One of my new year’s resolutions was to spend less time eroding my brain by thinking about how breakfast television shows platform some of the nation’s most noted gronks in their endless quest for ratings. But here I am, stuck in the middle of a pandemic, considering One Nation leader Pauline Hanson‘s take on the new COVIDSafe tracking app.
Senator Hanson today said she refuses to use the voluntary app because she doesn’t want the feds tracking her movements, despite the fact she, as an elected member of Parliament who often votes in line with the Coalition Government, is closer to being the Government than many of us will ever, ever be.
“I don’t want them tracking me,” Hanson said on The Today Show. “I don’t trust the Government.”
She proceeded to riff on Australia’s mandatory data retention laws, which seem to represent a legislative overreach to Hanson.
“Why the hell would I let the Government, give it to them personally, to download my information?” she asked.
Here’s the part of the article where I say that some privacy advocates are genuinely concerned about overreach, especially as it pertains to Australia’s pre-existing data retention laws, and digital rights groups are pushing the Government to keep any and all collected COVIDSafe data under wraps.
Conversely, the Government says COVIDSafe doesn’t actually track user locations, and encrypts all personal information chucked into it. Health Minister Greg Hunt says law enforcement agencies won’t be able to snoop around in any COVIDSafe data, either.
Today host Karl Stefanovic suggested Hanson may feel compelled to download the app out of some sense of community action against the virus. After all, health authorities state at least 10 million Australians will need to use the thing for it to become truly effective.
“No, I have a responsibility to myself first and foremost,” Hanson said, seemingly forgetting the fact politicians are, ideally, meant to put the needs of the electorate before their own.
The Government’s reassurances may eventually sway critics of the app, but seem unlikely to move Hanson, whose defining political trait is paranoia – and acting like she isn’t an influential public figure in her own right.
Anyway, you can rot your brain, too, by watching the clip below:
“I don’t want them tracking me. I don’t trust the government.” @PaulineHansonOz on the launch of the ‘COVIDSafe’ tracking app. #9Today pic.twitter.com/VdW6FUYjUg
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) April 26, 2020
