Will Keith Pitt, MP for Hinkler, answer my questions about Federal COVID policy?

It’s beginning to look a lot like… Federal election season. And that means our Federal members suddenly remember that you and I exist, and want to get their names and bona fides under our noses.

A couple of days ago, I received the following email from my MP, Keith Pitt:

Dear Robyn

On 21 May, Australians will choose their government for the next three years.

This election will have real consequences for Australia’s economy – and our local community.

Now is not the time to risk our economic recovery and national security with Labor.

Australia’s post-COVID recovery has been among the strongest in the world and unemployment is nearing a 50-year low of below 4%.

With growing global threats and uncertainty, the Morrison Government has strengthened our Defence Force by making the largest investment and expansion of the ADF during peacetime - to keep Australia safe.

To build a stronger future we are:

• Delivering even more high-skilled, well-paying jobs.

• Delivering lower taxes for workers and small businesses.

• Reducing your cost of living to make it easier to pay household bills.

• Making record investments in health and education.

• Investing in the roads, rail, bridges, and dams Australia needs.

Locally, we are rebuilding Paradise Dam after the Queensland State Labor Government broke it, with up to $600 million to provide water security for the region.

I've fought for funding for a critical care doctor to join the LifeFlight Rescue Service to ensure people have expert care when they are critically ill.

I'm making it easier to access a GP with medical practices in Hervey Bay now able to recruit Australian bonded doctors as well as overseas-trained doctors.

The alternative is Anthony Albanese and Labor with their higher taxes, higher unemployment, and cuts to our defence force and national security. We can’t risk our recovery with Labor.

With your support, the Liberal National team will continue our plan for a strong economy and a stronger future.

Yours sincerely,

Keith Pitt MP
LNP Member for Hinkler

Authorised by Lincoln Folo, Liberal National Party of Queensland, 281 Sandgate Road, Albion, QLD 4010

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Now, I have to say that I have pretty much zero interest in seeing my hard-earned taxpayer’s dollars being siphoned off into military expansionism, and am even more opposed to tipping them down the bottomless pit of the “health” system which is foisting unsafe, unproven products onto both well and sick people, and the “education” system that is churning out high school leavers who are barely literate, almost entirely innumerate, and unable to think their way out of a wet paper bag. Our medical and educational paradigms are completely broken. There is no possibility of reform for these systems; we urgently need to build entirely new ones that are outside the corrupting control of the state.

As you can imagine, my primary concerns in the upcoming Federal election revolve around COVID policy.

So I sent the following reply to Mr Pitt:

Dear Mr Pitt

For the first time since I became eligible to vote, I am a single-issue voter. Any candidate whose policy platform explicitly opposes all restrictions on individual freedom with respect to medical decisions will get my vote. Any candidate who supports - or does not explicitly oppose - vaccine mandates, quarantining of people who do not have symptoms, requirements for medical testing of people who do not have symptoms, use of public funds to buy experimental vaccines/injectable products whose manufacturers are exempt from liability, or segregation on the basis of vaccination status, will be my last choice on the ballot paper.

Your email does not give me any information on your position with respect to these issues. I would appreciate clarification from you.

Regards

--
Robyn Chuter BHSc(Hons), ND, GDCouns, FASLM, MATMS

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I received a reply from Mr Pitt’s electorate officer the following morning:

Thank you Robyn

Below is Keith’s previous response to vaccine mandates:

As you are aware, the State Government is responsible for introducing the mandates for a range of industries/sectors.

There are many industries which have conditions of employment, i.e. mine workers are subject to drug and alcohol testing. Earlier this year, the Queensland Chief Health Officer directed that from 30 May 2021 everyone entering a residential aged care facility needs to be vaccinated against influenza.

Have you raised your concerns directly with your state Member?

As previously stated, Keith has expressed his concerns that this system will effectively separate Queenslanders on the basis of their vaccination status, essentially mandating medical segregation.

He does not agree with position taken by the State Labor Government.

The constitution prohibits the Federal Government from intervening in responsibilities of the States and Territories.

Regards

Darlene Dobson

Electorate Officer

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I doubt you’ll be surprised to learn that I did not consider this a satisfactory answer, so I fired off the following reply:

Darlene

Thanks for your response. However, it does not address my key concerns, which fall within the purview of the Federal government, not the State. In addition, it's disingenuous for a Federal Liberal MP to blame the States for vaccine mandates, given that it was Scott Morrison who essentially greenlighted the Premiers to do so by saying on 3AW that he “expected [COVID vaccines] to be as mandatory as you can possibly make it”. Furthermore, if the Federal government can pass legislation for the express purpose of overriding Daniel Andrew's Belt and Road agreements with China - a State matter - what is stopping them from passing legislation to stop the States imposing vaccine mandates, which Morrison claims not to support? That's quite a double standard.

The following matters regarding COVID-19 policy are federal:

• The Morrison government has signed contracts which the public is not permitted to see, with Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Novavax, to supply COVID-19 vaccines/injectable products. We know that these contracts grant complete legal indemnity to the manufacturers. The government has set up a no-fault vaccine injury compensation scheme which is funded not by the companies that produce the products that are injuring people, but by the taxpayer.
  So, as someone who has been paying tax for the past 30+ years, I have been slugged for:
  a) the Federal government's contribution to the research and development of vaccines by for-profit companies;
  b) the purchase of those products under contracts that I'm not permitted to scrutinise;
  c) the aggressive marketing campaign to persuade me to take one of these products (without being provided with the information required to give informed consent; I had to discover this information for myself by reading the published clinical trial and postmarketing surveillance data, which I'm able to access and understand because of my health science background, but which most people aren't able to make use of); and
  d) the compensation scheme for those injured by these poorly-tested products, which in their clinical trials failed the most basic metrics of preventing infection and transmission of SARS-CoV-2, and preventing hospitalisations and deaths.
  On top of that, despite paying my Medicare levy for my entire adult life, I'm now excluded from accessing many of the services that the Medicare system is supposed to provide for me, as many GPs refuse to see patients who have not accepted a COVID-19 vaccine/injection, despite the obvious failure of these products to prevent infection and spread of the COVID-19 virus. I'm not even permitted to visit a sick loved one in the hospitals that my taxes fund, or to accompany my son to his childhood cancer survivors' clinic visits.
  

• As a person who has not had a COVID-19 vaccine/injection, I am not permitted to leave this country, because the Federal government signed up to a WHO treaty that was not put to a popular vote. I understand that aside from Australia, only Canada - a country which seizes its own citizens' assets and freezes their bank accounts for participating in or supporting a lawful protest - and the UAE - which conducts public floggings and jails women who report that they've been raped - are still barring their unvaccinated citizens from leaving their country. It is wholly within the Federal government's power to join the civilised world and repeal these draconian and nonsensical restrictions, yet they choose to keep them in place.

And finally, the comparison of COVID-19 vaccine mandates to conditions of employment within other industries is invalid. Mine workers undergo drug and alcohol testing to ensure their own safety and that of their colleagues. COVID-19 injections do not prevent either infection with SARS-CoV-2, or transmission of the virus to other people. Thus they provide no meaningful personal protection (especially when compared to early treatment with off-label medications, which the government has effectively banned) and no protection to others.

Darlene, as a newcomer to this electorate, this is the first Federal election in which I'll be casting a ballot in Hinkler. I'm considering my options carefully, and any candidates who don't address my concerns are immediately moved to the bottom of my preference list. From the conversations I've been having lately with the members of my new community, I can tell you, and Mr Pitt, that there are plenty of other people who share my concerns.

I await Mr Pitt's response with great interest.

Regards

--
Robyn Chuter BHSc(Hons), ND, GDCouns, FASLM, MATMS

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I’ll keep you, dear reader, updated if I receive a reply. And if you’re in Australia and eligible to vote in the upcoming Federal election, I encourage you to put your MP - and all other candidates for the seat - on notice that his or her position on COVID policy will determine how you cast your vote.

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Still no reply as of 29 April, so I just sent a reminder that my questions have not been answered:

Keith and Darlene

It's now been over two weeks since I sent the email below, and I'm yet to receive a response from you.

I'm not sure if you are aware of the level of anger in the Australian voting public at both Federal and State government policy responses to COVID-19. There is a strong movement to unseat incumbents of both political stripes, to hold them accountable for the needless suffering inflicted on us by non-science-based policies that did - and continue to do - more harm than good, and it doesn't pay for sitting members to ignore their constituents' communications.

I thought you might be interested in my account of our correspondence - as one-sided as it has been - on Substack, and my subscribers' comments: https://robynchuter.substack.com/p/will-keith-pitt-mp-for-hinkler-answer.

Regards

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Robyn Chuter