Federal MP Craig Kelly Brings ‘Convoy’ Protestors Into Parliament

Craig Kelly MP preparing to take members of the 'Convoy to Canberra' movement inside federal Parliament in Canberra, Australia, on Feb. 8, 2022. Brook Mitchell/Getty Images

United Australia Party leader Craig Kelly MP has signed-in a group of people participating in protests against vaccine mandates to enter his office at the federal Parliament building.

Thousands of protestors had gathered in front of Australia’s national legislature on the first parliamentary sitting day of the year to express their views against vaccine mandates and restrictions as part of the “Convoy to Canberra” demonstrations held in solidarity with the major U.S. and Canadian truckers’ convoys.

Kelly rejected that it was irresponsible to bring the rallygoers into the building amid COVID-19 restrictions in place during parliamentary sitting weeks.

“These people are protesting about, they simply want to the mandates to end, so they can go back to work,” he told reporters from his office.

United Australia Party leader Craig Kelly (C) with protesters against COVID-19 government-backed restrictions and mandates that he signed into Parliament in his office at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Feb. 8, 2022. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

“We can’t afford in this nation to have these people out of work for another single day. I was at the protest campaign yesterday, and 99 percent are good family people hard working Australians who just want to get back and contribute.”

Kelly said the group planned to deliver a letter to the prime minister, opposition leader, and speaker of the house, covering a range of issues including an end to vaccine mandates, the resumption of free and open interstate travel, and a moratorium on the deregistration of medical practitioners who expressed opinions in conflict with existing COVID-19 medical orthodoxy.

The MP added that the crowds of people “outside on the lawns of Parliament House today” want “one simple thing”—for the “mandates to end so they can have their jobs back.”

Members of the Afghan community and protestors against COVID-19 government-backed restrictions and mandates gather at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Feb. 8, 2022. Brook Mitchell/Getty Images

Liberal Senator Gerard Rennick also joined protestors outside the federal parliament, saying he would help the crowd “fight to end the mandates.”

“Make sure our children don’t get vaccinated. Make sure to restore our civil liberties and end this government overreach,” he said.

This is the second week of “Convoy to Canberra” protests with demonstrators gathering across major landmarks and roads in Canberra, including the National Library, Parliament House, Australian War Memorial, Canberra Airport, and outside Government House, the governor-general’s official residence.

Police have estimated that there are around 3,000 protestors in the national capital. Law enforcement are currently maintaining a large presence outside Parliament House.

Meanwhile, a GoFundMe campaign that had raised more than AU$179,000 (US $127,000) for the protests was frozen and subsequently refunded to all donors.

The Canadian truckers protest to Ottawa has inspired individuals around the world to hold similar events protesting government-backed COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates, with events in the Netherlands, Austria, United States, United Kingdom, and New Zealand.