'Mandates were wrong': Australian politician who mandated COVID jabs admits fault
Former New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet admitted in a speech to Parliament Tuesday that the province’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates — which Perrottet himself decreed — were “wrong.”
“Now while we didn’t get everything right, I believe we got more right than wrong,” he said.
“Without dwelling on every decision we got wrong, I believe it’s important to point out one mistake which was made by government here and around the world: and that was the strict enforcement of vaccine mandates.”
Perrottet continued to claim the “vaccines saved lives,” but said personal liberties should have been respected once it became clear the shots did not stop transmission of the virus.
“If the impact of vaccines on transmission was limited at best, as is now mostly accepted, the law should have left more room for respect for freedom,” he said. “Vaccines saved lives but ultimately mandates were wrong. People’s personal choices shouldn’t have cost them their jobs. If a pandemic comes again we need to get a better balance, encouraging people to take action at the same time protecting people’s fundamental liberty.”
Perrottet, who is trading his political life for a corporate career in the US, is so far the only major politician to admit fault for his own totalitarian COVID-19 policies. Other public figures who played a part in the world’s harshest COVID mandates have denied ever doing so.
Ex-New Zealand PM: ‘There was no compulsory vaccination’
Last year, for example, former New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins publicly claimed the government never compelled Kiwis to take the COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic. All those who took the injections, he said, did so of their own free will.
“In terms of the vaccine mandates, I acknowledge that it was a difficult time for people but they . . . ultimately made their own choices,” Hipkins told reporters. “There was no compulsory vaccination. People made their own choices.”
In October 2021, then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern denied freedom to those who took the COVID-19 shots as they remained under harsh lockdowns.
“If you are still unvaccinated, not only will you be more at risk of catching COVID-19, but many of the freedoms others enjoy will be out of reach,” she warned. Those who refused the shots were barred from attending almost all events and establishments. Health and education employees who refused the injections were fired.
Ardern was open about her intention to use the vaccine mandate to create two separate classes in New Zealand society, with only the vaccinated class having rights.
Hipkins, who was Ardern’s health minister, strongly supported the mandates.
Pfizer: ‘Nobody was forced to have a vaccine’
The month prior to Hipkins’ remarks, Australian Pfizer officials tried to claim no one was forced to take the COVID-19 injections, saying that people were merely “offered an opportunity” to take the shots. Australia’s government, whose COVID-19 response rivaled that of New Zealand and Canada, had also promised incremental freedoms to those who had themselves injected.
Pfizer’s Head of Regulatory Sciences Dr. Brian Hewitt made the comments during an Australian Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee hearing. Queensland Senator Pauline Hanson expressed her shock after Dr. Hewitt commented that nobody had been forced to take the injection.
“You were in Australia during COVID-19,” said Hanson. “You must have been fully aware that people—nurses, doctors—people, to have their jobs, to keep their jobs, were forced to have the vaccination. Now do you retract your statement that they were not forced?”
But Dr. Hewitt reaffirmed his claim that there had been no vaccine mandate, only an “opportunity.”
“Senator, no, I believe firmly that nobody was forced to have a vaccine. Mandates are vaccine requirements determined by governments and health authorities. Our belief, everybody was offered an opportunity to get a vaccine or not get a vaccine. I don’t believe that anybody was forced to get a vaccine,” said Dr. Hewitt.
Canada PM: I was ‘not forcing anyone to get vaccinated’
During a talk at the University of Iowa in April 2023, Trudeau said he only provided “incentives” for vaccinations to respect the individual choices of those who refused the shots.
“Individuals are allowed to make their own choices. There may be all sorts of reasons why someone is hesitant to get vaccinated,” said Trudeau. “And therefore, while not forcing anyone to get vaccinated, I chose to make sure all the incentives and all the protections were there to encourage Canadians to get vaccinated.”
In 2021 Trudeau began ordering restrictions to force Canadians to take the injections, which included forbidding children 12 or over from traveling on public transportation. Federal workers who refused the shots were placed on unpaid leave and unvaccinated Canadians were forbidden from entering the country or even crossing provincial borders.
“You don’t get to work in the public service, you don’t get to go to movie theaters or gyms or restaurants,” he told the unvaccinated in 2021. He added that “there are no more excuses to not get vaccinated” and that “enforcement measures are in place to ensure everyone gets vaccinated.”
As late as October 2022, Trudeau was still threatening the Canadian population with more restrictions if vaccinations did not continue. The prime minister made several such ultimatums that year, including more lockdowns if every Canadian did not become fully vaccinated.
