PROTEST GROUPS PAST THEIR USE-BY DATE
From the Premier to protest groups, are the people of Queensland only being used for someone else’s agenda?
WE are being used.
No matter which side of the border you sit on – Queensland or NSW, pro or anti-vax, pro or anti-lockdown – we’ve all become the pawn of something larger.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s warning that our state may remain closed until all children under 12 can be vaccinated is proof that her argument is no longer soundly based in science but political pointscoring.
“You open up this state and you let the virus in here, and every child under 12 is vulnerable, every single child,” she said.
“If anyone has any children under 12 to zero, (they are) vulnerable because they are the unvaccinated.”
It’s pretty bloody hard to argue against “but think of the children” … but I’m a mother and all I ever do is think of the children.
And as soon as my children are eligible, they will be vaccinated. But I’m not asking the state to wait for them, because science says they are at low risk.
I feel so let down because I have supported so much of what our state government has done – because they have simply followed the science – but this is a fail.
And people far smarter than I agree.
Take the learned opinion of paediatrician and vaccine expert Professor Robert Booy, who is also a member of the national Immunisation Coalition, for example:
“I have been a paediatrician and have worked in the promotion of vaccinations for decades,” Professor Booy said.
“If I thought young children needed urgent vaccination, I would say so. Keeping borders shut because of the children is not a sensible measure.”
So please, Ms Palaszczuk, when it comes to politics – don’t think of the children.
It’s all the more disappointing because this just adds fuel to the fire that is anti-government sentiment.
This pandemic has created an environment in which anti
Establishment, anti-medicine, anti-authority, anti-anything has flourished … and those platforms are only building themselves up by using others.
While the Premier’s stance is distasteful, the protest groups are worse.
These “anti groups are merely on the hunt for fame and followers and it’s the foolish who have taken the clickbait.
And that’s especially, frighteningly, true for the “grassroots” protests that have been sweeping our city.
Speaking to ABC Gold Coast this week, the New Daily’s political editor Josh Butler said despite the many protests occurring in the city – from the border to the council chambers to the M1 – few were truly homegrown.
“A lot of them are connected. The ones that we saw earlier this week were across the country, hundreds of locations were involved.
“We’re starting to see a lot of these groups crossover. In Queensland, you can see the wellness/fitness/healthy eating bloggers and influencers tapping into this anti-vaxxer and anti-medicine sentiment … until the point of the protest becomes pretty vague.”
In fact, the protest agenda is often being set well outside our country.
And even when locals are joining in, it’s with a business agenda of their own.
Sadly, it looks like it’s about to get worse.
“There are more protests being planned, there are large groups talking about large protests this month, these are not grassroots campaign but coming from the likes of Germany,” Butler said.
“The ones on the books for September are part of this ‘global movement for freedom’ or whatever they want to call it.
“When we see local groups joining in, you see a lot of live-streaming happening … it’s the influencer way of creating content.”
It’s the 2021 version of rent-a-crowd. And yet, the vibe I’m getting right now is very much circa 1990s X-Files: trust no one. But I refuse to be played that way.
Our leaders may make mistakes but I still trust they have our best interests – and our health and safety – at heart.
There is no great conspiracy here, it’s just a matter of public health meeting the political arena.
It’s inevitable, if still unsavoury, that there is overlap.
But as for the anti-scienceand-sensibility brigade, I wouldn’t trust them with a 10-foot bio-charger.
Too many of these mob mobilisers only want us for their own ends – whether that’s an international agenda or a boost to their followings and bank accounts.
Don’t be sucked in by these snake oil salesmen.
Instead of playing the pawn, it’s time to checkmate their ominous intentions.
Too many of these mob mobilisers only want us for their own ends