During this session with the AFP, I inquired whether they had received a complaint about several individuals who had received tainted blood as a result of failures by the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories and the Red Cross to ensure the safety of blood donations used in medical treatments. The question was taken on notice.
Transcript
Thank you all for appearing tonight. I’ll get one question out of the way first. In October this year, several haemophiliacs and parents of haemophiliacs filed criminal complaints with the Australian Federal Police commissioner, Commissioner Kershaw. The complainants have not received any acknowledgement of their submissions. Is the federal government aware of these complaints? When can the complainants expect a response?
Mr McCartney: I’m not across the matter. I’ll take that on notice, and we’ll come back to you.
Senator ROBERTS: We’ve supported these people and we’ll continue to support them. They’ve got a serious case. It’s an injustice that’s very strong and sustained. Their counterparts in Britain have been dealt with properly. These people over here are not being dealt with.
I informed the Senate that it had lost its way by focussing way too much on international conflicts and spending over a billion dollars on Ukraine while neglecting to fund essential healthcare and hospitals in Queensland and other parts of Australia.
This obsession in providing international aid is misplaced when our own homeless and vulnerable citizens are struggling to access the basic necessities needed for survival.
Australian families are living in tents, children are going hungry and those in power are failing to protect them. Charity should always begin at home. Politicians must prioritise the needs of Australians before considering assistance to anyone else. We have a national housing crisis and are already in a per capita recession.
It’s time to put Australians first.
Transcript
It’s time for politicians to focus on fixing the problems here in Australia before getting involved in foreign conflict. Last night, yet another motion appeared in the nightly Senate notices from some senators calling for stronger measures to support Ukraine. This Senate only just dealt with a matter relating to Taiwan. The Israel-Palestine war continues to feature in our Senate processes, along with the Uighurs in China and the Rohingya in Bangladesh. Among Greens senators, there seem to be more supporters for terrorist Hamas than for Australia—and that’s my point.
We live in a time when small businesses are closing at record rates—the hopes and dreams of those hard-working Australians broken in a vice of rising costs and falling sales. It’s a disaster arising from deliberate government policy. Supermarkets, traditionally the least profitable of businesses because of the social contract to not rip people off on the necessities of life, no longer honour their social contract.
Parents in Queensland are travelling up to 800 kilometres to access specialist maternity care because parliament has found a billion dollars for Ukraine yet cannot find a cent for Yeppoon, Bowen and the 33 other Queensland towns that have lost their maternity wards. Hospitals in many Queensland rural centres are still called hospitals, yet only offer the services of a GP clinic.
Australian families are living in the tent cities appearing right across our beautiful country. I’ve visited many of these in Queensland, and the sense of betrayal is palpable—and people should feel betrayed. The Senate, as the house of review, has betrayed the very people who trusted us with their vote and who trusted us to have their best interests at heart. Although our Senate does have foreign affairs powers, convention dictates the Senate stays out of foreign affairs and concentrates on domestic matters. It’s time to make that convention great again. Let’s spend our time driving the government to do better to look after Australians. Let’s look after all Australians— all who are here—first.
One of the most troubling scandals in Australia involved government agencies, the Australian Red Cross, blood banks, and CSL, who knowingly transfused contaminated blood to individuals in need of transfusions. This included blood from donors with Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV, which was then used for transfusions to people, including haemophiliacs, who underwent surgery or other critical procedures.
Many recipients of this tainted blood subsequently contracted these diseases themselves. Despite numerous efforts to seek compensation from the responsible agencies and the Commonwealth, no resolution has been achieved so far.
In contrast, the Canadian government addressed this issue and compensated victims. Furthermore, following a Royal Commission into contaminated blood in the United Kingdom, the full extent of the scandal was acknowledged, and victims were provided with appropriate compensation.
I have has actively pursued justice for Australian victims, questioning the Blood Authority at Senate Estimates in February 2023 and again in June 2024 about the possibility of a Royal Commission and compensation. I remain dedicated to ensuring that Australian victims receive the justice and compensation they deserve.
Joel Cauchi, who stabbed and killed six people and hospitalised another 12 people was a known mental health patient from Queensland.
With a long history of schizophrenia, Cauchi was living an itinerant lifestyle with deteriorating mental health and apparently not being adequately medicated or monitored.
How could this disaster have been prevented? Significant questions remain unanswered.
Who was responsible for managing his mental illness while in the community?
Had he been considered safe to be in the community and how could that decision have been so wrong?
Had he been lost to the system and fallen through the cracks in the system?
Was this because the Queensland mental health system is severely under resourced with insufficient trained staff and not enough mental health beds in a failed public health system?
Was this tragedy a result of the closing of mental health facilities and a foreseeable consequence of a policy of treating mentally ill patients within the community?
Was Cauchi being treated in Queensland under a Treatment Authority receiving enforced treatment and had he moved interstate to NSW to avoid treatment?
Did the Queensland mental health system know he had moved out of the state to NSW?
When was the last time his mental health had been assessed in Queensland?
Fixing this broken system may help prevent a repeat of this horror story.
Speaking in support of the ACT Self Government Amendment Bill 2023, I commended Senator Canavan for introducing this Bill. I strongly support pushing for an inquiry into the ACT government’s seizure of the Calvary Hospital in Canberra. This is a blatant attack on religion in healthcare. It cannot be dressed up as anything else.
The issue that is being tiptoed around here is the clash between religious principles that stand against abortion of a living, viable foetus. Those same principles stand against ending life through euthanasia of a person who may make a different decision, free from coercion or momentary despair, on a different day.
The ACT has legislated abortion and euthanasia whilst the Catholic Church insists on putting humanity around those rules.
This has inflamed the ACT autocrats who have decided that there is no place for religion in healthcare. So much so that they planned this takeover for 12 months without telling Calvary who continued to negotiate on a new Northside Hospital in good faith.
These are the same mindless, hypocritical zombies that push for drag queens to expose themselves and read adult porn to young children in libraries and schools. Their answer to the uproar against this perversion is “if you don’t like it, don’t go”. This works both ways. If you don’t like religion in healthcare, aged care or education, the remedy is simple. Don’t go. Freedom of choice! Except the Canberra autocrats don’t like freedom either. They’ve embraced a totalitarian agenda since COVID normalised such behaviour in Australia.
Federal Parliament has precedence over ACT law and this matter is rightly within the Senate’s purview.
My message to the Canberra Health Bureau autocrats is this: God decides who lives or dies. Not you.
In this senate estimates session I drew attention to the living conditions of the inhabitants of Mornington Island. To describe it as ‘Third World’ would be a kind interpretation.
The health of Mornington Islanders has been of concern to me for several years since one of my staff visited the island.
According to a recent KPMG report, $326 million has been put into Mornington Island community between 2017 and 2022, yet there have been “no consistent improvements” achieved in the areas of schooling, employment, chronic disease and child health. Where’s the money gone?
Transcript
CHAIR: Senator Roberts, you have the call.
Senator ROBERTS: The health of Mornington Islanders has been of concern to me for several years, since one of my staff visited the island to see first hand how the islanders were being serviced. To describe the conditions of those living on Mornington Island as third world would be a kind interpretation. It has been pervasive for a long time. How many Mornington Islanders in the last three years have died from alcohol related kidney disease or diabetes? If you haven’t got the figures—
Mr Exell: I’d have to take that specific thing on notice.
Senator ROBERTS: What medical services are currently provided on Mornington Island?
Mr Exell: I’m just checking—
Ms Turner: We’ll take that on notice.
Senator ROBERTS: What improvements to the availability of fresh fruit and vegetables have been made in the last three years?
Ms Turner: I think we’ll have to take that on notice as well.
Senator ROBERTS: What progress has been made in establishing a market garden to provide fresh fruit and vegetables?
Mr Exell: For that one, there might be a broader—
Ms Guivarra: You may be aware—and I think we’ve talked about it previously—that there is work underway on a food security strategy. So I might call my colleagues just to give a bit of an update on what work is happening on that.
Ms Bellenger: Can I just get the question again on food security, please?
Senator ROBERTS: What progress has been made in establishing a market garden to provide fresh fruit and vegetables for the islanders?
Ms Bellenger: Thank you for that.
Senator ROBERTS: I think there was a garden planned or established. I think it was underway.
Ms Bellenger: That’s correct. There’s a feasibility study underway on Mornington Island, so NIAA have funded people there to actually look at the viability in how that works. We provide $13 million for three community market gardens, who, after feasibility, are actually building the gardens in Doomadgee, Mornington and Yarrabah. Market gardens are notoriously difficult to set up and keep viable, but we are definitely working closely with our partners in those three regions.
Senator ROBERTS: Thank you. Is there any way of giving us a quick snapshot as to the stage you’re up to?
Ms Bellenger: I’m sorry. I’ll have to take that on notice.
Senator ROBERTS: Thank you. How many islanders are receiving treatment for alcohol related complications to their renal and liver health?
Mr Exell: I will take it on notice.
Senator ROBERTS: How many Mornington Islanders have diabetes?
Mr Exell: Again, we don’t have those details with us. Sorry.
Senator ROBERTS: That’s understandable. How many Mornington Islanders are requiring dialysis at other centres?
Mr Exell: Again—
Senator ROBERTS: Yes. Can you tell me something about the costs and the travel for those who are on dialysis?
Mr Exell: The cost for those who need to travel for dialysis?
Senator ROBERTS: Yes. The travel indicates to me some higher elevation of cost, as well as inconvenience to the people. What health programs are currently being offered for aged care of Mornington Islanders?
Ms Turner: We’ll have to take that on notice.
Senator ROBERTS: Thank you. What support or development programs are being offered to Mornington Islander youth?
Mr Exell: Again, from a Health perspective we will have to take it on notice. I’m just checking for an NIAA—
Ms Guivarra: Yes, we can also take that specific question on notice.
Senator ROBERTS: I don’t mind things being taken on notice if it means a better answer. That’s fine. I’ve got no problems with that. What mental health support is being offered to Mornington Islanders?
Ms Guivarra: Again, we’d have to take that on notice.
Senator Gallagher: How about we provide you a comprehensive brief of services, support and investments that are going into—
Senator ROBERTS: I would like the answers, though—
Senator Gallagher: Yes, as part of that.
Senator ROBERTS: And a brief, a personal briefing?
Senator Gallagher: I will certainly check with the minister’s office. It’s not up to me to give, but I will undertake to do that.
Senator ROBERTS: Thank you, Minister. According to a recent KPMG report, $326 million has been put into the Mornington Island community between 2017 and 2022 but with ‘no consistent improvements’ achieved in the areas of schooling, employment, chronic disease and child health. Where’s the money gone?
Mr Exell: That’s, again, across a range of sectors there, so we are happy as part of that report to pull that together and try to address—
Senator ROBERTS: Thank you. My next question is why no improvements, but that’s the same, so that’s fine. But we need answers to these questions. Australia is looking for answers. To the member of staff who went there, it seems money is wasted. He’s not saying there is not an issue or that it’s not deserving of a solution—it certainly is—but the attempted solutions over the past few years have not been successful. There is wasted money, too much talk and not enough action while islanders continue to live in squalor and die too early, and that’s a really serious concern. I would also like to know: can locals work? The previous witness talked about being involved in making the garden, which is wonderful.
Ms Broun: Again, we could include that in this comprehensive brief and it would go to some of the programs that we’ve been running.
Senator ROBERTS: Yes, alright. Chair, I would just like to put on the record that I am very pleased to see Senator Nampijinpa Price and Senator Kerrynne Liddle in here. I haven’t worked with Jana, so I don’t know her. I’m not going to make any comment. I’m not leaving her out by omission, but I want to make it very clear that I support what they’re doing and it’s a refreshing breath of fresh air.
The ACT Government has passed legislation to take over the Calvary Hospital, which is run by the Catholic Church and has provided healthcare to millions of Australians through their 14 hospitals around Australia.
This follows legislation in the ACT to provide free abortion on demand to anyone who is under 16 weeks pregnant. The ACT Government is also proposing legislation to allow euthanasia without “time to death”, which means anyone can ask for euthanasia at any time, even if they are not sick. That same proposal includes no age limit to deliberately allow children to be euthanised.
Calvary, through the Catholic Church, has gone on record to say they will not participate in either of these programs so the Canberra autocrats have seized the hospital so abortion and euthanasia cam occur.
When I spoke about this online the response from the left was to say “there is no place for religion in healthcare”. My response to this is simple – if you don’t want religious healthcare go to a state run hospital; if you don’t like religious aged care go to another aged care provider; and if you don’t like religion in schools go to a state school.
This is a power grab by Canberra autocrats who cannot tolerate dissenting opinion.
The Federal Government has authority over Canberra and must intervene to, at least, put this move to the people.
Transcript
As a servant to the many different people who make up our wonderful Queensland community, I support this motion from Senator Cash, Senator Canavan and fellow senators to refer the takeover of Calvary hospital to a committee inquiry. This blatant attack on religion in health care has caused trouble for ‘PAN AM’—or Canberra, as some still call it.
Legislation to seize the hospital from the Catholic Church has passed the Australian Capital Territory parliament—legislation developed over a long period of time, partly in secret. In fact, this is the second attempt ACT Health autocrats have made to force Calvary out of health care. The only God autocrats respect is the god of power—power used in pursuit of a genuinely evil agenda. The ACT has legislated abortion and euthanasia. The Catholic Church insists on putting humanity around those rules, which has inflamed ACT autocrats. Nobody is going to get in the way of the health autocrats’ agenda to murder babies and murder our elderly—and now considering murdering children and the severely handicapped. As an aside, the right to die, as we are seeing in Europe, will become an obligation to die.
There are 14 Calvary hospitals in Australia delivering health services in a faith-based environment, healing of millions of Australians since their start in 1885. Churches around Australia provides hundreds of aged-care homes. Each of these must be looking over their shoulder at what Canberra Health autocrats are trying to do at Calvary.
My public address to a pro-life rally in Rockhampton two weeks ago and a subsequent video on this topic has been met with an interesting response from the Left—the control side of politics. I will address that now. The common reply, repeated verbatim from a legion of social media bots and mindless zombies, is this: there is no place for religion in health care. It seems to me that this is a most hypocritical statement. When religious groups protested drag queens exposing themselves and reading adult sex stories to kids in libraries in ‘drag queen story time’, religious groups were told, “If you don’t like it, don’t go.” Well, let me direct your argument right back at you: if you don’t want religion in your health care, don’t go to a Christian managed hospital. While we are at it, if you don’t like religion in aged care, go to another aged-care facility and, if you don’t like religion in education, don’t send your kids to a religious school.
See how it works? It’s freedom of choice. That’s what is irking the Canberra bureaucrats—freedom. We know how much autocrats have embraced utilitarian agendas and how COVID has normalised such behaviour. Clearly, these health bureaucrats have no intention of surrendering powers obtained dishonestly. I imagine they can’t wait to tear that cross off the front of the Calvary hospital. Calvary hospitals have treated millions of Australians who are happy to be treated in a religious hospital. Federal parliament has precedence over ACT law. This matter is rightly within the Senate’s purview, and I am strongly in support of Senator Cash and Senator Canavan’s motion.
This is partly about property rights and partly about freedom of choice. Property rights are fundamental to human progress, fundamental to innovation, fundamental to freedom and fundamental to responsibility. Federal Labor, in this term of government, has nationalised the gas industry. The federal Liberal and National parties stole farmers’ property rights in the Howard-Anderson Liberal and National government. Now the ACT wants to steal churches’ property rights and nationalise religious values.
We need a Senate inquiry. The federal Constitution has powers to deal with religion.
My message to Canberra health autocrats is simple: God decides who lives and dies, not you.
https://img.youtube.com/vi/ky44BvpR2Tc/maxresdefault.jpg7201280Sheenagh Langdonhttps://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/One-Nation-Logo1-300x150.pngSheenagh Langdon2023-06-16 17:49:222023-06-16 17:49:27The takeover of Calvary Hospital is an attack on Christianity
The Palaszczuk Government’s decision to extend payroll tax to contracting GP’s is nothing but a tax on the sick. The treasurer has promised a 2 year grace period, instead, the entire idea of taxing GPs more should be scrapped.
https://img.youtube.com/vi/7YC__gcVB6U/maxresdefault.jpg7201280Senator Malcolm Robertshttps://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/One-Nation-Logo1-300x150.pngSenator Malcolm Roberts2023-02-07 13:53:002023-02-07 13:53:09Queensland Government rolls out TAX on the SICK
