George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I never thought I would see the day, in my own country, when human rights, freedoms and liberties of Australians would be swept away so ruthlessly, as they have been under the guise of this pandemic––the most ruthless of all being the state of Victoria, where over the last six months people's basic rights have simply been crushed by force or by fines. A state government's desperate attempts to compensate for their own failings have seen our fellow Australians fall victim to heavy-handed, big-brother style law enforcement.

We have seen police enter a family home and arrest a mother in front of the kids. Her crime? Posting on Facebook. People have been fined thousands of dollars for driving to work, for exercising, for travelling apparently too far to go and get food and essentials. We watched a young woman being choked and forced to the ground by a Victorian policeman for not wearing a mask. It's clear the Victorian government has gone way too far. But the question is why? Is the virus as bad as the mainstream media and the opportunistic politicians have told us it is, or is the cure worse than the disease?

Let's look at the facts. In Australia, the median age of death from COVID-19 is 86. The average life expectancy in Australia is 82. If you're young and healthy, the chances of dying from coronavirus are very, very slim. It makes no sense to lock up healthy people when we can just protect those that actually need protection. Government enforced lockdowns, such as those in Victoria, will have severe effects on the mental health and the financial stability of many Australians. The World Health Organization has said: 'Lockdowns can have a profound negative impact on individuals, communities and societies. There is even doubt that they actually work at all.' The American Institute for Economic Research compared global lockdown responses with COVID-19 cases and deaths, and they found very little correlation. The Victorian government has mandated the use of masks, specifically recommending cloth masks as adequate protection from coronavirus. Well, the Australian Department of Health's Infection Control Expert Group stated that the use cloth face masks is almost completely ineffective and may even increase the likelihood of infection. The DANMASK-19 study, a randomised trial of 6,000 participants, found that there was no statistically significant difference between those who wore masks and those who did not when it comes to being infected by COVID-19. While the efficacy of masks is questionable, the enforcement of mask wearing by law is detestable. Virus or no virus, people cannot and should not be forced to cover their face for fear of financial penalty, or worse, in a democratic society like Australia. It is simply a violation of individual freedom. It sickens me that we have got to a point where I have to stand here in this parliament and actually say that.

When the virus first broke out, we expected the mortality rate would be much higher than it is now, particularly for people who are fit, healthy and under the age of 60. We thought it was going to be bad, and yet there are indications now that the mortality rate for COVID-19 overall is actually declining, even in countries where the transmission rate is increasing. In Europe, the infection rate has risen significantly but there hasn't been a matching increase in hospitalisations or deaths. The US study of COVID-19 tests in Detroit found that the viral load on swabs has decreased as the pandemic has progressed, correlating with a decrease in deaths. The UK built seven specialised hospitals for the purpose of dealing with a second wave of COVID-19 patients. Most of them are completely empty, and some are now being repurposed.

The fatality rate of COVID-19 in Australia is 0.4 per cent. That doesn't account for all of those who are asymptomatic and haven't been tested. According to the World Health Organization, it's very rare for those that are asymptomatic to transmit the virus. A recent report published by the World Health Organization stated that 80 per cent of COVID-19 cases are mild or asymptomatic. If that information is correct, why subject 100 per cent of the population to draconian lockdowns and business-destroying restrictions when you could just recommend protections to older and vulnerable citizens and quarantine those who are actually showing COVID-19 symptoms?

There will be calls of conspiracy theories and all the rest, but if you tell me that a state government removing basic freedoms and liberties from law-abiding Australians by intimidation, fine or force is okay then you're not Australian. Our national anthem says, 'Australians all let us rejoice for we are young and free.' What's free about this? (Time expired)

See this speech in context