Stop the authoritarian creep
Say no to vaccine mandates
Say no to vaccine mandates
Regardless of your view on the COVID-19 vaccines available, the issue I am writing to you about is a human rights issue. It stems from the ongoing push by state governments across Australia to make COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for not only employment but also travel and even medical care.
This is nothing short of alarming.
When an individual can no longer choose in line with one’s conscience, there is no freedom. Arguably, freedom of conscience is inherently as important — and comparable to —the right to sexual consent which has been pushed to the forefront of public conversation as a result of the #MeToo movement. I would like to think that the same logical consistency could be applied to defending this other basic human right.
The bullying, discrimination, segregation and the creation of a two tiered society must end.
The right to live and work without being subjected to a medical procedure or the whims of a tin pot bureaucrat must be restored and protected. If we lose this right completely, the slippery slope will only get slipperier.
The federal parliament must act urgently to protect the freedom of Australians to choose their own way of life without interference from government, corporate Australia and bureaucracies with authoritarian tendencies.
Whilst Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said mandating vaccines is “not the policy of the government”, he said that employers can give a “reasonable directive” to their staff, provided it complies with discrimination law. This puts individuals in a very dangerous position. More needs to be done to protect the individual and provide legal grounds for protection from discrimination by employers. That’s why we are calling upon ScoMo to admonish state Premiers to uphold the basic freedom of conscience.
South Australia is a prime example where freedom of conscience has been trampled upon with COVID-19 inoculation requirements imposed for occupations including retail workers, police, aged care, health and disability support workers, taxi drivers and more.
Now more than ever before we need brave men and women to stand up not for what is easy or politically correct, but for what is morally right.
Sir Robert Menzies once said, “The rarest form of courage, I think, in the world, is moral courage. The courage that a man has when he is prepared to form his view of the truth and to pursue it, when he is not running around the corner every five minutes to say, ‘Is this going to be popular?”
Politicians would do well to heed this advice from Australia’s twelfth prime minister before they dare to wipe away more of your freedoms.