Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

The senator opposite doesn't really seem to grasp the seriousness of the situation or the seriousness of members of the government going out and peddling not something that is unpopular but something that is wrong. It's dangerous. This is something that members of the government have failed to grasp, and that is why it was always important that they reined in Mr Kelly as quickly as possible and went public to say: 'What Mr Kelly is saying is wrong. You shouldn't be listening to him, and we will be speaking to him.' That's what the Prime Minister should have done, and that would have been strong leadership. But we haven't seen it. We haven't even seen it in this chamber. Yesterday's answers in question time rambled—they were all over the garden path—and today wasn't much better. We are talking about something of an extremely serious nature, and the Australian people deserve full and comprehensive answers.

We know how essential it is that the vaccine rollout is taken up within the community. We know how important that is to the success of this nation in 2021 and beyond. Not only will a successful vaccine rollout keep the Australian people safe and healthy; it's also essential to our economic recovery. A successful vaccine rollout will be critical to underpinning a national recovery built on the back of more jobs and higher wages. Indeed, a successful vaccine rollout is critical to national economic confidence. That is why it is important that the public have confidence in the nation's vaccine distribution. The very last thing we need is for the government's own members to undermine and attack national health efforts and advice.

We heard today that Mr Kelly has put out a statement. But we also heard that we had a breakout from Mr Christensen on Facebook last night. And while we were in question time today, after the Leader of the Government in the Senate had given a response on Mr Kelly's actions, Senator Canavan—I know probably most people would say, 'Well, if it was going to be anybody, it was going to be Senator Canavan'—tweeted that this is just about people wanting to shut down unpopular debate. It's not unpopular debate; it's dangerous language and dangerous misinformation that Mr Kelly is putting out there. This is why it is important, and this is why the Labor Party has raised it.

We've all seen Mr Kelly's exchange with Ms Plibersek. He is all over the shop. In my view he will continue to peddle misinformation and put it out into the public arena, which we cannot afford to have. We need a vaccine rollout to be successful and taken up broadly within the community. Australia's prosperity and health depend on it.

The mind boggles over the member for Hughes hawking pseudoscience and peddling snake-oil cures. Members of the government's own team are directly and deliberately undermining the government's message and official public health advice, and the government does nothing to discipline them. They haven't disciplined Mr Kelly; they've done nothing, really, to bring him to heel. Why? Why indeed. This is the question that people are asking. Members of parliament are asking why. Members of the community are asking why—why they don't bring him to heel? We know that the Prime Minister actually went out of his way to directly intervene to protect the member for Hughes before the last election. Something has to be done about members of government who continue to peddle misinformation— (Time expired)