It turns out that the vast majority of Aussies want Prime Minister Scott Morrison to call out Liberal MP Craig Kelly over the unhinged hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin boomer posts he keeps spamming on Facebook.
That’s according to recent polling by the Australia Institute, which found that more than three quarters of Liberal, Labor and Greens voters – and even a majority of One Nation voters! – reckon the PM needs to publicly tell Kelly to shut the fuck up.
“More than three-quarters of Australians think the Prime Minister has a responsibility to publicly criticise MPs like Craig Kelly when they spread misinformation, including three-quarters of Coalition voters,” deputy director of The Australia Institute Ebony Bennett said in a statement.
“By remaining silent on misinformation spread by members of his own government, including the promotion of unproven drugs and describing face-masks for schoolchildren as ‘child abuse’”, the Prime Minister is putting the health of Australians and the health of our democracy at risk.”
And yet, in the face of overwhelming pressure and his own sense of responsibility, Morrison has refused to do anything of the sort.
“You know, Australia is a free country. There’s such a thing as freedom of speech in this country and that will continue,” he told reporters about Kelly’s and others’ Facebook posts earlier this month.
More recently Deputy PM Michael McCormack also completely dodged the issue: “Well, again, I mean, facts sometimes are contentious, aren’t they? And what you may think is right, somebody else might think is completely untrue.”
However, some facts are true. Such as the fact that hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin are not backed by any scientific consensus to be used as COVID-19 treatments.
Peddling such misinformation during a global pandemic has been deadly overseas, and could also have serious implications in Australia.
They also completely distract from the upcoming vaccination program and undermine public confidence in these safe and effective treatments.
“Vaccinating the Australian population against COVID-19 will be one of the largest peacetime operations in Australian history and if MPs who spread misinformation like Craig Kelly have the tacit endorsement of the Prime Minister it will only jeopardise and undermine the success of the public health effort,” Bennett added.
We literally have multiple vaccines that are about to be deployed. It’s time to drop the hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin bullshit.
