A pair of no-name loser politicians are holding the Federal Government ransom over the states’ vaccine mandate laws. Given the fact Parliament has only two weeks left of the year to address a number of other far more important legislations, this is pretty fkn major.
Queensland Liberal senator Gerard Rennick and South Australian Liberal senator Alex Antic are threatening to withdraw support for the government’s bills until One Nation senator and human Dementor Pauline Hanson’s anti-vaccine discrimination bill is looked at.
They’re doing this in hopes the federal government will scrap the states’ vaccine mandates, which really is a lot of energy to expend against something that is scientifically proven to lower your chance of being hospitalised if you catch COVID.
Hanson’s anti-vax discrimination bill aims to challenge the state government’s current rules around mandatory vaccinations, per The West. Fortunately, the bill didn’t get voted through. Hilariously, Hanson wasn’t even able to vote on her own bill because she was in Queensland attending Parliament remotely.
For reference, the Senate is supposed to vote on some pretty hefty legislation this week, including the Religious Discrimination Bill, Voter Identification Bill, as well as the Northern Territory Rights Bill 2021. FYI, none of these bills are good news so please take as much time delaying them as possible.
Rennick and Antic, along with Nationals member Matt Canavan, Northern Territory Liberal Sam McMahon, and NSW Liberal Concetta Fierravanti-Wells have decided to cross the floor of the Senate. That’s a rather symbolic gesture in politics used to show someone doesn’t agree with their party’s decision and often used sparingly.
In response to all of this nonsense, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said: “We don’t run as an autocracy”.
“The government opposed the bill. I respect that individual members express a view… we can deal with any differences that occur.”
PM Morrison responds at a press conference to 5 Coalition MPs crossing floor to back One Nation bill: “we don’t run as an autocracy.. the government opposed the bill.. I respect that individual members express a view… we can deal with any differences that occur”
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) November 22, 2021
Cool, so he’s basically just letting them promote anti-vax ideas and giving them a platform? Alrighty then.
In a pretty cooked letter via The Guardian, Rennick said the government needs to put an end to vaccine mandates in each state. Then, he described domestic travel restrictions as an example of “tyranny”. Has this man ever heard of Adolf Hitler or Genghis Khan, lol?
“No person in this country should be forced to lose their job because they don’t want to take a Covid vaccine,” he wrote.
“Many victims have been unable to work and are facing economic as well as health issues as a result of an adverse event from the vaccine.”
Victims? I have to laugh.
Tasmanian Independent Jacquie Lambie slammed Rennick, Hanson, and her bill in a speech delivered at the Senate today. She noted that these rules for the unvaccinated aren’t discrimination but done to “keep people safe”. She also explained that vaccine passports should be viewed in the same way we see the background checks employers do before hiring someone like police and children checks.
“You can decide not to do those checks, no one is forcing you,” she said.
“But if you don’t do them, you can’t work where you want to work. It’s as simple as that.
“…You have a right to choose. You don’t have a right to put vulnerable people’s lives at risk. You don’t have that right.”
very strong speech from Jacqui Lambie, bluntly opposing One Nation’s vaccine mandate “discrimination” bill:
“that’s the way it is. We do that to keep people safe. How about that?”#auspol pic.twitter.com/sXv0DZtviq
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) November 22, 2021
In recent weeks, Rennick has also been sharing a lot of anti-vax imagery and messages on his Facebook page, including a “heartbreaking” letter from a public servant for the Victorian government who allegedly was stood down for not wanting to get the vaccine.
Just yesterday, he reshared a photo of someone dressed as Darth Vader holding an anti-vax sign at a rally in Perth over the weekend. According to ABC reporter Casey Briggs, it had the most interactions than any other Facebook post by a federal politician that day.
Cool, cool, cool.
Ironically, Vader is a character that famously wears a mask. If one of these so-called protesters catch COVID-19, it’s likely they’d require a ventilator like Vader, too.
TL;DR: watch this space, mates. Australian politics is about to get unbelievably chaotic and disruptive this week. And look, as Marie Kondo once said, “I love mess”.
