The previous prime minister Tony Abbott has described the Morrison authorities’s Covid response as a “grotesque overreaction” to a “comparatively delicate pandemic”, including he reluctantly bought vaccinated as a result of he “didn’t need anybody to have an excuse for maintaining us locked up any longer than was completely vital”.
Abbott, who additionally served as a well being minister below the Howard authorities, clarified he was not against vaccinations however used a feminist slogan – “my physique, my selection” – to voice his opposition to vaccine mandates in a podcast hosted by Graham Hood, a former chief of the anti-vaccine mandate motion.
“I’m actually not anti-vax, however in the long run, at the least for adults, that previous slogan, ‘my physique my selection’, I do know that was deployed in a distinct context however however, there’s numerous advantage in that slogan,” he mentioned.
“And but, that actually wasn’t the method that well being authorities adopted on the time.”
It’s not the primary time Abbott has criticised Australia’s response to the worldwide pandemic.
Abbott decried Australia’s “well being dictatorships” at a London occasion in September 2020, saying the financial value of lockdowns meant households ought to be allowed to think about letting aged relations with coronavirus die by letting nature take its course.
The almost hour-long interview targeted closely on Abbott’s views on the pandemic however veered into conspiracy territory when the senior Liberal determine was requested whether or not there have been nefarious causes behind why these selling unproven Covid remedies, comparable to ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, have been ignored.
Whereas Abbott mentioned he was “deeply sceptical” about theories sounding conspiratorial, he questioned whether or not there have been vested pursuits behind the scenes.
“I’ve actually typically [been] deeply sceptical about something that smacks of conspiracy. However there did actually look like numerous herd pondering. Lots of, I suppose, reluctance to be open minded about issues,” Abbott mentioned.
“And also you do generally surprise what pressures have been being delivered to bear behind the scenes by totally different entities that will or could not have had monetary pursuits concerned.”
Since being ousted from his north shore seat by impartial MP, Zali Steggall, in 2019, Abbott has made a profession giving speeches on the conservative thinktank circuit.
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Along with becoming a member of Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Company board of administrators, Abbott sits on numerous boards, together with for the local weather change sceptic group, the World Warming Basis, and the worldwide conservative organisation, the Jordan Peterson-led Alliance for Accountable Citizenship.
However Abbott informed the podcast he’s in any other case “sceptical” of worldwide our bodies, such because the World Well being Group and the United Nations, and believes it could be a “grievous error” for Australia to bind itself to the instructions of such our bodies.
“I are usually a sceptic of worldwide our bodies anyway. I consider that you simply’re extra more likely to get knowledge out of the democratic qualities of nations like Australia, the UK and the USA than you’re out of the physique such because the UN,” he mentioned.
John Larter, one of many podcast’s hosts, promoted Abbott’s look on the podcast as talking volumes about “what we’re doing”.
“[Former prime ministers] analysis these items – they only don’t go on anybody’s program and I feel it demonstrates that he would consider that, you realize, we’re doing an excellent job,” the host mentioned earlier than introducing the previous prime minister.
Hood and Larter famous Abbott had declined to seem on ABC’s Nemesis sequence – the primary prime minister to take action in three many years – however had chosen to hitch the 2 for the 48-minute podcast.
