Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In May 2021, deaths for that particular month spiked by 7.6 per cent over the year before. In June 2021, deaths spiked by 12 per cent over the year before. By the time the year was out, there were 172,000 deaths all up, which was 10,000 more than in 2020. May 2021 was one month after the vaccine rollout. There was no respiratory disease in the country that year other than COVID itself, which was responsible for an extra 400 deaths. In other words, out of the extra 10,000 deaths, only 400 of them were due to COVID. There was no immigration increase that year, and there were no other respiratory disease deaths. There were further lockdowns in New South Wales of three months, which would have resulted in a lower death rate.

I have asked the ABS to provide me the information on the 172,000 deaths of that year. I've asked for the date of death, the date of vaccination, the age of the person, the last time they got their vaccination and if they had any comorbidities. The ABS have replied that they want to charge me $40,000 for that information. I put that request in as a question on notice during the excess death inquiry, and the ABS now want to charge a sitting senator—a representative of the people—$40,000.

I wrote to the Treasurer, who then referred me to the Assistant Treasurer, who says, 'The ABS is an independent statutory authority with a key role in supporting public interest research; customised personal data requests come at a cost.' If wanting an explanation for the increase in deaths by 10,000 in the last eight months of 2021 isn't in the national interest then I don't know what is. It's time the cover-up ended.