Acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has denounced anti-vaxxers and far-right extremists who took part in this week’s Melbourne protests, particularly at the Shrine of Remembrance.
Key points:
- Acting PM Barnaby Joyce has condemned the use of the Shrine of Remembrance by protesters in Melbourne
- Mr Joyce said the best way to “get back to a normal life” was to get vaccinated as quickly as possible
- More than 200 protesters were arrested following a stand-off with police at the war memorial
The Nationals leader told 7.30 he “absolutely” condemned the participants.
“It’s not about being left or right, it’s about doing the proper thing. This is sacred ground,” Mr Joyce said, referring to the war memorial.
He said he had been fully vaccinated and encouraged everyone to do the same, if not “for yourself … for the person sitting next to you”.
“This pandemic will break out in smaller form once we open the doors, and the doors have to be opened again, and we have to be able to have as small a group as possible who need the intensive care unit beds that will obviously be filled by people who have not been vaccinated,” he said.
“And people protesting to make it worse is not a logical thing.
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“I understand their frustrations, we’ve all got those frustrations, we want this over. The best way to get back to a normal life as quickly as possible is get vaccinated as quickly as possible.”
Earlier this week, Mr Joyce’s Nationals colleague George Christensen was condemned after he called for police “thugs” to be arrested for using “excessive force” against protesters.
Mr Joyce said all he could do was talk to Mr Christensen, saying he could not “tackle him in the street and tie him up”.
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“I don’t believe he was cheering them on. But obviously, any sense of support for people who are breaking the law, who are assaulting police officers, who are desecrating war memorials is something that’s abhorrent to me,” Mr Joyce said.
“That is my view and George knows my view.
“One of the things we love about this nation is you have the freedom to say what you like, even if what you say is wrong.”
Mr Joyce said he looked forward to the nation opening up again.
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“We’ve got to turn ourselves back into one nation and not a whole range of parochial little ex-colonies and a few council fiefdoms within them. This is ludicrous,” he said.
He said “there are concerns” about how regional hospitals would cope once restrictions start to lift and that more work needed to be done to increase vaccination in Indigenous communities.
Asked if the National Party would sign up to a commitment of net zero by 2050 if the prime minister proposed it, Mr Joyce said “we’ll look at that issue in a collegiate way with my party”.
In response to Michael McCormack’s comments that not signing up to net zero could threaten trade relationships and export incomes, Mr Joyce said these are “all things that have to be taken into account”.
“I’ve got to also look towards, in discussions about net zero, what that means towards jobs in regional areas,” he said.
“I’ve got to try and explain to them net zero and the effect on their jobs. Net zero and the effect on their house and net zero and the effect on the industry that they’re working in.”
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