Assistant Minister for Trade Tim Ayres outside Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Aug. 19, 2024. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

Australian Senate Rejects Bill for Inquiry Into COVID-19 Response

August 22, 2024 TruthUSA

Australian senators rejected a call from Senator Ralph Babet to establish a Commission of Inquiry into the government’s pandemic response.

United Australia Party Senator Ralph Babet urged the Senate to establish a Commission of Inquiry into the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic, criticizing Liberal and Labor senators who voted against his motion.

The motion lost 26 votes to 10, with the Liberal Party split over the issue.

If passed, the inquiry would have had the same powers and independence as a royal commission.

“The Senate has overwhelmingly voted to protect COVID-era secrets, to protect incompetence, and protect those who inflicted human rights abuses on their fellow citizens,” Babet said.

“Australians deserve to know the truth about what went on behind closed doors during the pandemic. Civil liberties were trashed, businesses were destroyed, children’s education was ruined, sports were banned, people died alone, lives were lost and families were broken up.

“Is it too much for Australians to ask for governments and the bureaucrats advising them to be held to account for the advice and actions they took during the pandemic? To simply move on, as if nothing ever happened, is an outrage greater than the multiple outrages perpetrated during the pandemic itself,” he added.

United Australia Party Senator Ralph Babet. (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0/Parliament of Australia website) — United Australia Party Senator Ralph Babet. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0/Parliament of Australia website

Babet accused Australia’s “political class” of denying the public a complete account of what happened.

Senators who supported the motion were Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts (One Nation), Matt Canavan and Ross Cadell (Nationals), Gerard Rennick, Andrew McLachlan, Richard Colbeck and Matt O’Sullivan (Liberals), and David Pocock (Independent).

The Greens and most other Liberals abstained, and all Labor senators voted against the Bill.

After the Senate voted against a bill aiming to prevent discrimination based on vaccine status, with 32 votes against and 28 for, Australia is currently conducting an ongoing inquiry into the government’s COVID-19 response, along with an inquiry into excess mortality.

In 2022, a Labor-led Senate committee supported a royal commission or similar committee to look into Australia’s COVID response..

In late 2023, the Senate voted to refer an inquiry into the appropriate terms of reference for a COVID-19 Royal Commission to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee, recommending the federal government establish a royal commission. This time, there was a dissenting report from two Labor members.

Assistant Minister for Trade Tim Ayres criticized Dutton’s leadership and the political landscape amid discussions on the pandemic response, highlighting the need for serious leadership in supporting the public.

Rennick spoke out about his stance on COVID affecting his Senate preselection, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing public concerns over political agendas.

Widely criticized, the current independent inquiry into the Commonwealth government’s COVID-19 response has faced backlash for its limited scope, excluding unilateral actions by state and territory governments. Various organizations and figures have called for a more comprehensive review, highlighting the necessity of a royal commission to ensure transparency and accountability in the pandemic response.

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