Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

We need a royal commission right away, because people are still dying and we don't know why. That's the fundamental reason we should have this inquiry sooner rather than later. The statistics don't lie. We've got, unfortunately and tragically, deaths in this country running at levels we've never seen before outside of war. So-called excess deaths—the number of deaths above the number which is expected given the age structure and history of fatality in this country—have been running at 15 per cent and even higher above average. Worse, no-one can tell us why. I and other colleagues have asked the Department of Health in Senate estimates, and they don't have any answers as to why excess deaths are running at such a large number. We're talking about tens of thousands of people dying unexpectedly, and no-one has answers.

Senator Hanson, I and other senators have put bills into the parliament to end vaccine mandates. Last week, at an inquiry into those bills, we had representatives from Pfizer and Moderna, the manufacturers of the major vaccines which were rolled out here in this country. We know now, of course, that there are side effects from the vaccine, especially heart issues like myocarditis and pericarditis in young males in particular. The most concerning thing, I thought, of the evidence last week was that they don't have any idea why that is happening. They admit now that it is happening; they admit that there are side effects from the vaccine. But they don't have any understanding of why it might be happening.

The question has to be asked: why is the government still advertising for people to take these products when there is a serious, heart-related side effect that the government officials and everybody recognises—that's not controversial—and when the manufacturers themselves have no idea why that's happening? They can't have a scientific pathway for why their product is causing these particular outcomes. Meanwhile, we also have massive amounts of unexplained excess deaths in this country. That is the fundamental reason we should have this inquiry right away—so we can try to get to the bottom of what the hell is happening, what has been done and what we can do to stop people dying.

I remember that at the start of the pandemic one death was too many. We had to lock down the country and stop travelling to stop deaths. I supported the initial response to the pandemic for that reason. It's better to be safe than sorry. Now we seem to have gone past all that, and tens of thousands of people are dying in unexplained ways, yet we're not even asking questions about why. There's a serious disconnect. I think one of the reasons we're not getting this inquiry is because some people are afraid of what the answers might be. Some people that were responsible for the policies of the pandemic might be a little afraid that the answers might embarrass them on the decisions they made. That is no good reason not to have an inquiry. It's actually more reason to have an inquiry, so we can make sure we do not make the mistakes again.

Finally, one other reason we need to have this inquiry is because it was promised. The Prime Minister promised an inquiry in his National Press Club speech in January last year, before the election. Now, a year-and-a-half on from that promise, if he's not delivering this, it's another broken promise from the Prime Minister. It's a piece of broken trust. I also recognise Senator Gallagher, through you, Chair, in the chamber. Senator Gallagher chaired an inquiry into COVID, and she spent her time lambasting the then government. Guess what her major recommendation from that inquiry was? It was to have a royal commission into COVID. Where is that royal commission, Senator Gallagher? Your Prime Minister promised it. Let's get on with it. (Time expired)