The corridor clash between Liberal Member of Parliament Craig Kelly and Labor frontbencher Tania Plibersek has revealed an important aspect of Australian politics.
Plibersek, a member of Labor’s Far Left faction, attempted to “cancel” Kelly for his “endorsement” of a drug that has apparently provided an effective treatment against COVID-19.
First of all, it is patently clear that Kelly was not “endorsing” anything.
He simply published on his Facebook page a number of peer-reviewed papers written by leading medical academics and experts supporting such treatment.
His comment on ivermectin, for example, was based on the research of immunologist Prof. Robert Clancy from Newcastle University.
In an interview with 6PR last Wednesday, Clancy stated that the use of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin was “clearly effective.” As a leading expert in the field, he was explaining the facts and results as he carefully interpreted them.
As can be seen, this is not just Kelly’s opinion.
The combined use of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin has worked in other countries and research confirms they certainly work.
For example, the World Health Organization and the National Institute of Health (U.S.) have both endorsed the treatment combo, with India planning to treat the population with the two drugs plus zinc supplements.
But I guess it might be too much for our political establishment to handle. The prime minister wants 95 percent of the population taking the vaccine, although those aged under 60 have exhibited a small chance of dying from the virus.
He wants to make vaccination as mandatory as possible.
“I expect that it would be as mandatory as you can possibly make it,” Morrison stated in August last year.
His comments followed the signing of Australia’s first vaccine deal with drug maker AstraZeneca.
Such a vaccine has been rushed through trials and has never been successfully produced for a coronavirus: it might do more harm than good.
Rather than defending the right of a fellow parliamentarian, indeed a member of his own governing party, to freely express his opinion. The prime minister reportedly reprimanded Kelly for supporting an alternative treatment.
“The views expressed by the member for Hughes do not align with my views, or the views of the advice that has been provided to me by the chief medical office,” Morrison told Parliament last Wednesday.
The prime minister should have supported Kelly’s right to express his opinion.
The Radical Left, including Plibersek, want Kelly “cancelled” in the usual way when someone disagrees with them.
However, a full fact-check would testify that everything he says about hydroxychloroquine is actually true. The drug has been successfully used to treat COVID-19 in India, the Czech Republic, and some states in the United States.
The very government that bans therapeutics like hydroxychloroquine and zinc, is the same that miserably failed to protect nursing homes where the highest incidence of COVID deaths occurred.
I also suspect the prime minister and Plibersek do not even understand the difference between a vaccine and a treatment.
To add insult to injury, Kelly has been slapped with the label “anti-vaxxer” when all he has done is to expose the truth about successful drug treatments.
The evidence is overwhelming.
The false mantra that governments must follow the “advice” of cherry-picked “health experts” must be challenged, and politicians to have a democratic mandate to question the advice.
Nobody must be “cancelled” for daring to challenge the status quo, and Kelly should still be able to exercise his fundamental right to free speech.
