Despite millions attending rallies for freedom across the country, almost no COVID outbreaks have been recorded from them. We are also seeing concerning data out of other countries as Australia rolls out a booster shot and BigPharma rakes in billions of dollars.
Transcript
[Senator Roberts] My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Health, Senator Colbeck. In recent months, more than one million Australians have participated in freedom protests around our country, with many not wearing a mask, not socially distancing, and mostly, being uninjected. Opportunities for person-to-person transmission of COVID runs into the tens of millions, which, we’re told, is inviting mass outbreaks, yet the only case I know of COVID transmission at a freedom rally was a cluster that occurred in the Melbourne rally, and that cluster was amongst Antifa, anti-freedom protesters. Minister, in the last three months, how many COVID clusters, that’s two or more infections, have occurred at freedom rallies?
[President] The Minister representing the Minister for Health, Senator Colbeck.
[Senator Colbeck] Thank you, Mr. President. Thanks, Senator Roberts, for the question. Mr. President, I don’t think that there’s been any attempts to attribute specific COVID infections to any such public event of that nature. So, I don’t have, and we don’t hold, the government doesn’t hold data in relation to that, although it may be that some of that information is held at a state level, where the contact-tracing processes for COVID-19 are conducted, Mr. President, but can I go back to something that I have put to the Chamber on a number of occasions? The whole point of where the government is going in relation to the vaccination programme is to get as many Australians as possible to be vaccinated. We know the vaccine works, we know that it’s safe, and we know that it supports ourselves, in protecting us from COVID-19, we know that it protects our families, and we know that it protects our communities. And one of the really fortunate things that we’ve seen in this country is the willingness of Australians to go out and get vaccinated. In excess of 92% of Australians have now had a first dose, in excess of 86% of Australians have now had a second dose. It’s one of the reasons that we are able to start to reopen our economy, to reopen our communities, which is what I think the people who are participating in these protests are looking for. They want to see us be able to get around more freely, and the discipline, the decision to take up a vaccine, which we know is safe, we know that works, is really important, Mr. President, and we continue to monitor circumstances globally, as I said in my answer to the question earlier in time to Senator Smith, so that we can understand what’s happening with new variants, we can take appropriate actions to protect Australians from those new variants while we learn more about them, get to understand the impact that the vaccines might have on those new variants so that we can keep Australians safe. And we will continue to take all of the actions that we need to do just that.
Minister, your time has expired. Senator Roberts, a supplementary question.
[Senator Roberts] Thank you, a European study found the death rate per 100,000 of double-vaccinated subjects averaged 2.5 per month, with the uninjected rate lower, at 1.1. The government has authorised the third booster shot, so must have modelled death rates against overseas experience and have an anticipated outcome from your booster programme. Minister, what is the anticipated death rate for triple-vaccinated Australians as compared to unvaccinated Australians?
Minister.
[Senator Colbeck] Thank you, Mr. President. One of the things that we’ve seen here in Australia, and around the world, and one of the things that we’ve been concerned about as the pandemic has continued to progress is the impact on the unvaccinated of the virus. I know that when I was in Japan earlier in the year, the reporting out of the US that I saw on a daily basis was that in the United States, it was becoming very much a pandemic of the unvaccinated. Somewhere between 90 and 95% of those in hospital, suffering severe symptoms of COVID-19, were actually unvaccinated. Some figures out of New South Wales earlier this year indicated that similar proportions, 90 to 95% of those in hospital with severe illness, severe symptoms of the virus, were actually unvaccinated, Mr. President. The data is very clear. The data is very clear, and it shows up in the circumstances of the most vulnerable in this country, that the vaccine works.
Minister, Minister, your time has expired. Senator Roberts, a second supplementary.
[Senator Roberts] The South African Health Minister said on Sky News that the scientist who isolated Omicron never said it would be vaccine-resistant. Angelique Coetzee, the South African Medical Association Chair, stated on Fox, “Symptoms are so mild, we don’t know why so much hype is being driven,” yet Australian media have dialled fear to the maximum, freedoms are again being removed, and big pharma are raking in billions from boosters. Minister, will the death of the Liberal Party be counted as a COVID death or as self-inflicted?
[President] Minister.
[Senator Colbeck] Thank you, Mr. President. I suspect a party as proud as the Liberal Party will probably be around for a fair while longer than Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party. So, Mr. President, and I look forward to that, Mr. President, but can I say I do agree with Senator Roberts with respect to, we need to take the time, take the moment to understand the circumstances of this new variant. That’s why the government has taken the proportionate measures that it has done to ensure that we have the time to understand what the impact of this variant might be with respect to vaccination, with respect to transmission, with respect to the seriousness of its impact on the communities before we continue the processes that we’d undertaken with respect to opening up. That’s why we took the appropriate precautionary response at the weekend to say seven nations, oh, sorry, nine nations will cease access to Australia. So, we need to-
Minister, Minister.
