COVID-19 Emergency Response

The Hon. S.L. GAME (15:24): I rise to speak on a matter of profound importance to all South Australians, a matter that needs an open, thorough and honest response. For 793 days, South Australians lived under an emergency management declaration, during which extraordinary powers were vested in the State Emergency Coordinator, the South Australian Commissioner of Police. Borders were closed, businesses shuttered, statewide lockdowns and social distancing limits imposed, and even the basic act of standing and drinking alcohol was prohibited. These were unprecedented restrictions on our rights and freedoms, and many of us are still suffering from the effects of them.

This ongoing harm can be seen in the Adelaide Advertiser's 'Lockdown Kids' series, which highlights the long-term impact of lockdowns on the mental health of our young people, describing this generation as broken. However, it should never be forgotten that it was the media itself that acted in coordination with government and health authorities to fan the flames of our collective anxiety. It should come as no shock at all that our children and young people are still psychologically and emotionally suffering after being subjected to one of the greatest fear campaigns ever conducted in our history.

At the time, the only way out of lockdowns, according to government and health authorities, was mass vaccination mandated under an emergency directive. Those who hesitated or resisted were condemned as a threat to the community, their right to refuse medical treatment and their right to bodily autonomy dismissed. Looking back, it is difficult not to feel a sense of shame at how quickly we allowed such profound incursions into our personal liberties, but we must resist the urge to deny or forget what happened.

We must maintain a commitment to a rigorous and thorough examination of the circumstances and responses that resulted in the greatest infringement on personal rights and freedoms that this state has seen. Our commitment to transparency and accountability is essential if we are to restore public trust and ensure such overreach is never repeated. We must embrace the opportunity to acknowledge the widespread injustice and suffering, and start to rebuild public confidence in our institutions.

Only last week, five years since the first lockdown, the Australian Human Rights Commission released its report into the impact of the pandemic response on human rights. The commission's report includes stories from thousands of innocent Australians who were harmed by the actions taken by governments during the pandemic. What a shame that the commission did not act or speak up enough to stop these things from happening at the time. It is clear from these stories that much of the harm caused was due to heavy-handed responses to the pandemic rather than the virus itself.

The report included stories of daughters who placed their mother into aged care and had to watch her through a glass window as she descended into despair; a man who watched his father's funeral from his kitchen over streamed video link; and a pregnant woman who did not want to get the vaccine but took it to keep her job and, at 17 weeks' pregnant, experienced a stillbirth and had to deliver her baby alone in the hospital while her husband was refused entry due to a positive COVID test. Unfortunately, the commission's report did not include the experience of the vaccine injured, despite many submissions.

In June 2023, I had the opportunity to meet with world-renowned cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra. It was the untimely death of his father and the growing body of evidence highlighting safety issues with certain COVID vaccines that caused Dr Malhotra to speak out. In response, the mainstream media and medical profession criticised Dr Malhotra for spreading misinformation and being an anti-vaxxer. When he visited Adelaide in June 2023, the Adelaide Advertiser labelled him as a controversial anti-vaxxer and criticised individuals for attending his presentation. Back then, Dr Malhotra warned that such personal attacks without analysing the data would lead to public distrust and a dangerous fall in safe vaccine uptake.

In December 2024, Dr Malhotra coauthored a petition calling for the immediate suspension of all mRNA COVID vaccines. According to Dr Malhotra, there is undeniable evidence that there are serious risks associated with the COVID-19 vaccine. He has received support from multiple medical experts and high profile figures, including Dr Jay Bhattacharya, who is set to become the new Director of the National Institute of Health in the United States. Unfortunately, here in Australia, both state and federal governments continue to dismiss growing concerns about DNA contamination from the mRNA COVID vaccines.