Prime Minister Scott Morrison initially wanted any future coronavirus vaccine to be as mandatory as possible.[1] “I expect that it would be mandatory as you can possibly make it’, he said, adding that he is ‘talking about a pandemic which has destroyed the global economy and taken the lives of … 430 Australians.”[2]
There is just so much wrong with what the Prime Minister is talking about.
First of all, what has really destroyed the economy is the behaviour of incompetent leaders such as the Australian Prime Minister. Of course, there have been far better and more efficient ways to fight this virus apart from savage bans and gross violations of fundamental rights being inflicted on the people.
Second, Mr Morrison initially wanted that the coronavirus vaccine to be mandatory. Of course, now he was forced to backtrack and is promising the vaccine will not be compulsory, despite saying earlier in the day that it should be “as mandatory as possible.”[3]
But the Prime Minister’s first instincts are always inherently authoritarian. He appears to have developed a visceral distrust in the Australian people.
We are supposedly living in a free and democratic society. It is therefore quite extraordinary for an allegedly democratic leader to attempt to coerce citizens to do something they might not really want to do.
The government’s backtrack is not provoked by a change of mind. Instead, this was caused by a popular backlash and resistance to his authoritarian behaviour as well as an effective disregard for the Australian Constitution.
Australia is a country in which the state has been conceived as deriving from the law and not the law from the State.[4] Since this is a document of limited powers, the Morrison government has no more powers than those explicitly granted by the Constitution.
Whereas Section 51 (xxiiiA) of the Australian Constitution allows for the granting of various services by the federal government, this should not be to the extent of authorising any form of civil conscription.
This means that no government in this country, or those acting on its behalf, is constitutionally authorised to make the Australian people take any medicament against their best will, or force children to be vaccinated in order to maintain benefit payments.
Third, the Prime Minister has revealed himself to be a complete scare-monger and an utterly unreliable politician.
For instance, his government miserably failed at developing policies to protect nursing homes where the highest incidence of victims of coronavirus has occurred. This is also the very government that told us that roughly 150,000 Australians would die from the new coronavirus.
Fourth, Mr Morrison’s comments follow the signing of Australia’s first vaccine deal with drugmaker AstraZeneca.[5] However, this is a vaccine that has been rushed through trials and never been successfully produce for a coronavirus before: a vaccine that might do more harm than good.
Fifth, this is the same government that has been completely blind to a drug that could have save lives from the coronavirus pandemic’.[6] And now they want to make a rushed vaccine mandatory?
As Sky News host Andrew Bolt points out, the Prime Minister’s effectively banning of therapeutics such as hydroxychloroquine/zinc reveals his total blindness to what “could be our best cure” in the fight against this coronavirus.
This goes without saying that the Morrison government is presently restricting prescribed medications that have been in existence for more than 50 years, with potential side effects well known, so we do not “overwhelm” supply for current users.
Sixth, this is certainly not so deadly a virus and people under 60 have an extremely small chance of dying from Covid-19.
Mr Morrison still believes that 95 per cent of the population need to take the vaccine. However, it is most likely that about 95 per cent of the population do not need to get vaccinated. Many studies are showing that herd immunity from Covid-19 can be achieved at a very low level, as roughly 50 per of the population is already naturally immune due to t-cell responses.
Instead of using the full power of the state to command his “subjects” to do whatever they might want, Mr Morrison still needs to learn that true democratic leaders use the power of persuasion and rational argument in order to convince their fellow citizens to do what is right.
I have no confidence in our Prime Minister. This is a leader who takes a great deal of pleasure in imposing his authoritarian will upon the Australian people, and by all means if necessary. It is time for the Australian people to resist the Morrison government. It is time for them to tell their Prime Minister that enough is enough.
[1] Richard Furgason, ‘Future Vaccine Should Be Mandatory, Says PM’, The Australian, August 19, 2020, at https://www.australian.com.au/nation/coronavirus-australia-live-news-fears-grow-of-sydney-hotel-breach-outbreack/news-story/cf35fb9ae2901600276fa78ee89a2dc5
[2] Jade Gailberger, ‘Coronavirus Vaccine Should Be Mandatory: PM’, PerthNow, August 19, 2020, at https://www.perthnow.com.au/lifestyle/fitness/coronavirus-vaccine-should-be-mandatory-pm-ng-fc7dc9cd495bcc7332487c07731b4c98
[3] Rachel Baxendale, Richard Ferguson and Imogen Reid, ‘Virus Vaccine Won’t Be Compulsory: PM’, The Australian, August 19, 2020,at https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/coronavirus-australia-live-news-fears-grow-of-sydney-hotel-breach-outbreak/news-story/cf35fb9ae2901600276fa78ee89a2dc5
[4] W A Wynes, Legislative, Executive and Judicial Powers in Australia (Sydney: The Law Book Co, 1955), p. vii.
[5] Jade Gailberger, ‘Coronavirus Vaccine Should Be Mandatory: PM’, PerthNow, August 19, 2020, at https://www.perthnow.com.au/lifestyle/fitness/coronavirus-vaccine-should-be-mandatory-pm-ng-fc7dc9cd495bcc7332487c07731b4c98
[6] Andrew Bolt; ‘I must call Prime Minister Scott Morrison to Account’, Sky News, August 10, 2020, at https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6179768424001
