Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services (Senator Colbeck) and the Minister representing the Prime Minister (Senator Birmingham) to questions without notice asked by Senators Wong, Keneally, Gallagher and Watt.

Doesn't this Craig Kelly problem just become worse and worse for the government? Mr Kelly, over the last few months, has engaged in a deliberate campaign of misinformation to the Australian public about the most serious health challenge our country has faced in decades. For months now, Mr Kelly has used his own social media channels to communicate misinformation and falsehoods about vaccines and about what he refers to as 'treatments' which have no basis in reality whatsoever. Mr Kelly, backed up by Mr Christensen and a number of other government members, has completely undermined the government's vaccine strategy by encouraging the Australian public to ignore real health advice from real experts and instead rely on conspiracy theorists and nutjobs circulating in cyberspace.

I hear Senator Abetz laughing along as we debate this very important issue. In doing so, Senator Abetz betrays his support for the actions of Mr Hughes and all of the other right-wing nutjobs in this government who continue to propagate conspiracy theories and undermine public confidence in the health response of their own government.

We've seen for months that, as Mr Kelly and others have done this, the Prime Minister has let them off the leash. He's happy to let them get out there and communicate their falsehoods and misinformation to the Australian public because Mr Morrison knows that he draws the political gain from allowing them off the leash. You won't hear Mr Morrison or Senator Birmingham or any other leader of this government say the same things as Mr Kelly and Mr Christensen, but they're very happy for it to go on because they know that there is a constituency for these kinds of views out there, and they're happy for Mr Christensen, Mr Hughes and others to get those votes to help this government stay in power. What a dishonest approach, so lacking in integrity, for this Prime Minister and this government to adopt: to allow members of their own government to get out and spread conspiracy theories and frankly dangerous messages to the Australian population at the very time that we need the Australian population accepting proper health advice and taking proper precautions here.

So the Prime Minister and his colleagues are playing a double game here. On the one hand, the leaders of this government get out there and surround themselves with public health experts and encourage people to do the right thing and listen to real experts. At the same time, they're playing footsie with the far Right of the Australian community and the conspiracy theorists who follow Pete Evans and other people in order to show that they are actually supporting them as well. You'll never get Mr Morrison, the Prime Minister, supporting what Craig Kelly is doing, but he's been more than happy to let it go on for months. It was only after weeks of pressure from the opposition that he was finally dragged, kicking and screaming, into some meeting with Mr Kelly yesterday.

Mr Kelly of course issued a backdown of sorts only a couple of hours ago. He said that from now on he'd be a good boy, listen to what the Prime Minister was saying and get behind the government's approach. I was sitting there and thinking, 'How long is it going to be before Craig Kelly is back out there on Facebook, reverting to type and spreading more conspiracy theories?'

But Senator Canavan has actually beaten Mr Kelly to the punch. Senator Canavan couldn't even wait until question time was over before he had his own tweet out there, circulating in the right-wing nutjob cyberspace, supporting these conspiracy theories and backing in Craig Kelly. This has now become a test of the Prime Minister's authority over his government. He finally was able to exert some level of control over Craig Kelly in spreading misinformation, but now it's the Nationals. Now the Nationals are off and racing, because the Prime Minister can't control the Nationals in the same way that he can control his own backbench. So, what we're going to see now, in coming days, is Mr Christensen, Senator Canavan and other members of the National Party engaging in exactly the same conspiracy theories and misinformation that we've seen from Mr Kelly over recent weeks. And now the question for Mr Morrison is, will he exert the same control over the National Party and rein them in from spreading misinformation, as he has attempted to do with his own party?

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Labor senator who has just spoken has introduced the issue of prime ministerial leadership. Well, on this side we have a leader, behind whom we are all united—unlike the Australian Labor Party, who has the hapless leader known as Mr Albanese, down whose neck Ms Plibersek, Mr Chalmers, Mr Marles and, Mr Shorten are all breathing. The simple fact is that the Australian people know where the government stands on this important issue of seeking to get a vaccine out as quickly and as effectively as possible, for the protection of the Australian community—a very coherent, well-thought-out policy. That is what actually interests the people of Australia.

Every political party has—thank goodness—people who will speak out on issues and provide an alternative point of view. Mr Kelly is doing that in relation to this issue. Do I necessarily agree with him? No. But do you know what? The Australian Labor Party has one Mr Joel Fitzgibbon, who has a very strong alternative point of view in relation to certain Labor Party policies. And, as a result of his agitation, one Mr Butler met his demise from a certain position in the shadow cabinet. I turn to the Australian Greens, and I recall the internal brawls they suffered when they rejoiced with people such as Senator Nettle and Senator Rhiannon in their midst.

That is part and parcel of the dynamics of democracy—that you will have men and women in political parties offering an alternative point of view. We in the Liberal Party are more than willing to accommodate and accept that there are people with alternative points of view who should be given, in the public space, the opportunity to give expression to those views, even if you vehemently disagree with them, whereas we are seeing more and more that within the Labor Party you have to adopt a groupthink. Nobody is allowed to have an alternative point of view or consider a different approach. We on this side are more representative of the Australian people, and I suggest that is why we sit on this side—because we are willing to accommodate and accept that different people have differing views.

If the Australian Labor Party were genuinely serious about their concern about the COVID response, then where was the good senator and the Australian Labor Party when the ABC had Dr Norman Swan, night after night, contradicting the Chief Medical Officer at the height of the pandemic? There was not a whisper out of them, with Dr Swan making these outrageous predictions of thousands of deaths. These predictions never came to pass—but oh, Dr Swan happens to be potentially of the Left, and with the ABC, so his criticism of these matters and of the government approach is to be accepted, not to be criticised! But Mr Kelly is someone we might be able to describe as being somewhat from the conservative side, and therefore he must be condemned.

It is the double standard that the Left always bring to these debates that exposes their shallowness and hollowness. If the Labor Party were consistent and would condemn Dr Norman Swan as much as they are seeking to condemn Mr Kelly, then I would say there is some integrity and consistency in their approach to this. But, no, this is pure political pointscoring—or an attempt to do so, but in doing so I daresay all they're doing is elevating Mr Kelly's profile as the member for Hughes. He is working very hard and diligently in the service of the people of Hughes, and giving expression to a point of view that, in a free democracy, people ought be allowed to give expression to.

That said, the government's policy is very clear. Later this month, or very shortly, we hope to be rolling out vaccines when and as they become available. We as a government are working hard, and the Prime Minister's leadership has been in absolute contrast to the shambles of the Australian Labor Party under the leadership of Mr Albanese.

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

Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The irresponsibility that we are currently seeing from the Labor Party is just the latest example of their politicisation of the COVID-19 pandemic. We saw it when they couldn't get any traction when they were being supportive of the fantastic efforts made by the Morrison government to keep Australia as one of the safest countries in the world, with the most minimal of economic impacts felt. We have weathered this storm better than most other countries. But when that bipartisan support wasn't quite working out anymore, we've seen overt politicisation in every single way they could possibly come up with. This is just another example of that. So rather than working to support everyday Australians and demonstrating some restraint, they're continuing to draw focus away from the health advice that this government looks to. The Morrison government is focused on a safe and effective vaccine rollout—and, just to confirm, it will be a free and voluntary vaccine rollout. But I do welcome today that the Prime Minister has spoken to Mr Kelly, and I look forward to everyone in this place getting behind the vaccine rollout in a positive way so that Australians will have confidence in the vaccine solution.

I have a particular interest in this debate. As most of you know, I have an absolutely gorgeous son who has autism. His autism was caused in utero, genetically, not because of any actions of the parents, and certainly not because of vaccines. So much time, effort and money have been wasted on autism because of a fraudulent belief in the work of a discredited doctor, Andrew Wakefield. He is a fraud who has been struck off and who has absolutely destroyed many parents' confidence in a vaccine for their children under the belief that somehow autism is a fate worse than death—even if it were true, which we know it is not.

The tinfoil hat brigade who love to grasp to vaccines causing autism—and I can assure you they don't; none of them do—are continuing to cling to some form of conspiracy theory. We remember that it was 5G that caused COVID. It was probably a few other things that I've forgotten—it's been quite the year—but the 5G stands out particularly. We remember that Bill Gates was looking to microchip us all. I can tell you that when you've got a kid with autism who runs away, the microchip is not a bad idea at times—but I digress. The conspiracy theorists who are continually trying to undermine COVID efforts by saying that the virus isn't real, that it is some form of conspiracy, are fundamentally buying into the anti-vaccine message.

We need to work not as a government, purely and solely, but as a parliament, as leaders of this country, to ensure that all Australians have confidence in the vaccine so that they will go out—even though it is free and voluntary—and receive the vaccine as soon as they are eligible. The health minister, along with the Prime Minister, has worked incredibly hard to ensure that Australians will be protected by enough vaccines; that the TGA approval has been done to give Australians confidence in the safety and the security of the vaccines; and that the rollout of them occurs in a way that adheres to the best possible health and medical advice.

So fearmongering about vaccines, whoever it's by, is wrong, but giving it additional airtime is worse. These notions, which we all know are incorrect, should be ignored. Highlighting them to Australians is undermining confidence, which is the last thing we should be doing. The rollout is the only way we will get our lives back to normal, start to see travel and the country open up, see international borders open up, and start to reduce the kneejerk overreactions of premiers desperate to lock their states down just before each election that they face. We need to ensure that Australians have confidence and feel safe and secure to receive the vaccine and be part of the program, to allow all Australians to return to the life they had pre 2020.

Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister of this country, Scott Morrison, could have shut Craig Kelly down weeks or months ago, but he chose not to, because he's a weak leader. He's a weak prime minister who knew what Mr Kelly was advocating through social media for month after month: sharing misinformation and undermining the health experts of this country at a time when Australia was facing the worst health challenge and pandemic in a hundred years. A prime minister at this time needs to step up and show leadership. That's what the Australian community expect and need. But what did we see? No action whatsoever.

In this place this week, we've had the Leader of the Government in the Senate dancing around the issue instead of standing up and calling out Craig Kelly for what he is: a loose cannon who plays up these theories in relation to vaccines. All it does is feed into the right-wing nuts of this country. There is no leadership by the leader in this Senate chamber. Social media, as we all know, is a powerful tool, so the misinformation that Craig Kelly has been disseminating is out there and will continue to be out there.

As if that weren't bad enough, in question time today, what did we see but Senator Matt Canavan encouraging people who want to share the ideas of Craig Kelly to continue to do it because, he claims, if you have those sorts of debates you're going to end up with better outcomes? Well, that is clearly nonsense. How many of the backbench in this government are part of that chorus line? I believe there will be more.

If anyone in this chamber thinks for one minute that the little conversation that the Prime Minister had with Craig Kelly today after the altercation with Tanya Plibersek today in Parliament House is going to stop him, they are sadly mistaken. I have no confidence whatsoever that this will do anything to give Mr Kelly the message that his nonsense is not needed and is harmful to the Australian community. Quite frankly, the Prime Minister was more concerned about keeping Craig Kelly happy than about the health of the Australian people.

Let's get on to the Prime Minister. As we all know, he's always there for the photo opportunity at any time but he never follows through. He's failed again when it comes to the rollout of vaccines for COVID-19. He promised there would be a rollout in March, but already he's dancing and spinning his way out of that and saying, 'No, it's going to be April now, but we are at the front of the queue.' Let's just put on the public record some facts in relation to where Australia really is when it comes to delivering the vaccines. In other countries, once a vaccine has been approved for use, people have been jabbed with it within days, and in those countries people are already getting their second dose. The US, the EU, Canada and the UK all administered their first doses within a week of approval. Now in the UK more than 9.2 million people have been vaccinated. How many in Australia have been vaccinated? None. The TGA approved Pfizer's vaccine well over a week ago, and there is still no time frame for when the vaccines will arrive in Australia or when they are going to be rolled out. The clock is ticking on you, Mr Morrison. The Australian people deserve so much more. We know that the government have used COVID-19 as the excuse for their failings economically. They are using it as an excuse for the attack on Australian workers. This government cannot even be trusted to deliver a vaccine in a timely manner to all Australians. It's alright for Senator Duniam there to smile at my comments, but Tasmanians deserve so much better. We have the oldest population in this country, and to have that—

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Polley, please resume your seat. Senator Duniam.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If I could just make a point of order: I wasn't smiling at anything Senator Polley was saying. There's nothing to smile about. What a ridiculous thing to say.

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Duniam, that's not a point of order. Please resume your seat. Senator Polley, your time has expired.

Senator Polley interjecting—

Senator Polley, I've asked you to resume your seat. I was going to remind you as well: when you refer to people in the other place, please use their correct title. I generally remind all senators of that, because I'm having to pull people up more and more. It is respectful. Thank you, Senator Polley. It's not a debating point. I'm just outlining to you what the requirements are.

Question agreed to.