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Questions to Government: COVID19 Response

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In the Senate, I asked Senator Cormann three questions on the governments COVID19 response.

Transcript

[President]

Senator Roberts

[Roberts]

Thank you, Mr. President. My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Cormann. Southeast Asian nations like Taiwan quickly learned with regard to COVID that they just had to isolate the sick and the vulnerable.

And that allowed healthy and productive people in businesses to keep working and earning money. The result is that their economy in Taiwan and other Southeast Asian nations remained healthy, and they had far fewer deaths than Australia.

Minister, was there any consideration given in April to changing Australia’s COVID strategy when Taiwan and other Southeast Asian nations had already proved that their strategy worked and was far superior to your government’s strategy?

[President]

The Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Cormann.

[Cormann]

Thank you very much, Mister President. When the crisis hit, there’s no question that we considered a whole range of alternative options on how best to respond to it, but in making decisions and in making judgements we were guided by the advice of relevant experts and in relation to how best to deal with the health threat,

We were guided principally by the advice of the Australian Health Principals Protection Committee, the chief medical and chief health officers from around Australia and the Commonwealth, and I think it’s fair to say for a range of reasons,

But the early decision to impose border restrictions in terms of non-residents who had spent any time of the previous 14 days in mainland China, not being able to come to Australia, and imposing quarantine requirements on Australians and permanent residents having spent time of the previous 14 days in mainland China, has demonstrably helped delay the spread of the virus,

Giving us time to prepare both in terms of the hospital capacity to deal with the potential inflow of patients, but also to prepare the risk management processes that would best equip us to save lives by suppressing, slowing down and suppressing the spread of the virus and helping to put, of course, the economic support measures in place.

While every single death is tragic and it’s one more than you would like to see, but again, I mean, comparatively speaking, comparatively speaking, the number of deaths in Australia is very low internationally. The number of infections is very low.

The number of community transmission is extremely low right now, and we believe that by and large, our strategy has worked. Now, I mean, this is not a perfect environment, you were presented with, we were presented with a rapidly evolving crisis situation.

We made the best possible judgments in the circumstances, guided by the expert advice. On balance, I believe

[President]

Order, Senator Cormann

[Cormann]

that we’ve made good decisions as a country.

[President]

Senator Roberts, supplementing question.

[Roberts]

Thank you, Mr. President. I acknowledge Senator Cormann’s statement, but he fails to acknowledge that the economy has been devastated as a result of the government’s strategy when other economies have not been devastated.

Minister, hasn’t your government’s COVID strategy put the Australian economy and many Australian small businesses and jobs at unnecessary risk and left us with a debt we had to have?

[President]

Senator Cormann.

[Cormann]

Thank you very much, Mr. President. It is certainly true that we were forced to impose significant sacrifices on many Australians. The restrictions that we had to put in place as a country on the economy in order to save lives by slowing down and suppressing the spread of the virus has imposed, of course, significant burdens on many businesses and on many working Australians.

That’s why we put in place the economic support package that we have, in order to provide, to keep as many businesses in business through the transition as possible, to keep as many working Australians connected to their employer during this transition as possible and to provide enhanced support to those Australians who, through no fault of their own, lost their job because of the Coronavirus crisis.

Now, you know, you can argue whether one decision or the other decision could have been made differently, but if you look at the outcomes, if you look at the actual outcomes, both on the health front and on an economic front, I think that Australia’s in a very good position, comparatively speaking

[President]

Order, Senator Cormann.

[Cormann]

to other countries around the world.

[President]

Senator Roberts, a final supplemental question.

[Roberts]

Thank you, Mr. President. Minister, everyday Australians want to know how the Prime Minister will ensure that if businesses do close or go into liquidation, that receivers and administrators will ensure that Australian jobs are preserved and that affected businesses can only be sold to Australians first and not be cheaply flogged off to foreigners.

[President]

Senator Cormann.

[Cormann]

Thank you very much, Mr. President. In relation to foreign investments, you’d be aware that the Treasurer’s put in place some temporary measures to ensure that Australian businesses dealing with the consequences and the impact of the Coronavirus crisis are protected as appropriate in the context of any attempt at foreign takeover.

But, you know, in a broader sense, in a broader sense, when we’re of course focused on doing everything we can to maximise the strength of the economic recovery on the other side, and then we also said that on the other side, in order to maximise the strength of the economic recovery we will need to rely on foreign investment into the future, to maximise our economic growth opportunity to the future.

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Letter to the PM: COVID-19 – What is your plan?

This is the third in a series of letters between the Prime Minister and I in regards to COVID-19. You can read my first letter and the Prime Minister’s reply below.

Letter to the PM: COVID-19 Strategy
Letter to the PM: COVID-19 – The PM’s reply

Dear Mr Morrison 

RE: COVID-19 RECOVERY PLAN 

Thank you for your reply dated 14 April to my letter of 25 March 2020. 

Noting that the government has put Australia’s parliament – and therefore democracy – into hibernation, I now raise questions that would in normal circumstances be asked of Ministers in the Senate or of their departments in Canberra. 

Before doing so I acknowledge again that there is no manual on how to respond to the serious and dynamic health and security crisis now confronting all Australians. I note that although we disagree with some aspects of your government’s COVID-19 financial packages, in the interests of ensuring swift support to people whose lives have been jolted through loss of income we voted to support both packages in full. In doing so, and of necessity, we gave your government an open cheque. 

As a Senator it is my duty to ensure accountability. Firstly, I note that your government and Australians generally can claim success in avoiding the scenario of overwhelmed health care services. Secondly, experience here and overseas is now such that the questions below need to be asked on behalf of the constituents I serve. 

While I empathise with the government’s challenge, people need answers. People are feeling confused, afraid, concerned; some feel lost, grieving for those dying and for our country. Some feel angry. Many are still living in disbelief and plagued with uncertainty. 

People want to know what has to be done. Why it has to be done. How long before it’s over. And, what will be the cost – financial, social, personal, mental and emotional? It is the people who have to repay these big bills of up to around $300 billion to which your government has committed Australian taxpayers. 

People have a right to know the facts, yet your discussion of modelling lacked specifics on the duration of isolation nor the plan and triggers for releasing people. 

A solid plan is fundamental for trust and hope. People expect governments to lead and expect leaders to have a plan based on solid data and facts.

These are questions that I ask on behalf of our constituents: 

1. Modelling 

a) What delayed your government so long before publicly discussing modelling as attempted in your media conference on Tuesday 7 April 2020? 

b) Does your modelling, like that from NZ and the Imperial College of London, show that after the lockdown the virus will still exist in the community and that unrestrained release of people from isolation would lead to an epidemic, unless successful treatments or vaccines are released? 

c) Why did your government not release the modelling at your conference? 

d) Why did your government not discuss the underlying assumptions including infection, transmission and mortality rates? 

e) Why did your government not discuss the variables modelled because without that people can make no meaningful conclusions? 

f) Why did the modellers release the draft version separately from you and not release the model? 

g) Why did your government not disclose and discuss the modellers’ result and various alternative future scenarios that could be the basis for a national plan? 

h) Did your government use the modelling as the basis for its COVID-19 support packages legislation? 

2. National Plan 

a) What is the government’s plan for maintaining health and safety while restoring the economy, and what is the time frame? 

b) On what medical or scientific data do you repeatedly state that people will be isolated in hibernation for six months? 

c) Is the government considering the latest data and facts from nations like Taiwan, and to a lesser extent South Korea, that are highly successful in combatting COVID-19, and if so what is your government learning? 

d) Is your government considering adopting their strategy of isolating the sick and the vulnerable, combined with wider screening of elevated body temperature and more widespread testing of the population for the virus, so that instead of isolating healthy people and destroying livelihoods we can isolate the sick and the vulnerable thereby allowing the healthy to get back to work and restore our economy while protecting lives and livelihoods? 

e) Experts are saying the likelihood of a vaccine for COVID-19 is low because after 17 years no vaccine for SARS, a coronavirus, has been developed despite massive investment. Despite possibly one hundred years of effort no vaccine has been developed for the common cold, another coronavirus. What is your plan for releasing people from isolation before a vaccine is developed? 

f) What is the government’s plan for treatment of people with the virus? Is it considering using hydroxy-chloro-quine, reportedly showing positive results in New York, and Ivermectin being 100% effective in Monash University’s laboratory tests? 

g) What is the plan for mental health issues that experts warn will likely rise as the isolation continues? One of the worst things that can be done to a person is to take their job from them. Humanity needs security, connection, family, and friends. The government’s shutdown is a ticking time bomb. 

3. Data 

a) Some medical specialists have suggested COVID-19 attacks human vascular, blood circulation and oxygen absorption, while other experts claim it attacks the human respiratory system. What is the government’s conclusion? 

b) Are casualties and deaths from influenza and pneumonia, both here and overseas, being reported as being due to COVID-19? 

c) How many people die WITH the virus and how many die FROM the virus? In some nations is the number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 inflated? 

d) Data suggests Australia’s testing for the virus is narrowly focussed and well below the world’s best in terms of testing per capita. Why? 

e) Will your government establish a website at which it will openly post the scientific data and basis for its plan and allow public scrutiny – a cornerstone of science? Will it openly post the modelling on which it depends? 

f) To ensure a diversity of medical views and to prevent group-think, will your government establish a fully funded independent scientific team to question and hold accountable the government’s medical advisers? 

When this is over, everyday Australians of all backgrounds expect to see – and deserve to be – a healthy secure people with a proud, independent Australia that reflects our lifestyle, culture, values, freedom, democracy and potential. 

All people want is a fair go and governance that we can all trust to work for our country. What many Australians want, looking beyond our health and financial safety, is to make sure that we leave COVID-19 behind us with the same, or more, freedoms and liberties that we had before. 

Yours Faithfully 

Malcolm Roberts

Senator for Queensland

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Letter to the PM: COVID-19 Strategy

Dear Prime Minister

RE: COVID-19

Your Treasury staff are commended for the Coronavirus legislation package your government presented to the Senate on Monday 23 March 2020. 

With the enormity of the challenge our country faces and the urgency to present your government’s COVID-19 package we anticipated written legislation may have had a few ragged edges yet our office is impressed with your product’s quality. 

Although we disagree with some aspects of your Coronavirus support package, in the interests of ensuring swift support to the people of Australia whose lives have been jolted through loss of income we voted to support it in full. 

We acknowledge that there is no manual on how to respond to the serious health and security crisis now confronting all Australians. The situation is dynamic and initially you needed to act promptly based on minimal data. 

Fourthly and most importantly, overseas experience has now produced a large and growing yet still incomplete body of data, evidence and experience. Countries like Italy, France, Spain and possibly the USA and UK are floundering with healthcare systems either overwhelmed or facing overwhelm. They seem to have focussed on balancing human health against economic impact and in doing so have seriously compromised both. 

Countries such as Italy aiming to mitigate the virus’ impact and to “flatten the curve” are floundering and their people dying needlessly in droves. 

It seems that South Korea started on Italy’s path to disaster yet reportedly quickly learned from initial experience. It instituted massive body temperature testing of its people as a front-line filter to testing for COVID-19 that in turn led to isolation of people with the virus. People vulnerable to the virus were isolated as well. That apparently meant that the bulk of South Korea’s workforce could return to work safely. Page 2 of 3 

As expected countries such as South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore that are focussing their efforts on ensuring people’s health and security are succeeding at protecting their people. A second benefit to protecting people is that through quickly getting people safely back to work these countries are suffering much less economic impact. 

Having taken some time to appreciate your government’s package and actions to date I am left wondering what strategy our country is following: the Italian and western strategy of mitigation or the South Korean and East Asian strategy of virus suppression? 

It seems that your government has chosen a path similar to that of Italy that will soon lead to our health system being overwhelmed and in turn possibly lead to tens of thousands of needless and otherwise avoidable Australian deaths. 

My experience across many fields shows accurate data is the key to making sound decisions and while we acknowledge the initial lack of data, we understand that data is now becoming available. 

My son is a layperson and without medical qualifications yet his basic research alerted me to the dangers we face. Although I was initially blasé, my conversations with him prodded me to investigate further. The emerging data then swung me into realising that my initial response was wrong and that we must prioritise public health and safety as our primary goal. 

I offer you the following articles that illustrate the concepts involved, the lessons that can be learned and provide empirical data. 

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/ide/gida-fellowships/Imperial-College-COVID19-NPI-modelling-16-03-2020.pdf

https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca

https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-the-hammer-and-the-dance-be9337092b56

Further, I strongly support mobilising our defence forces, and especially its well-trained medics and relocatable hospitals to strengthen virus hot-spots with front-line health care and triage that could ease the coming pressure on hospital emergency departments and Intensive Care Units. 

Finally, I take this opportunity to stress that our country’s future depends on restoring our national productive capacity and economic resilience that have been weakened severely over the last three decades. A second unfortunate result of the political mantra preaching globalisation and interdependence since World War Two has been dependence on foreign nations and corporations. 

I believe that dependency and weakness need to be reversed. We must address this urgently and I am willing to assist in implementing policies based on solid data that will restore the fundamentals that people need to be productive, resilient and secure. 

We remain ready to assist in the immediate and medium terms to bring back Australia. 

Everyday Australians expect our governments to protect us and our economy.

I implore you to change strategy if required based on evaluating the emerging data and to make the hard and possibly initially unpopular decisions. If you do so I am confident that within months the people will appreciate what will come to be seen as you demonstrating strength, leadership and care. 

Yours Faithfully 

Malcolm Roberts

Senator for Queensland

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