This week, former Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, in the jargon of the media, sat down with Sky News journalist, Sharri Markson. Though the interview covered a range of subjects, there was only one area that interested me: vaccine mandates.
In the interview, Morrison asserted that he and his Government never supported widespread vaccine mandates. Neither, he said, did National Cabinet’s expert advisory panel – the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, (which is the standing committee of all State and Territory Chief Health Officers, with the Australian CMO as Chair). In fact, apart from “aged care and sensitive health settings,” which were mandated by the Commonwealth, Morrison claimed that it was the State Governments who forced vaccine mandates on to Australians.
To say I was gobsmacked, would be an understatement. Over the last twelve months, I have written a number of posts for New Cat on the subject of the vaccine mandates and the role that Scott Morrison had in forcing Australian citizens to take a Covid-19 jab. My motivation for this interest? Simply, that I was appalled that a supposed free country with a representative democracy and a right-of-centre government could mandate away the rights of citizens to their bodily integrity and their rights under the law. So, can Scott Morrison’s assertion to Sharri Markson that the States were responsible for vaccine mandates and not the Commonwealth, stand up to scrutiny? I submit the following:
1) In February 2022, Alex Hawke, the then Immigration Minister in the Coalition Government, sought in the Federal Court the deportation from Australia of the Serbian tennis star and Australian Open champion, Novak Djokovic, because he was not vaccinated.
In a post titled “Scott Morrison’s Fig Leaf” on New Cat dated 16/2/22, I wrote:
‘[T]he reasoning that the Minister is relying on to remove Djokovic from Australia is that he could be a bad influence on the nation by encouraging Australians not to be vaccinated or continue with their vaccination programs, or by encouraging the risk of public dissent among so-called “anti-vaxxers.”
…the Minister considers that a heterodox view of the Government’s vaccine policy and creating the possibility of personal decision-making on whether to have a vaccine could give succour to those in the Australian community who possibly share this non-government view…the Novak Djokovic migration case has shown that Scott Morrison and the Coalition Government is fully committed to all the draconian controls that the State Premiers have used to force up vaccination rates, which is why he has not once condemned any of the controls that the Premiers have used on Australians. The Novak Djokovic case has shown that under Scott Morrison Australia does in fact have mandatory vaccination.”
Alex Hawke’s pursuit of Novak Djokovic in the Federal Court because he was unvaccinated does not support Scott Morrison’s current contention.
2) The Vaccine Mandate:
Without the Federal Government facilitating the release of citizens’ private medical information in the form of their personal immunisation records, (known as Vaccination Certificates), there could have been no vaccine mandate. Had the Commonwealth refused to enable the release of citizens’ highly personal and private medical information, no entity, be that the States, employers, and any other organisation, would have been able to obtain this information without breaking privacy laws. The result of which would be that there could be no mandatory vaccination of the country.
But because vaccination status became the authority to go to work, earn a living and seek all manner of services, it was self-evident that Australian citizens would organise the release of their private, medical data. Having to provide private information to just exist in Australia in 2021-2022 was the reason that vaccination rates were reported to have reached 95 per cent – a much higher percentage than the 80 percent the Doherty Institute had modelled to combat Covid-19. Hence, vaccination certificates became the mechanism to make vaccination mandatory. The Federal Government, not the States, created vaccination certificates and the mechanism to release them to third parties.
The creation and release of Vaccination Certificates – even when the individual himself/herself downloaded that information because of necessity – does not support Scott Morrison’s claims.
3) “Business has the right to refuse service under property laws,” says Scott Morrison.
When Sky News‘ Andrew Clennell asked Scott Morrison in mid 2021 whether the government would introduce legislation into the parliament to enforce mandates, the Prime Minister replied that new legislation was not needed because, under property laws, business had the right to refuse service.
Morrison repeated those assertions on 2GB in August, 2021, with The Guardian reporting that the Prime Minister has ‘…backed the use of a QR code-style vaccination pass that would verify a person’s vaccination status using information from the Australian Immunisation Register. “[A]sk[ing] for that [proof of vaccination], that’s a legitimate thing for them to do…The sheer fact of it is, if you’re not vaccinated, you represent a greater public health risk to yourself, to your family, to your community and others about you, so it’s only sensible that people will do sensible things to protect their public health,” said Morrison.‘
The message was that business could enforce mandates – and be on a good legal footing to do so – simply by using current property laws. In pointing to current laws to remove unvaccinated people from business premises, Morrison addressed for business the mechanism of control of the unvaccinated while the states provided the rules of enforcement. Thus when the States announced that business would be breaking state Covid rules if unvaccinated people – including their own employees – were located on business premises, and could be fined by the police, the circle was complete.
4) In July of 2021, the Prime Minister announced a four-stage plan to re-open the nation.
Yahoo news reported (30/7/21) that, the Prime Minister announcing that he and the “National Cabinet” had ‘”…agreed in principle the plan that will get us there and the targets that will get us there.” Moving through the stages “freedom” is dependent on how many vaccine doses are administered throughout the country, [and] “States and territories move into the next phase when one, the national average for the vaccination program as a percentage of eligible adults is achieved nationally and then that state itself has achieved the vaccination threshold in their own state.”
‘…Australia is currently in phase A. To get to phase B, 70 per cent of Australians who are eligible for a dose of a vaccine must be vaccinated. The prime minister said in phase B, lockdown will be “less likely” but still a possibility…Once Australia’s average and a state or territory’s vaccination rate is above 80 per cent, phase C will roll out. “In this phase, the measures may include maximising the vaccination coverage…” Mr Morrison said.’
https://au.news.yahoo.com/sco-mo-reveals-australias-4-stage-plan-to-freedom-080324433.html
By agreeing to a four stage process and requiring that the next stage would not commence until the previous stage has been met, Morrison was effectively forcing Australians to acquiesce to vaccination. For without it, the implication was that Australians’ right to work, run their businesses, see their families and do everything else free people do, would be delayed/denied.
In pointing out that phase C may include measures to maximise above 80 per cent coverage Morrison is effectively signalling that the Government would be moving to a mandatory environment – this is the moment when the Premiers began threatening those who would not get vaccinated would lose their rights. Historical vaccination coverage has seldom if ever reached beyond the 80 per cent level of coverage – see the Doherty modelling – but the Prime Minister was musing on a higher number than was realistic when health decisions are left up to the individual and their own doctor.
5) The Prime Minister’s Mea Culpa?, New Cat post dated February 5, 2022.
In his National Press Club address a few months out from the 2022 general election, Scott Morrison attempted to justify his actions and that of his government over the previous two years. This was the period when the two-jab vaccination rates were reported to have reached 95 per cent of eligible citizens in December, 2021. At that time, vaccine mandates had been in force for a number of months. I wrote:
‘While referring to the up-ending of lives and livelihoods…Primarily, the decisions made, he said, were about “…getting the balance right [between the] twin goals to save lives and to save livelihoods, [and to] balance health objectives with our broader societal and economic wellbeing.” What seemed the only concession was that “decisions are made in real time but with hindsight the view does change.”
For when it came to the most onerous and controlling aspects of that governmental response to the pandemic – the role of the states in locking down and denying the right to work for whole sectors of the community, sometimes for months; mandating vaccinations for everyone and moving to segregate the vaccinated from the unvaccinated, physically and psychologically harming their own residents – areas where lessons should have been learnt and acknowledged, or never have been countenanced let alone undertaken in a liberal democracy – that mea culpa was absent.
Justification instead was the order of the day with Morrison further stating: “The pandemic did not suspend the constitution or the federation. It did not change what the States and the Commonwealth have always been responsible for: they didn’t get any more powers they didn’t get any less; and I have always sought to put the national interest first by seeking to work together with the Premiers and the Chief Ministers through the National Cabinet and not engage in petty fights…my job was keep everybody together in the room working together…and I have sought to work together…”’
I would assert that Morrison’s statement at his National Press Club address, that he did work together with the Premiers is a fact. Unfortunately, it was the citizens of this nation that bore the brunt of this “unholy” tag team.
6) Simon Benson’s and Geoff Chambers’ book – Plagued.
Benson’s and Chambers’ book undermine Morrison’s claim at the National Press Club in February, 2022, that the constitutional power balance between the Commonwealth and the States constrained him and the Federal Government. Plagued, revealed that Scott Morrison had himself secretly sworn into multiple portfolios, starting with the Health portfolio.
In my New Cat post – “The Fixer” – dated August, 16, 2022, I quoted directly from Plagued about how the powers in s475 of the Biosecurity Act, once invoked, conferred ultimate and complete control of the country on the Federal Health Minister:
‘A declaration under section 475 gave Hunt as health minister exclusive and extraordinary powers. He, and only he, could personally make directives that overrode any other law and were not disallowable by parliament. He had authority to direct any citizen in the country to do something, or not do something, to prevent spread of the disease. Morrison knew that if he asked the Governor-General to invoke section 475, he effectively would be handing Hunt control of the country. If they were going to use them, Morrison wanted protocols set up as well as a formal process to impose constraints. The protocols required the minister to provide written medical advice and advance notice of his intentions to the national security cabinet.
invok[ing] section 475, he effectively would be handing Hunt control of the country. If they were going to use them, Morrison wanted protocols set up as well as a formal process to impose constraints. The protocols required the minister to provide written medical advice and advance notice of his intentions to the national security cabinet…‘
Surely, Morrison’s concern at the unfettered power that the Health Minister would wield to direct anything to be done, or not be done, during a pandemic when s475 was invoked, does not support the idea, now pedalled by him, that it was the States that were the actual force behind the vaccine mandates, and not the Commonwealth? For with s475’s unfettered power there would have been no need to seek support from, or be stymied by, the Premiers, as was the case when the W.A. Premier Mark McGowan delayed removing the State’s border controls in February, 2022.
7) Operation COVID SHIELD – National COVID Vaccine Campaign Plan
published 3 August 2021.
Because of the political backlash from the Opposition and the media as a result of the delays to the vaccine rollout and the reliance on lockdowns, in mid 2021 Scott Morrison announced a new plan to get jabs in arms with LtGen John Frewen – a military man – in charge.
In the forward to the Campaign Plan, LtGen Frewen writes:
‘The goal of the Taskforce is to ensure as many Australians are vaccinated as early as possible and this Campaign Plan shows how vaccines will be made available to all eligible people in Australia by the end of this year…This plan establishes the framework to enable the States and Territories the flexibility to execute their vaccination programs based on their own unique environments and priorities. Fundamental to the plan is ensuring the motivation of all people in Australia to receive the vaccine as soon as they are eligible.’
At page 18 of the Plan is this assertion:
‘This Plan flags not only the requirement to accelerate the Nation’s vaccine rollout, but also highlights the need for an unprecedented level of collaboration across boundaries, using all available resources of Governments at every level, industry partners and our diverse communities to ensure our collective health and prosperity.
This vision will have been realised when the vaccination targets which will be set out in the National Plan to Transition Australia’s National COVID Response have been achieved.‘
The best way to motivate another person is to use a carrot and stick approach. In this case, the focus was on a return to “freedoms” if you got vaccinated, which was combined with admonishments that the unvaccinated would have no rights, a refrain that was repeated over and over again once vaccination rates started to rise. So, freedom on one hand vs ongoing controls on the other.
That the campaign plan – Scott Morrison’s own plan – could highlight that to achieve its goals vaccination targets would need to be met, raises the question of how, in a liberal democracy would this occur without the use of coercion in the form of a mandate?
Yes, it’s true that the state premiers zealously pursued vaccination of their residents. But the tools the premiers used the Prime Minister provided. Immunisation data, purchase and supply of vaccines, and the full financial backing of the roll-out, the PCR testing and the job keeper payments, were all in the control of the Commonwealth, not the states. Consequently, Daniel Andrews was able to declare that, post pandemic, we would be living in a vaccinated economy and be backed by Scott Morrison, who said at one point that Andrews had his full support. In the case of NSW, the former premier, Gladys Berejiklian, advised her state that the unvaccinated would have no rights.
As to the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee – the committee of the federal, state and territories CMO/CHOs – and Morrison’s claim to Markson that the AHPPC did not support widespread vaccine mandates. Are we to believe that mandatory vaccination was without sponsors at the highest levels of Australia’s medical bureaucracy yet still became the country’s reality? How can it be that from the National Cabinet, which drew its expert advice from this cadre of health officials, the Federal Government continued to facilitate and fund this huge logistical, financial and medical behemoth while the state premiers continued to medically assault their own residents, and yet none of this was supported by the medical bureaucrats?
In the UK the release over the last few days of the former Secretary of Health, Matt Hancock’s WhatsApp messages, has revealed that many of the most onerous decisions that the UK Government made throughout the pandemic had little if any health reasoning behind them. From what has been reported from the leaking of these messages is that most(?)/all(?) of the decisions were designed to increase the standing with the British people of Matt Hancock as the relevant secretary and the UK government using scare tactics.
Now we have our former Prime Minister casually advising the Australian people on Markson’s show that vaccine mandates was never his “thing!” Given that almost every western country, including Australia, followed almost the same play book throughout the pandemic as what happened in the UK, questions need to be answered if citizens are to ever have faith in their leaders and the medical fraternity again.
Politicians like Scott Morrison, who think they can re-write what they did and were responsible for during the pandemic make a Royal Commission into the Governmental Response to Covid-19 an imperative.
Please let it come sooner than later.
Here’s a song from 1985 to go with all this “conditioning”.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enNGin-JOuI
I’m certain others can think of more.
Like this one; a tasty version of a Dylan song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOqnk4HPwVE
Coercion
Flippant GP: “We aren’t going to hold you down on the floor and jab you”
Patient’s reply: “You don’t have to hold us down; the authorities have threatened us”
The rewriting of history re the wuflu started a little while ago in all countries.
I’m not in a forgiving frame of mind.
Never forgive, never forget.
In about 10 years time expect another mea culpa regarding the insane obsession with unreliables as the source of power.
Again…never forgive, never forget.
In journalistic terms, I’m sorry to say Morrison had Markson for dinner.
I hope Markson uses it as a learning moment.
Her new weekday show (Monday to Thursday) on Sky News is otherwise excellent and alone in the TV news media in breaking stories. It was puke-making watching Morrison charming his way into a complete evasion of Markson’s questions.
Not ‘mandatory’ mandatory …. just as mandatory as you could possibly make it eh?
I hope these evil, evil bastards realise they have red pilled a significant number of formerly decent, productive citizens and that ‘governing’ us is now going to be more difficult and more dangerous …. forever
Hear, hear BBS – thanks for a great analysis.
My loathing of, and contempt for, most politicians and medical bureaucrats is off the scale and will never abate. I can’t foresee a time when I will ever trust grubbermints , of whatever political colour. Never forget, never forgive. A 1000 poxs on the lot of them.
Your writing on this matter would have wider impact if you wrote an article to be published in the Spectator or Quadrant. Think it over.
I watched Morrison the other night on Markson and I felt sick, the man has no shame. He’s trying to salvage some credibility but you wanna know what? He has zero credibility. He was responsible for the following..
1. Morrison constantly dumped on his own, just ask Craig Kelly , George Christensen, Christian Porter, Andrew Laming and Alan Tudge. That’s quite a conga line of political corpses there, to say nothing of his dumping on Cardinal Pell, SAS soldiers and Christine Holgate. And his coup de grace? His handling of the Higgins imbroglio, apologising for something that hadn’t been tested in court and which helped to prejudice any trial. Bruce Lehmann’s life has been completely destroyed.
2. Morrison said nothing when Australians had their civil liberties trashed, Morrison said nothing when Victorians were being daily bashed, beaten, bludgeoned, Morrison said nothing when a pregnant Victorian woman was cuffed and arrested in her pyjamas in her own home, Morrison said nothing when pony girl in QLD said that “Queensland hospitals were for Queenslanders”, Morrison said nothing when Western Australia (no doubt unconstitutionally) closed and sealed it’s borders so that it was easier for a person from NSW to enter North Korea, and when Fat Clive wanted to take the case to the HC, the federal government, no doubt at the instigation of Morrison, pulled out.
3. Morrison set up the national cabinet, thus greenlighting, enabling and empowering scum like Andrews to pursue draconian policies, all under the guise of Covid. Morrison is responsible for the complete trashing of our federation. He helped nurture the tinpot Covid dictatorships of McGowan, Andrews and Palaszczuk.
4. And then there were the “vaccine mandates”, which he slyly and sleazily ducked and weaved on.
Morrison empowered all of this, the reason why so many people still can’t work, even effing firefighters. Morrison could have forcefully spoken out against vaccine mandates, but he chose not to.
5. Morrison capitulated on net zero emissions, he left the religious freedom bill until the eleventh hour and all the rest of the failures that he’s responsible for.
6. Oh and before I forget, there was his accumulation of portfolios, like some tinpot South American dictator. I’m convinced he thought of himself as some sort of messiah figure. This is why I now call him “El Morro from the Shire”.
I could go on, but that’s enough for one day because quite frankly, he makes me sick. But you wanna know what his ultimate achievement was? He’s destroyed the Liberal Party of Australia, probably forever. That’s his sole achievement, his government was a disaster, coming on the heels of the disasters of Abbott and Turnbull. After nine years of effete and lacklustre Coalition governments, their only achievement was to gift us something infinitely worse in Labor and Albanese.
Harry Truman used to have a sign on his desk, “the buck stops here”. The buck certainly did stop with El Morro from the Shire. He is responsible for the last three years.
If El Morro had any decency, he should go away.
Apologies about the rant!
James Allan in The Speccie- we’ll worth the short read.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/03/whatsappalling/
If Liberal parliamentarians had any decency they’d refuse to sit next to him.
and to make matters worse we have just purchased 14m of latest bivalent booster. Only for over 18 but by my guestimate that is anticipating about 70% take up rate. Just how do they think they are going to get 70%?
Expect a ramped up media campaign and co-ordinated articles quoting jab experts. Those same experts are in the majority benefitting from the ongoing saga by running trials, research grants (to them or their institutions, sponsorships and just plain fame from constant media attention.
Public hospitals are still insisting on vaccinated staff despite many of the Vax being well outdated.
Our health leaders have no idea of how much damage they have done to their reputation.
As for politicians I never want to see them involved in medical decisions ever again.
Problem is apart from a few like Antic, Babet, Roberts and Rennick there are very few politicians fighting this fight.
Great forensic analysis BBS – pity you weren’t on the show to rebut that repugnant scum aka Scott Morrison.
Terrific summary Cassie – I loathed Turnbull but I loath Morrison even more – I’m convinced Turnbull would not have been so gutless in responding to COVID as that cockroach of a human being called Scott Morrison.
Thanks Mak Siccar – fantastic, albeit, depressing piece by James Allan.
Life goes on but I will never, ever forgive any of those bastards that used the excuse of COVID to inflict so much misery onto so many people.
“I loathed Turnbull but I loath Morrison even more – I’m convinced Turnbull would not have been so gutless in responding to COVID as that cockroach of a human being called Scott Morrison.”
I agree, and there’s no way in the world that Turdbull would have set up the National Cabinet.
He’s destroyed the Liberal Party of Australia, probably forever.
No, Cassie. It’s not the Liberal Party that has been destroyed, it’s the country.
We will more than likely never pay off the debt that was incurred.
Wondering what the future holds for the young? It’s not global warming that has taken their futures, it’s the cohort of Australian govts over the past three years who’ve destroyed small business, taken away education, weakened society and brought about the deaths of thousands of our people. And Morrison was out in front.
In journalistic terms, I’m sorry to say Morrison had Markson for dinner.
Tom, she couldn’t have been more disinterested in the subject of vaccine mandates.
Conspiracy theory time:
Were the subjects vetted before the
interviewfire side chat?Thanks BBS for keeping such a detailed, annotated record. Well done you.
The man is a coward of the worst stripe, not just for being supine while others did wrong, but by Tefloning off all responsibility and taking none. He subcontracted wickedness to others yet expects to remain “pure”.
It’s difficult even for me to describe the odium that surrounds him. Uriah Heep, Seth Pecksniff, Mr Merdle – the character is almost Dickensian. The suffering under his watch as PM, the ruin, the foul use of brute force against Australians…it all beggars belief. Yet he still obfuscates and excuses.
It must stop. He must come clean about it. Pretending the Commonwealth had nothing to do with it all is a lie.
Cassie of Sydneysays:
March 9, 2023 at 4:15 pm
“I loathed Turnbull but I loath Morrison even more – I’m convinced Turnbull would not have been so gutless in responding to COVID as that cockroach of a human being called Scott Morrison.”
I agree, and there’s no way in the world that Turdbull would have set up the National Cabinet.
He probably would not have, but not because of his deeply held love of democracy. He would never have agreed because to do so would have reduced the personal power which he loved so much.
That is true Boambee John – his ego wouldn’t have allowed it, but at least we wouldn’t have had that abomination called National Cabinet and all it entailed.
Had the CCP sought to destabilise and impoverish the West they couldn’t have picked a better way to do it.
That’s right. They did.
All that remains is to establish who knew what they were up to and what they did to help them.
At the end of the day, despite early promise as Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Scott Morrison proved to be just another “retail politician. ”
I have no doubt that Morrison deludes himself into believing that he pursued the national interest as PM during the Covid years. He may even believe he was carrying out some mission for God. But if he put aside such mortal deceptions, he would perceive that he failed at the highest level – the moral level – to protect the most basic rights of the people he represented and supposedly protected. For me, as a Christian PM, and a supposedly conservative Liberal to boot, he failed miserably.
Actually, I detected a blind spot even earlier, and should have been forewarned. He seemed incapable of understanding the horrific psychological – let alone financial – effects of the Great Drought on rural folk. and then, when the bushfires followed, he could only offer mundane good wishes. I don’t think he ever “got” regional Australia as other PMs did.
I don’t think he was exactly the “Scotty from Marketing” that critics liked to satirise. But, in spite of a splendid campaign (inspired by Tony Abbott) against illegal immigration, he ultimately failed to uphold the very principles of the Liberal tradition he claimed to represent.
Correct, Calli.
Never judge the left and its useful idiots on what they say, but on the consequences of their words and actions.
Well, I’ve got to say it:
He’s a f*cking areshole.
Well, I’ve got to say it:
He’s a f*cking arsehole.
I agree with this Post and what a load of BS from ‘Scottie’.
When is a Mandate not a Mandate? When it’s not spouted by a now defunct ‘Pollie’.
Not sure about that…the National Cabinet didn’t spring from Morrison’s brain de novo.
COAG had been heading in that direction for some time. Indeed, it was the Abbott government that canned the independent body that was tasked wth overseeing and monitoring COAG agreements and their implementation, increasing both the power and the secrecy available to the body. It was but a short step from that to the NC.
The template was formed in the preselection of the Division of Cook. All that follows is seamless.
Unfortunately, for I had great hopes after that unlikely win over The Hero of Beaconsfield. But it was not to be. People can change, but rarely.
I think the National Cabinet was just to protect Morrison’s cowardly, slimy arse.
It failed to do that spectacularly, but all Australians suffered as a result, and it ironically deflected much of the blame away from the premiers who deserved heaps of it too, not just Morrison.
Someone could always ask the Premiers.
Shy Tedsays:
March 9, 2023 at 6:41 pm
Can’t see that happening -and even if they were asked, there’d be duck shoving. The old “he said/she said” fiasco. Unless there’s a formal inquiry, we’ll never find out.
The problem is, everyone want’s to move on – and the Premiers know it. (See Andrews’ use of QDOS – he knows where sentiment lays in the state).
A nice bit of “Tuckering Down Under” there (IMO)
Be nice if you could pick up a sounding board like this
https://youtu.be/2LMhDMuwWKM
Australian Governments, Bureaucrats and Experts are Evil.
If they will deprive you of employment because they believe it’s “scientifically justified”, what else might they deprive you of with a justification in hand?
I consider myself lucky in some respects to have been on the receiving end of their vaccination mandate, thus being left with no doubt as to their capacity for Evil.
Gee, hasn’t that statement of staggering hitlerist arrogance and stupidity aged well?
Great work BBS.
Although never forget this statement by that fat useless knobhead, “we haven’t mandated vaccines, except when we have”. I vividly remembering him saying this and there no doubt is footage of it out there somewhere – it was most likely uttered during his appearance before those j’ismist imbeciles at the NPC.
I was left with no doubt as to their capacity for Evil for refusing to be jabbed.
So if you’re not vaccinated you’re a threat to the vaccinated?
So the vaccine won’t in fact you protect you then.
Thanks for admitting that.
Here’s hoping Sharri let him run his mouth so his stated position on what he did is now clear and unambiguous, such that he damns himself in our eyes and as the realities unveil he can be held to account and ridicule.
“It’s difficult even for me to describe the odium that surrounds him. Uriah Heep, Seth Pecksniff, Mr Merdle – the character is almost Dickensian. “
Bingo calli, you’ve nailed him. He is Dickensian, artful, sly, slithery, sneaky, slimy, and shifty.
I like Sharri Markson. She’s a very good, tough journalist, old school, does real investigatory journalism. I don’t know what her position is on vaccine mandates or lockdowns, I suspect she approves of vaccines, however one this is sure, she’s done sterling work on the Wuhan lab leak, and for her real investigatory journalism she deserves praise because she’s also copped the usual smears and ridicule from progressive scum at Nine, The Malcolm Guardian and their ABC.
We’re not meant to agree on everything and I reckon Sharri would be the first to acknowledge mistakes over the last three years. The truth behind the Covid lunacy is going to take months and years to unravel, it’s like peeling away the leaves of an artichoke until you get to the juicy succulent heart. We will get to juicy and succulent truths about Covid and how we were done over by El Morro and his paltry government, by our fascistic state governments, by China, by our totalitarian health bureaucrats, by the MSM, by WHO and so on.
As an aside, back in about June 2020, my elderly mother said to me that China, with the Covid virus, has managed to do what the Soviet Union couldn’t do in seventy years…and that is to destroy the West. I knew then she was right.
BBS – thanks for reminding me why I sent my local federal member (the constitutional ‘expert’ no less) a ‘f*ck you, f*ck you very much’ letter some time during the whole hot mess that was covid lockdown.
I had a request for volunteers for the upcoming state election – maybe I should dance a reprise.
What a total shit. Too totalitarian even for the Greens.
Just back from the big smoke, and something popped into my mind on the drive through the rain and bounding kangaroos. If the Government passed a law that meant a business had to enforce it, like checking customers for ‘vaccination ‘ status, isn’t this a form of Civil Conscription and isn’t that refused under our Constitution?
(Not a Lawyer and barely literate in the ways of Lawyerism, so correct me if I’m wrong.)
Let’s go back One year, and see what happened to business owners who opted to stick their head above the parapet & did not check customers for vaccination.
OGP ?? @FreedmFightr1
Bar Wunder owners arrested at 12:45am this morning in their home.
One has been released on bail, the other is being held until court on Monday.
Thanks for that National Cabinet, Scotty “who me? no vaccine mandates here” Morrison.
BBS: Thank you very much for this post.
I watched that episode of Sharri at the time.
When I saw Slomo blink like a rabbit in a spotlight & pull his “Lol, no vaccine mandates under a government I led” it stunned me into stone silence.
About Four times I went to post at the Cat, to mention this whitewashing of history, but was unable to find the right words to cover it.
Thank you so much for the work you put into this.
About Four times I went to post at the Cat, to mention this whitewashing of history, but was unable to find the right words to cover it.
Breathtaking lie, particularly for anyone who lived through the consequences of these f’cking dogs decisions.
+100
Great work.
The Hancock messages from the UK show what we here have all known from the start; which is virtually every decision was filtered through a political lens and not the “right thing to do” lens.
The very worst people are in charge of us.
The “vaccines”= freedom mantra enabled the political and ruling class to chuck a bed sheet over the corpse they were responsible for and move on down the road.
.. and don’t forget all those government institutions: public transport, libraries, government offices, courts, hospitals, who required vaccines for entry.
Then, we had the various states mandating (in the true sense of the word) vaccines for ‘essential’ workers’.
The feds stood by and let all this shit happen with tacit, if not explicit support.
Goebells had something to say about the ‘big lie’ approach.
There was never a fig leaf too small for this person to hide behind.
I’m reminded of Hancock’s WhatsApp revelations, in particular the need to frighten the populace into compliance. It appears the same thing was tried here, not just with the regular JoeBlows but with business as well. They did it on two fronts:
– give small businesses and hospitality a legal “out” to refuse service
– for the big guys OH&S as a perfect cover to command vaccination
It wasn’t enough that people would do these things willingly for a supposed “public good”. They had to be groomed, gaslighted and ultimately made to do it. Orders for this came from the top, not somewhere lower down the political food chain.
Back to the ex-PM and suddenly bashful architect of all of this. Earlier on I likened him to some of the more odious characters in Dickens. The logical progression from this is that the public persona is as fake and one dimensional as the characters portrayed in the novels. They are all secondary figures fleshing out and colouring the main narrative after all.
He played a strange melange of avuncular, suburban uncle type, what he may have imagined a Christian politician was supposed to look like. One who got the job by chance even though we know that to get the top job these days a politician has to be utterly ruthless. I wonder what the real person is.
duncanm says:
March 9, 2023 at 10:03 pm
When western Sydney went into that two week look down, I wrote to the NSW Treasurer, Perrottet, telling him that the govt was acting like fascists.
In that letter I said that I had only ever marched in a demonstration once and that was when the Carr govt had announced that it was removing the Governor from Government House. But I fully supported all the people who were demonstrating in the streets against the govt. I never received a response.
How many people contacted their local members during that time, I wonder? I would think it would’ve been off the charts.
I bet there’d be enough for a book.
Calli,
When Morrison responded to Clennell on Sky with that “property law” reply, I have to say I very nearly wanted to vomit.
The look on that man’s face when he said it was full of hubris.
isn’t this a form of Civil Conscription and isn’t that refused under our Constitution?
Doesn’t matter. It would have to be challenged in the High Court, if they decide to hear it and the HC will simply side with the government. Don’t forget the HC found that we don’t even have a right to free movement within our states.
The banality of evil.
There were a LOT of voices raised in resistance to this. They most certainly knew there were dissenting expert opinions – they refused to even engage with them. After my ‘home visit’ from the police telling me to shut up, I found out that I was the 3rd health care worker in my neighbourhood who had sent well referenced communications to my MP about COVID.
This *was* a worldwide, deliberate, centrally planned operation – they knew it wasn’t going to be effective, they didn’t care, they were all captured and all followed the script.
Yeah the High Court of Australia, defenders of the Constitution, a constitutional handbrake on the excesses of government. Yet those bastards sat quietly and deliberated in their (literally) ivory tower over comparative trivia and allowed our governments to lock us in our houses, destroy lives and conduct the most base abuses of power to go completely unremarked, even to this day.
May they likewise rot in the 7th circle of Hell, the cowardly bastards.
Then, we had the various states mandating (in the true sense of the word) vaccines for ‘essential’ workers’.
The feds stood by and let all this shit happen with tacit, if not explicit support.
There’s not a thing the Commonwealth could do about it.
Solely a States decision.
Not Scotty’s fault.
Every other Country in the World went in hard for Vaccine Mandates, is that Scotty’s fault too?
Brazil just denied Welfare payments to people and their children who can’t show Proof of Vaccination.
Scotty’s fault again, I suppose?
We bought 14m of latest jab, No 5, which was approved weeks ago.
Whilst the propaganda campaign has not really ramped up yet has anybody seen any stats on take up of No 5.
Yeah don’t rely on the HCA for freedom.
There have been at least seven phases of jurisprudence thought in Australia, like preemptive burials for the philosophy of the new school of thought.
Cole v Whitfield or the Tasmanian Lobster Case is so bad it is eye watering. It is our equivalent to the awful US caselaw of Wickard v Filburn.
The High Court for example does not distinguish between renewable and non renewable resources.
Latham J’s judgment in the PBS case is in dissent but his obiter (where the reasoning behind banning civil conscription) agrees with the judgment; you have to be very clever to get this as law. Civil conscription is indeed not valid law, making the point and having an audience is another matter.
Likely as the implied nationhood power was abused in the Pape case, it would be abused again in context of a pandemic, even if to temporarily deprive us of our rights, like absolutely free interstate travel (heh, “intercourse”) and commerce (which legally are in a parallel universe now and doesn’t exist here anymore, despite the unambiguous language of s 92…).
I’m surprised he hasn’t taken the money and run to Mexico to be with his Hillsong mate. Do we have an extradition treaty with Mexico I wonder?
I have resigned myself to the idea that none of the actors in this pantomime will taste judgement on earth but I take solace in knowing that the eternal and just judgement of Almighty God will see these unrepentant Communists (and/or Fascists, whatever your pleasure) suffer for eternity.
an awesome read and magnificent take-down
tour de force, BBS
deserves broader distribution
Ed Case:
Every other Country in the World went in hard for Vaccine Mandates, is that Scotty’s fault too?
Brazil just denied Welfare payments to people and their children who can’t show Proof of Vaccination.
Scotty’s fault again, I suppose?
1) We don’t live in “every other country in the world.” We live in Australia – a (supposed) liberal democracy with the rule of law. But because of s475 of the Biosecurity Act, and Morrison’s zealous disregard for citizens’ rights because his standing as the “leader” was more important, our rights were torn up in front of us, and you (and he) thinks that will be forgotten – like, hell!
2) Ed: “something, something,…Brazil, something, something.” Perhaps you should go there and be their champion, coz you’re not doing anything of value here, (and take Scummo with you).
To add insult to injury, these pricks are living it up on our dime. May they never be able to show their faces in public again.
Federal government, high court, various ‘ooman right organisations.
All there to prevent the excesses of states (the feds), or government (‘ooman rights).
None of them batted an eyelid.
Just look at this shit. Violation of peoples’ rights with vaccine mandates and exclusion or services is not even on their radar.
https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/commission-general/covid-19-information
Apparently, the impact of COVID-19 is gendered and racist.
‘of’ services
@123and Bush:
“The very worst people are in charge of us.”
And the guilty bastards will spend every dollar stolen from the punters and every dirty trick in the book to make sure to maintain that status quo.
Because that was the plan, all along.
No argument with the bulk of the argument made by BBS against Morrison in showing his hypocrisy and deviousness, but the first of the points made is not so strong. Given the stage of the national discussion on Covid and vaccines at that stage (it is now clear that natural immunity is better anyway, but that was not widely accepted then), Djokovic had to be removed once he arrived. The only way to do that was by using s501 of the Migration Act, and the only applicable ground of the ‘character test’ in s501 was one that requires a finding that the person presents some sort of risk to the community and stirring up discord, which is why Hawke’s decision had to rely on such grounds in court. It was not a statement of government policy.
From the James Allan piece in the Spectator, linked above:
Likewise, because not only do they think they’ve gotten away with it, but because they will inevitably try it all on again – and most likely very soon.
We’re in the very worst of hands – ScumMo the loathsome fat-headed oaf is the worst of the worst- he is a walking blasphemy
If you’ve got only one choice, then it ain’t a “right”
Business did not have the equal & opposite right to accept customers.
The mongrel dog says the above phrase as if businesses were refusing service because of an arbitrarily made free choice by the business operator.
Thank you Bar Beach Swimmer for taking the time to post this excellent reminder of the evil visited on the people of Australia and much of the Western World .
When they talked about ‘The Science’ it was always, always, always about the Political Science, the adjective was silent but political nonetheless.
Miksa @ 11:24am
but the first of the points made is not so strong. Given the stage of the national discussion on Covid and vaccines at that stage (it is now clear that natural immunity is better anyway, but that was not widely accepted then), Djokovic had to be removed once he arrived. The only way to do that was by using s501 of the Migration Act, and the only applicable ground of the ‘character test’ in s501 was one that requires a finding that the person presents some sort of risk to the community and stirring up discord
Djokovic arrived in Australia in January, 2022. By that time, according to the authorities, 2-jab vaccination rates had hit 95% of the country. Morrison had already announced that we’d get our freedoms back when the country was vaccinated. (95% is fully vaccinated; as I said, the Doherty Institute had only modelled to 80%.) And back then we were told that vaccination protects the vaccinated.
So why was Djokovic a risk? How could he have posed a problem to country, if absolutely everyone was vaccinated?
Re the migration act; the character grounds did not make any sense – Djokovic had come to Australia many times and had, at that stage, 9 Australian Open titles to his name.
The only thing that makes sense is that vaccinations were in all but name mandatory under the Morrison govt, and the message hadn’t changed. And it was now time to roll out the boosters, (and boosters on boosters, and boosters on boosters on boosters, all the way down to boosters)
Amazing that nobody has brought up that ScoMo gave us No Jab No Pay. If your baby hasn’t received a vaccine for a disease that only junkies get then you get priced out of childcare. And No Jab No Pay paved the way for No Jab No Play from the states.
Interestingly, around 10 years ago, lawyers for the NSW government said that any compulsion regarding vaccination would be illegal because of the anti-disability clause in the Human Rights Act. You can’t discriminate against someone for having a disease (eg AIDS) so they assumed (reasonably) you couldn’t discriminate against someone because they might have a disease (ie be unvaccinated for measles (assuming the vaccine works)).
Well governments found a way around this. They decided that being unvaccinated was bad in and of itself and therefore you could be discriminated for it. It wasn’t that you were more likely to have a disease it was simply that you didn’t obey the government, therefore governments and businesses could punish you.
. Exactly how I see it Perplexed – and we’re in good company too –
THOUGH the mills of God grind slowly,
Yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience he stands waiting,
With exactness grinds he all.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Sal, very good point.
“despite you being in private enterprise, the government will decide who your customers will be.”
Welcome to Nazi Germany.
Oh and just a reminder.
Some of us were screaming about this 10 years ago when ScoMo gave us NJNP.
We said that this was the most important issue in Western civilisation because whatever your views of the necessity of the hepatitis B or any other vaccine, it enables governments to wield absolute power.
Forget about the leftist scum, the fact is the vast majority of people on the Right said:
“pffft! Stupid anti-vaxers!
Your kids will get measles and measles kills 875 per cent of its victims! The TV said so!
The TV told me Andrew Wakefield was wrong!
Your kids’ injuries are all in your head! I got 5 vaccines when I was a kid so the 100 vaccines kids get today should be a walk in the park! So what if your kid’s health started deteriorating immediately after their shots. It’s just a coincidence. The TV told me. It wouldn’t lie.
Don’t tell me about statistical shenanigans like renaming polio! If that were true, the TV would have told me. Vaccines work!”
Miksa,
Indeed, over 100 years of immunology was discarded in order to push “vaccines”.
“Then, we had the various states mandating (in the true sense of the word) vaccines for ‘essential’ workers’.
The feds stood by and let all this shit happen with tacit, if not explicit support.
There’s not a thing the Commonwealth could do about it.
Solely a States decision.
Not Scotty’s fault.”
Yes, it was Scotty’s fault.
As per the post, he declared a federal biosecurity emergency, giving him (OK, his “Health Minister”) near unlimited control and requiring very specific circumstances to be met – that is, “due process” is part of this legislation.
So he could have gotten that power and said something like: “There WILL be NO mandates and no coercion from the states to get a vax. If the states try to do this, they will be charged under federal law, as will any company or government department that demands personal health information from Australians to enter their premises, regardless of whether they are an employee, a customer or for any other reason. Such health discrimination is completely unacceptable, and I will put in place systems to ensure that anyone who attempts such bastardry is prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The Australian people have given us their trust to run the country, we must reciprocate that trust, and trust their own judgment on what is best for their own health. There can be no argument that it is ‘my body, my life and my choice’, as every state health department currently recognises with some sort of ‘right to refuse treatment’ policy. While we certainly encourage all Australians to obtain the vax for this horrible disease, it is ultimately between them and their trusted medical professional as to what is right and best for them, and no government – local, state or federal – has the right to interfere in such decisions, much less demand it. Shame on anyone who thinks they have the right to control another persons health decisions.”
But he didn’t have the balls to stand up to the “worriers” and fright-bats – too worried about “the optics” and getting blamed if grandma died.
excellent point Sal
he is lying by omission
Kneelsays:
March 10, 2023 at 12:49 pm
I hear Australia has a vacancy for a leader – if you put that in the resume, you’ll be a shoe-in.
It’s welfare, eat shit. We’re talking about losing jobs, not getting gibs.
No you imbecile. He was very wrong and dishonest.
Virtually no one had adverse effects from vaccination until the COVID shots because they were rushed and it was corrupt to boot.
Stop being an idiot all of your adult life.
No, they amended the relevant law you stupid prick.
Very well said. COVID vaccines will make more people anti vaxxers because they’re pissed off they were treated so badly.
” So, freedom on one hand vs ongoing controls on the other. “
I was always skeptical that this was the Black Death Mk II, which was confirmed when my status went from “so vital to keeping other people alive that you need to risk your life [they said, not me] by continuing to go to work – you’re THAT vital!” to, virtually overnight, “No! You can’t leave your house unless you get the vax, regardless of what you do for a crust. Either work from home, lose your job or get jabbed.”
Right.
Vital to keeping other people alive – until you want something from me, then I’m not.
Because, you know, making sure emergency services keep functioning is in no way vital like it was last week. Just get enjabbenated Kneel – it’s for your own good. Both your health, and now your finances. No coercion though, oh no. You don’t have the right to refuse THIS treatment buddy. Oh, and you have to supply personal medical details to your employer, even though it’s none of their business by law – because we are in charge, and you’ll do what we say.
Populist traitors, the whole bloody lot of ’em (bar the odd one or two).
Don’t tell me about statistical shenanigans like renaming polio! If that were true, the TV would have told me. Vaccines work!”
Freedom Quote.
Indeed, over 100 years of immunology was discarded in order to push “vaccines”.
Immunology is and always was garbage.
Injecting a toddler with Snake venom, bits of dogs kidneys, slices of monkey brain, mercury, Aluminum, Formalin and cell Lines from Aborted Babies would attract the Death Penalty in a sane Country.
I too used to believe in the ‘safety and effectiveness’ of vaccines because that is what I, as a Dr, was taught. Until COVID, I had no idea that vaccine science was just as corrupt as climate science, and that collusion between the regulators, media and big pharma was totally squashing dissent.
If you still believe that (except for COVID vaxxes), the rest of the vax program is ‘safe and effective’ I urge you to look at the work of US pediatrician Paul Thomas, who opened my idea to the concept that *even if* (and its a big if), the vaxxes work as described and provide protection against polio, measles, hepatitis B, HPV etc etc etc, what is the nature and extent of the downside risks>?
In particular, is it possible that the explosion in chronic inflammatory diseases of adults and children (diabetes, sinusitis, food allergies, ADHD, autism etc etc etc) has resulted from the immune stimulatory effects of vaccines – which are, after all, designed to stimulate the immune system.
Just to give one mechanistic example: nearly ALL vaccines require an ‘adjuvant’ as part of the formulation to make your immune system sit up and take notice of the material in the injection (ie to treat the dead protein it contains as a live infection, rather than an inert object like a splinter) .
What if this ‘adjuvant’ is toxic in itself (eg Aluminium, which is v definitely toxic)
What if this adjuvant not only activates the immune system to see the vaccine as a threat, what if it also activates the immune system to see other environmental proteins as a threat – eg peanut proteins, or grass pollens?
What if this adjuvant also activates the immune system to see normal human proteins as a threat (eg the islet cells of the pancreas – autoimmune destruction of which causes Type 1 diabetes)?
23rd March 2020 is a date all in NSW will never forget:
https://twitter.com/NSWHealth/status/1241945178367123456
Duk
I mostly agree with you. I find it really, really odd that aluminum is an adjuvant. A lot of diseases were wiped out by better sanitation and antibiotics, medical imaging. Vaccines have been a net benefit but they have been oversold as an overreaction to anti vaxxers who have ascetic or wholly non evidence based ideas.
There is a huge difference between what you are saying (evidence based) and Figures loony beliefs about thetans/bad juju/negative emotions.
Autism is a swirling mass of over diagnosis, OCD, ADD, a lack of discipline by parents, a lack of care by teachers, grant money based off disability, genuine cases and the use of a medical term as a catch all for possibly several different atypical neural characteristics humans can have. If everyone is on the spectrum then it isn’t a problem and for some it really is.
‘Autism’ does not equate to nerdy kids who are good at maths but poor at relationships and sports. Autism includes seriously damaged kids who went from ‘normal milestones’ to ‘withdrawn, head banging, no longer speaking or talking’ temporallylinked to vaccination … often within a day or 2 of the shots. A lot of these are seriously damaged kids, not socially awkward braniacs who are obsessed with dinosaurs.
These diagnoses have literally *exploded* from < 1/1000 to more than 1/40 over the last 40 or 50 years, and coincide with the rampup of the childhood vax schedule.
And, just like the side effects of the covid shots, side effects of the childhood vaxxes has been covered up by a tight campaign of silencing dissenters.
Where were the autistic kids 40 plus years ago? Were they home with mum? Pretty much every year at school has at least one nowadays, if not every class. The special schools didn’t have many students.
Martin Kulldorf reminded that moron the other day that we’ve known about herd immunity since the great plague of Athens.
It was Australia-wide. Each state gave an individual advice, matching all the others.
Scott “mandate? dunno what ya mean!” Morrison arranged it the day before, Sunday 22nd, (thus the day is known as “Scomo Sunday“) each state gave matching advice (for which Slomo very publicly took credit)
As many here may recall, the lockdown was initiated because Scomo was enraged that on Saturday people went to Bondi Beach & sunbaked in the open. So he called a National Cabinet meeting the following day & got the entire nation locked down, with an expected reopening date not being until September.
Correct, its a real increase, any experienced teacher can tell you that – 20 or 30 years ago you would be lucky to find one in a school, now its one or more per class, and, as noted earlier, I am not talking nerdy kids who would rather be in the library than the playground, I’m talking seriously disabled kids who are highly disruptive.
It is *NOT* a case of ‘better diagnosis’, its a real thing, its massive (1/1000 to 1/40, and it *must* be environmental, NOT genetic – you dont get genetic changes over a generation or 2.
The local libs are trolling me again for assistance in the upcoming NSW election.
My response;
Never supported the mandates?
So, what? He and his government were sublimely indifferent? Indifferent enough to stand on the sidelines while state governments went to war on their own people?
As soon as he refers to the National ‘Keystone Kabinet’ he surrenders the defence that it was a state issue.
I do not for a moment believe he is a good man, but if he intends now to re-cast himself as one I would contend that, as a matter of principle, a man who knows what is good and yet does nothing is not a good man.
My question is this : why did Morrison get tossed out when “Dan the Man” got re-elected ? He and Brett Sutton should be incarcerated and not anywhere near the levers of power . Unbelievable .
“I do not for a moment believe he is a good man, but if he intends now to re-cast himself as one I would contend that, as a matter of principle, a man who knows what is good and yet does nothing is not a good man.”
Well said.
“My question is this : why did Morrison get tossed out when “Dan the Man” got re-elected ? He and Brett Sutton should be incarcerated and not anywhere near the levers of power . Unbelievable .”
Not really, as Rowan Dean said on Outsiders on the morning of 22 May 2022…
“when you stand for nothing, you lose”.
Like him or loathe him, Dan Andrews does stand for something, whereas the Victorian Liberals and El Morro, the tinpot dictator of Australia, stood for nothing, absolutely nothing, and that’s why they lost, big time.
Why is Biden in the WH?
After everything you have seen in the last 3 years, are you still confident in the intelligence of our fellow citizens, and the integrity of our rulers and the deep state?
Cassie,
What does Dan Andrews stand for ? Corruption ? Authoritarianism ? Bollocks. The last time Labour held power in Victoria they smashed the states finances and no-one remembers . There are NO excuses for what he is .
I’d say Morrison is the ultimate weathervane, but that is far too complimentary. At least a weathervane will tell you which way the wind is blowing. Morrison couldn’t even get that right. He was dangerously useless, and it’s a very good thing he’s no longer the Prime Minister.
Oh come on says:
March 11, 2023 at 11:05 am
Read Rocco Loicano’s & Augusto Zimmerman’s book, Deconstructing ScoMo – tells you everything about that him.
Old Goat:
What does Dan Andrews stand for ? Corruption ? Authoritarianism ?
The problem is the Victorian Opposition stood for less and supported or played a dead bat on everything else.
well said Cassie. The libs are a big nothingburger at state and federal level at the moment.
what was Ben Lee’s catchy lyric?
… they’re all in this together ?
https://twitter.com/TheAngryBee1/status/1633668624295788544
I did to my local and federal. My local member response did at least offer some compassion, the federal (I live in Sturt formerly The Mincing Poodles’ seat) response was an insult, completely dismissive and pointed me to an FAQ government site telling me my 5G vaccine concerns were not necessary, even though my only concern raised was vaccinating school kids. I loathe the Liberal party. They are dead to me.
The LDP and a handful of other minors/independents were effectively the opposition during those dark days. The standouts to me were David Limbrick and Catherine Cumming (especially her speeches against Dan’s All Your Base Are Belong To Us bill).
Limbrick and Cumming really were stand outs. It is a shame they were not listened to on a rational or an emotional basis. The cult of Dan was in full swing.