comes to making decisions about public health emergencies. Regarding the 2020 to 2021 period, he said that the pandemic treaty would transfer health powers from the national ministries of health of the signatory countries to the World Health Organization and that the WHO would then acquire draconian decision-making powers. The leaders of these nations are resisting this coup d'etat, so why isn't Australia?

My office has been inundated with calls and emails from people who don't want their government to sign them or their children up for a future controlled by the whims of unelected global health bureaucrats. I'm calling on the Labor government to take seriously the concerns of those Australian citizens who are rightly sceptical of the WHO. The WHO's job during the pandemic was to provide unchecked, sensible health advice. It failed, and we ought to reconsider our relationship with this entity rather than unquestioningly yielding authority to it. The harm caused by the incoherent pandemic restrictions may, ultimately, be swept under the rug, but people won't forget the experience and the certainly don't want the WHO making decisions for them. Australia should reject the pandemic treaty. Australia should reject these amendments to the International Health Regulations and immediately withdraw from the World Health Organization.