Yesterday, the new federal health minister, Mark Butler, announced a government inquiry with Jane Halton in charge into the Australian Government covid-19 vaccine contracts, pricing and existing supplies of vaccines. This inquiry, he advised, will be a forward looking review: a “where to from here” examination of what will be needed in the next 12-18 months including ‘likely developments in vaccines this year and into 2023’ (abc.net.au 30/6/22). The inquiry will be undertaken very soon and report quickly rather than referencing the last two years of the country’s pandemic response. However, the Minister was quick not to rule out a more fulsome examination such as a Royal Commission at a later date, although no timeframe was announced.
I note two things about this announcement, 1) the choice of Jane Halton as the head of the inquiry, and 2) what I hope is not a deliberate attempt to refocus attention away from what Labor had promised during the election: the release of “National Cabinet” documents and the move away from the secrecy provisions used by Scott Morrison in his dealings with the State Premiers and Chief Ministers – and which Anthony Albanese advised in a press conference after his first “National Cabinet” meeting two Friday’s ago, that the Commonwealth had not rescinded the confidentiality provisions. According to the Guardian, Mr Albanese refused to answer questions on the matter (The Guardian, 17/6/22).
To the second point first, and what should be of the utmost importance, I will only say that were a Royal Commission, or inquiry of similar standing, to be announced then all items of evidence should be examined, including everything that transpired between the previous Coalition Government through its leader, the former Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, his Covid “Supremo” Lieutenant General John Frewin and the Premiers and Chief Ministers much of which originated inside the “National Cabinet”. These items of evidence should include all “National Cabinet” documents for the period of the National Pandemic Response, without which the country can never hope to truly learn from these last two years.
On the first point, when asked why the Dept of Health would not carry out the inquiry, according to the ABC, Butler ‘…defended the decision to have the review done by Ms Halton and not the health department, saying he did not think it was out of the ordinary that the new government would want an independent opinion on deals done while it was in opposition.’
I make no inference about the choice of Jane Halton – Mr Butler himself has noted her independence – to undertake this review, simply I refer to Ms Halton’s Wikipedia page, which notes her previous position in government as departmental head of the Australian Department of Finance (as well as in many other significant positions in government over the years), which she resigned from in October, 2016. Subsequent to her resignation, and after joining a couple of boards (ANZ Bank and Vault Systems), she became the chair of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.
From Wikipedia: (quote) ‘The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is a foundation that takes donations from public, private, philanthropic, and civil society organisations, to finance independent research projects to develop vaccines against emerging infectious diseases (EID).[4][5]
CEPI is focused on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) “blueprint priority diseases”, which include: the Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (MERS-CoV), the Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the Nipah virus, the Lassa fever virus, and the Rift Valley fever virus, as well as the Chikungunya virus and the hypothetical, unknown pathogen “Disease X”.[6][5] CEPI investment also requires “equitable access” to the vaccines during outbreaks, although subsequent CEPI policy changes may have compromised this criterion.[7]
CEPI was conceived in 2015 and formally launched in 2017 at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. It was co-founded and co-funded with US$460 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust,[3] and the governments of India and Norway, and was later joined by the European Union (2019) and the United Kingdom (2020).[3][5] CEPI is headquartered in Oslo, Norway.[4]…
CEPI was formally launched at the 2017 WEF in Davos, with an initial investment of US$460 million by a consortium that included the governments of Norway, Japan, and Germany, The Wellcome Trust, and the Gates Foundation;[10][3] India joined a short time afterwards.[11][12] In a launch interview with the Financial Times (FT), Gates said that a key goal was to reduce the time to develop vaccines from 10 years to less than 12 months.[3]…
In 2020, CEPI was identified by several media outlets as a “key player in the race to develop a vaccine” for coronavirus disease 2019.[4][19][15]’ (end of quote)
Australia, Belgium, Canada and the UK have also contributed funding. Total funding by February 2020, according to Bloomberg News, (via Wikipedia) was US$760 million.
An Independent Review
33 responses to “An Independent Review”
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What a corrupt cesspit we inhabit.
When will will we get someone to drain our sewer?
I want our very own Donald.
Everyone involved should have to declare their financial interests. This is all about money (and power) and who gets the spoils.
What a foul lot of appalling people our “so called” leaders are. I despise them. -
Halton is the Chair of CEPI where the main financial contribution comes from Bill Gates Foundation.
Is there any remuneration for being the Chair and if so how much ?
Whilst it is a charitable foundation I have seen interviews and articles about Gates talking about the money he has made from vaccines.
She was also involved in Event 201 which was the “exercise” for a pandemic held pre Covid.
A Google search on Halton brought up a web page called Informed Medical Options Party ( imoparty .com ) and a page headed Conflicts of interest in Australian Vaccination Policies which is a very long list of Australian experts and ATAGI etc and links to pharma etc. Very interesting read. Names such as Allen Cheng and Robert Booy to name just a couple. Even includes shares in pharma held by the Futures Fund (so the more jabs coerced the better the share price).
According to Imo page Halton was pushing for “no jab no play” to be adapted for adults.
CEPI funded $388m to Novovax. Halton husband worked at ABS.
She is also a Director of Crown whose hotel was one of the quarantine hotels.
That is from only a couple of web pages.
She is not independent as her advice could well benefit people such as Gates and Wellcome Trust from whom she probably receives remuneration of some sort.
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Adding insult to injury is yet another Orwellian misuse of the English language.
It is not a review.
A review, by definition, relates to something which has occurred or manifested in the past. Note the construction – ‘re’ plus ‘view.’
There ain’t no such animal as a ‘forward looking review.’ It is a contradiction in terms.
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I have no idea what this inquiry is about or what it’s intended for.
Health Minister Mark Butler to launch urgent inquiry into Morrison government’s COVID-19 vaccine deals (Sky, 30 Jun)
The Health Minister has ordered an urgent independent review into the former government’s COVID-19 vaccine procurement to assess whether Australia has adequate supply.
Health Minister Mark Butler has announced a fast-tracked inquiry into the former government’s contracts with COVID-19 vaccine suppliers.
The inquiry will be led by former secretary for the Department of Health Jane Halton and will examine Australia’s past and future vaccine procurement.
“As a new government we have inherited a range of different agreements and contracts with vaccine companies and companies that are producing therapeutics or treatments,” Mr Butler told reporters on Thursday.
“It is entirely proper, I think, that we conduct an independent review of those arrangements to ensure that they are fit-for-purpose, both now, over the course of the rest of the year, and into 2023.”
Mr Butler said the review would not be a probe into the former government’s response to the pandemic.
Um, what? Word salad time. The only thing I’ve heard they’re critical of is not enough goop was ordered in a timely manner or something. Which seems odd since anyone wearing a white coat has been drippingly ready to inject you with it if you should so much as pause briefly within jab range.
I don’t get it. I confess to be mystified regarding what it’s all for, exactly.
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Mate……..Jane Halton was a member of Event 201. A Global Pandemic Exercise which ran the whole pandemic simulation in October 2019!!!!!
https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/players/halton.html
She has also been a Board Member of WHO!!!! I can’t think of another person as steeped in the whole COVID catastrophe as this woman. A bureaucrat with international networks!!!!
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The Health Minister has ordered an urgent independent review into the former government’s COVID-19 vaccine procurement to assess whether Australia has adequate supply.
Health Minister Mark Butler has announced a fast-tracked inquiry into the former government’s contracts with COVID-19 vaccine suppliers.Good grief! This just smacks of more incompetence at the least – & possibly political gaming. Does Australia have an “adequate” supply? For goodness sake, the punters are withdrawing from more jabs, not hankering after more. And an “inquiry” into contractual arrangements of the former government is just politics 101.
It is SO demoralising to read about the new government’s continuation of this debacle.
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There’s always the internet for a bit of background.
Depends what words you use in the search of course. Essentially a psychologist with meaningless post nominals. When the Guardian and Crikey criticise you… -
Thanks for all the comments.
None of this leaves you with a feeling that it’ll be over soon; just more taxpayer money coming to a pharmaceutical company near you.
And while everyday I hope that more people will wake up, I’ve just had a communication with someone representative of a group I was a part of before all this. Sad to say that nothing’s changed; they’re all still drinking the cool aid.
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Bourne1879 says:
July 1, 2022 at 2:02 pmCEPI funded $388m to Novovax
Apparently Novavax ( the company) had a big hand in the design and supply of the mRNA delivery vehicles used in the Pfizer and Moderna jabs. The chemotherapy delivery system based ones with the innate immunity down-regulation/ complement cascade interference features.
I think it amusing how CEPI has been trying to pull the “we had no f**kin’ idea” trick. See the abstract:
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Brighton Collaboration created a priority list, endorsed by the World Health Organization, of potential adverse events relevant to COVID-19 vaccines.
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And of course the link!
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Below from one of the links by Shy Ted an Oz article 6 June 2020 which is a long profile about Halton.
Hydroxy was used by CHO Qld (then Gold Coast Dr) on Tom Hanks in July 2020 although that may not have been public then. It was banned by TGA for Covid use in March 2020. Qld recently made it OK to prescribe. I note from TGA web page you cant mix Hydroxy with Remdesivir. Note comment on therapy probably faster than vaccines. So wrong on two points.
“Precisely,” she says. “So let’s have a Plan B in the back of our head and be able to enact it.” Not President Trump’s favourite, hydroxychloroquine, which is “not safe”, she says, “but there are other therapies that are starting to demonstrate benefits.” Hundreds of potential treatments are currently being tested in more than 1100 clinical trials around the world. “We know that work on therapy will probably happen faster than the work on vaccines.”
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You got to wonder what these individuals think they’re going to get for all this. Reckon they’re going to be Klauss Swab and co’s capos? This guy was caught up with quite a while after the fact.
I know no other way to rationalise what continues to transpire than to wonder if they are still people.
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