One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has launched a petition opposing Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s push to introduce a travel ban for Australians who have not received a vaccine passport.
The Prime Minister last week told 9News political editor Chris Uhlmann that vaccine passports may be necessary for Australians to travel interstate.
“To move within borders if you’re vaccinated, how will we prove that? Will we need internal vaccine passports?” Uhlmann asked.
“All of those arrangements will have to be put in place,” the Prime Minister said.
Australians could soon need a passport to travel interstate under plans by the Prime Minister to open up the country. @CUhlmann #9News pic.twitter.com/dIDnNTZCHM
— 9News Australia (@9NewsAUS) May 18, 2021
Following the announcement, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson launched a petition opposing the move, warning Australians not to accept a dictatorship.
“This is not right,” Ms Hanson said in a video published on social media. “Premiers of states have come out in support of my petition. They don’t believe it’s right either.
“Please don’t sit back and accept this dictatorship, because that’s what it is. We have rights and under the Constitution, they have no right to stop any person being able to move across borders freely,” she added.
PETITION – SAY NO TO INTERSTATE VACCINE PASSPORTS
— Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) May 20, 2021
If you want to send a clear message to Scott Morrison and the Liberal/Nationals Coalition then please sign this petition and demand the Government abandon its vaccine passport push.
SIGN TODAY: https://t.co/U0UPFixxCA pic.twitter.com/KR0ls0QZGl
The petition, which can be viewed and signed here, states: “The push by the Prime Minister represents an unacceptable erosion of rights and civil liberties of law-abiding Australians and must not be allowed to proceed.”
Last month over 63,000 Australians signed a similar petition asking the federal government to oppose the implementation of e-vaccination status and immunity passports.
Federal MP George Christensen voiced his support for the petition, warning that digital vaccine passports may be used to deny service and employment to Australians because of their private and personal medical decisions.
Christensen last year wrote to Prime Minister Scott Morrison requesting a ban on “coercive measures by private companies or state governments that seek to restrict service to those who choose not to receive the vaccine.”
In his letter to the Prime Minister, Christensen said “the need for protective legislation or regulation to stop discrimination against those who have legitimate concerns against a rushed vaccine is paramount.”
Similarly, Independent MP Craig Kelly told Caldron Pool’s Rod Lampard that he’s “not opposed to a reliable COVID vaccine, but is opposed to the idea of vaccine passports,” stating, “we fought against this kind of thing;” it’s the stuff of the old Easter European Soviet Bloc, North Korea, and China.
