Stephen Andrew MP for Mirani | Politician

Stephen Andrew MP for Mirani

Phone: 0748060700

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25.01.2022 TWO WEEKS OF EARLY VOTING With the State election being held on 31 October, the Electoral Commission Queensland has set out venues and dates for two weeks of early voting. If you can’t make it to the polling booth on election day or during early voting, you can apply for a postal vote either online (see link below), by calling 1300 881 665, or by returning the form (available at my office in Sarina) by Friday 16 October.... Postal votes will be sent to electors following the close of candidate nominations and ballot paper draw in mid-October. https://www.ecq.qld.gov.au//el/2020-state-general-election

25.01.2022 REMEMBERANCE DAY 2020 SARINA My Grandfather James Petersen who enlisted in Saint Lawrence spoke of the when the fighting ceased in Villers-Bretonneux and he was one of the first to cross the barbed wire to inspect across the enemy lines. He found One German Shepherd Dog and one wounded Teenage Recruit surrounded by the carnage of war. ... Sad Days that should never be forgotten, these events and so many others over the Years that paid for the freedoms we enjoy today. LEST WE FORGET

25.01.2022 BILLION DOLLAR FIASCO LEAVES QLD UNPREPARED FOR LA NINA EFFECT Vital monies that could have been put to work immediately with building fire breaks, evacuation centres, flood levees, cyclone shelters, to prepare Queensland for this year’s natural disaster season have been left sitting idle while our federal politicians stuff around with a bunch of paperwork. Last year, the Federal government announced a $4bn Emergency Response Fund for disaster recovery and mitigation in its 2...019 budget, but 18 months on, not a single cent has been spent. According to the Minister for Drought and Emergency Management, David Littleproud, the delay has been due to the government still being engaged in finalising the guidelines. Meanwhile the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has officially declared a La Nina is underway in the Pacific which will mean heavy rains over central and northern Australia this summer, as well as a heightened risk of cyclones and heavy storms. All of which is a massive concern for Regional Queenslanders, who after several years of drought, could now be facing another season of flooding. This makes the Federal LNP Government’s dithering over its $4 bn Emergency Response Fund even more reprehensible. Once again it is looking like the people of regional Queensland will be left to pay the price for Government inaction and neglect, with red tape and bureaucracy winning out over the job of keeping Australians safe, yet again.

25.01.2022 COAL MINING HISTORY After 35 years in the Mining Industry, I would like to show everyone a tool that we invented to join HV Cables at the mine sites, as part of my role, I would also look after HV Cable audits, inventory for wash plant shut downs and many other projects as a direct vendor. As a dual tradesman with Mechanical Fitter/HV Electrician, I did my first shutdown at 18 and worked overseas in both OK Tedi and Freeport Indonesia, and was still involved at mine sites do...ing pest control prior to COVID on weekends where possible. Anyhow...Check out how I join this dragline cable safely with minimal handling, I am proud that after 40 years we made this happen.

24.01.2022 HAPPY 80TH BIRTHDAY WAL With no introductions needed this bloke is one of the most law abiding fisherman South of Mackay.! He assures me he’s never strained a creek or checked a pot that he didn’t mistake for his own. ... Regardless he’s a local legend in Sarina who has a heart of gold and would give you a hand with anything-anytime. Many happy returns Wally, enjoy your Day mate.

23.01.2022 NEW QLD BILL EXTENDS ‘STATE OF EMERGENCY’ TO APRIL 2021 WITH OPTION TO EXTEND FURTHER WHY? Yesterday, Queensland’s new Attorney-General, Shannon Fentiman, introduced the COVID-19 Emergency Response and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020 into Queensland Parliament to provide urgent amendments to Queensland’s COVID Emergency Measures Regulations. Under the original COVID-19 Emergency Response Act 2020 the State of Emergency was due to expire on 31 December 2020.... This new Bill will extend the State of Emergency Covid response measures for a further four months, up to 30 April 2021. The new Bill also contains ‘Henry the VIIIth’ clauses granting the Governor power to implement ongoing transitional emergency measures by ‘regulation’ alone in future. This means future extensions will bypass the parliamentary process altogether and allow the Governor of Queensland to implement emergency measures simply by the ‘stroke of a pen’. According to the provisions of the new Bill, emergency response measures may be introduced by the Governor for further time periods up to two years from the 30th of April 2021, so up until 30 April 2023. All without the scrutiny or ‘say so’ of the State’s Parliament. The Bill has been declared urgent and so is due to be rammed through with zero oversight, discussion or debate, by Labor and LNP during next week’s parliamentary sitting. There has never been a clearer example as to why Queensland urgently needs to bring back an Upper House. It may not be able to stop the current dismantling of democracy we are seeing today in Queensland, but at the very least, it will slow it down.

21.01.2022 A Bill being set before Federal Parliament today, will allow domestic and foreign military forces and foreign police to be used in Australia during natural disasters and other emergencies. Under the Defence Legislation Amendment (Enhancement of Defence Force Response to Emergencies) Bill 2020, both Australian and Foreign troops will also be granted immunity from civil or criminal prosecution for actions carried out in the course of their duties during these undefined emerg...encies. While bushfires, floods and drought are emergencies that may justify the use of the ADF, the Bill’s reference to other emergencies and foreign forces is a big red flag in my book. The Bill fails to set limits on what these other emergencies might be, leaving the door wide open to Australian and foreign forces being called out in response to any number of legitimate public protests, especially those against the government of the day. There is also no mention of Parliament in the Bill and therefore no requirement for parliamentary debate, scrutiny or approval of any such call-out. Military, and especially foreign military, should never be used against Australian civilians, whatever the situation. This needs to be made crystal clear in the Bill and right now, it hasn’t been. Opposition to any military action on Australia’s domestic soil has been a deeply held principle of our democracy that goes back to the colony’s founding. The principle was so deeply held, in fact, that for a 150 years there was widespread resistance to any kind of standing army being established in Australia. When a small regular Army was set up shortly after Federation, it was hugely controversial and made subject to extremely strict limits and minimal funding. It was only in 1947, after strong pressure from the United States that the Government finally relaxed those tight restrictions. I suspect that many earlier generations of Australians would therefore have been as troubled as I am, by the Bill being debated in Canberra today.

21.01.2022 THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS There should not be any delay in the appointment of the new Mayor for Rockhampton after the resignation of the previous Mayor. Regardless of briefings concerning the newly thought out legislation, the swearing-in of the duly appointed Mayor must continue, anything less makes current legislation instigated by QLD Parliament look whimsical-capricious and undermines the process of Government making legislation look ill-considered, invalid and lacking int...egrity. The question must be asked how much of this is being pushed through and are we going to live with so many other unintended consequences passed by this unicameral House?

20.01.2022 THE QUESTION Why did the Labor Party after being elected in 2017 make their first piece of legislation an amendment to remove voter identification from the Electoral Act?

20.01.2022 THE FACTS Do you believe Queensland voted for these people to stay in Government for another 4 years? Queensland’s debt will sail toward $130 billion, Tax revenue has fallen by $4.5 billion across four years, GST by $3.7 billion and royalties have tanked by $4 billion. But Palaszczuk kept you safe! ... Palaszczuk didn't keep you safe from losing your house, Palaszczuk didn't keep you safe from losing your job. Palaszczuk didn't keep you safe from losing your business Palaszczuk didn't keep you safe from losing your health insurance Palaszczuk didn't keep you safe from losing your car Palaszczuk didn't keep you safe from losing your rights and civil liberties Palaszczuk didn't keep you safe from Domestic violence up 37% Palaszczuk didn't keep you safe from home invasions up 59.9% Palaszczuk didn't keep you safe from armed holdups up 59.7% Palaszczuk didn't keep you safe from Corrupt public officials At $130billion in debt, your great-grandkids will be paying this off with higher taxes, higher fees disguised as rego increases and application fees, higher water and energy costs. Look at the numbers: "Tax revenue has fallen by $4.5 billion across four years, GST by $3.7 billion and royalties have tanked by $4 billion." that means this Government has lost the ability to pay the debt off without Taxpayers being slugged higher taxes disguised as fees and charges. The fact is Palaszczuk was elected based on lies about the state of the economy. Palaszczuk lied in the morning, and lied in the evening, and every day of the last 10 months about the state of the economy according to many genuine accountants. Hungarians riot over PM's lies https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/sep/19/1 Mr Gyurcsany was caught on tape telling party colleagues that the government had lied to the public and made countless mistakes during its first term in office.On a leaked recording of a party meeting in May, a month after his government won a second term in office, Mr Gyurcsany said only "divine providence, an abundance of cash in the world economy and hundreds of tricks" had kept Hungary's economy afloat as it laboured under the largest per-capita deficit in the European Union."We lied in the morning, and we lied in the evening," he told the meeting in a 25-minute speech that was peppered with obscenities and in which he said the government's failure to overhaul the economy had made painful reforms inevitable.

20.01.2022 THE COLD HARD FACTS

18.01.2022 DISTURBING Is this coming to Australia? Mining Camps? We have been more than compliant and tomorrow they are looking to have witnesses in front of the health committee to give evidence for and against, to extend the COVID health crisis another six Months.... What are the Governments intentions? Didn’t this happen in the 40’s last century?

18.01.2022 THOUGHTS? Being a community legend has never been easier Spotted an issue in your community like graffiti, illegal parking, dumped rubbish, trip hazards or bad roads? Time to get Snapping! ... We’ve made reporting quick and easy which means when you see an issue while you’re out, you can let the responsible authority know with only a few taps. Become a community legend and download Snap Send Solve today. https://www.snapsendsolve.com/ What can you report with Snap Send Solve? Report to Council Report Illegal Parking to Council Report Dumped Rubbish to Council Report Overgrown Vegetation to Council Report Graffiti to Council Report Vandalism to Council Report Trip Hazard to Council Report Pot Holes to Council Report Abandoned Trolleys to Supermarkets Report Damage to Telstra Equipment Report Damaged Pit and Equipment to NBN Report Abandoned Cars to Council What can you report with Snap Send Solve? Report to Council Report Illegal Parking to Council Report Dumped Rubbish to Council Report Overgrown Vegetation to Council Report Graffiti to Council Report Vandalism to Council Report Trip Hazard to Council Report Pot Holes to Council Report Abandoned Trolleys to Supermarkets Report Damage to Telstra Equipment Report Damaged Pit and Equipment to NBN Report Abandoned Cars to Council

16.01.2022 KESWICK ISLAND I grew up fishing around Keswick Island but it seems to be a different place now. Will it be the new base for a fishing fleet?

15.01.2022 INTERESTING. Looks like they are trying to use their own shortfalls to get harder on LFAOS. https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au//Table/2020/5720T263.pdf

15.01.2022 MORE REEF RESTRICTIONS Do you fish, crab, dive, JetSki or enjoy boating & 4 wheel driving? Are you a person who lives on the coast, farms, runs cattle or cane? Well your under attack by incrementalism.... Together the Australian and Queensland governments are investing more than $2.7 billion from 2014- 15 to 2023-24 to implement the Plan. It would seem the Puppet masters of the unelected overseas bureaucracy have again been allowed to weasel their way in to restrict Queenslanders through more green agendas by way of our Major Parties. Keep this in mind when it’s your time to vote. Share it please it will be 4 Years before you get another chance.

15.01.2022 WHAT SEEMED GOOD AT THE TIME. It will be interesting how this all pans out over time, concerning debt and the future for up and coming Queenslanders?

14.01.2022 APPLES WITH APPLES This is what is being pushed at schools here in QLD but we never see anything about the 1-2 Ton of coal needed to produce a single Solar panel to leach poison for Years? Or the fact that everything we eat and gives us shelter comes from a desiel powered truck ...that was made from metal that was made by coal power. Or all the precious metals needed for tech devices but hey, half the story is fine if you need to train a voting public from school age. We recycle all the time but all the facts need to be presented. It takes a while for self interest to kick in but until it does, it's easy to exploit young minds.

14.01.2022 THE ‘GREAT FOOD RESET’ IS A WAR ON AGRICULTURE Turns out Milk made from cockroaches, KFC’s 3D printed chicken nuggets and McDonald’s McPlant (lab grown from fungus) burgers, and Purina’s insect-based dog food, weren’t just a gross novelty, joke or fake news. Unfortunately they are all part of the Great Food Reset which our technocratic elites are heralding as the future of food, where lab-grown Superfoods will replace traditional agriculture and fresh farm produce. The Wo...rld Economic Forum, the UN, IMF and others, have announced a plan to transform food production and hand over control of our food supply to a few global pharmaceutical and biotech corporations who will make billions from the radical plan. Earlier this year the Rockefeller Foundation released a report called ‘Reset the Table’, also calling for a revolution in food. The report included suggestions for using schools to enforce a new food regime and proposed de-funding farms/ranches via true cost accounting that included CO2. Once again, world governments are complicit with the UK currently considering a Meat Carbon Tax, just as George Soros predicted, and the Danish Government’s passing laws that banned the sale of meat at government canteens. WEF has also released a Great Reset plan for food in partnership with the EAT Forum, which calls itself the Davos for food. EAT was set up by the Wellcome Trust which was funded by another multinational pharmaceutical manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, another big beneficiary if the new food order comes to pass. EAT lobbies for the replacement of traditional agriculture with foods manufactured in a lab and works closely with some of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical and genetic engineering companies like Bayer, Unilever, Syngenta, and the enormously influential Impossible Foods which was co-funded by Google, Jeff Bezos and BILL GATES. The Vice President of Impossible Foods attended last month’s Global Food Forum 2020, hosted by The Australian, and gave a keynote speech on how robotics, plant-based superfoods and the paddock to plate phenomenon are changing Australian food and agriculture. This is what, and who, our farmers are up against folks.

14.01.2022 PUBLIC TRANSPORT Bus shelters are important for so many in our communities and we put this to the Government, unfortunately it falls on deaf ears. The South East is fine so let’s just leave it there.

14.01.2022 MONEY AND POLITICS Taxpayers deserve to see where money is being spent that we are allocated for our budgets, I thought I would outline where our budgets are used and give an honest comparison with my neighbouring Members for your consideration.

12.01.2022 THE WRIT HAS BEEN ISSUED The 2020 Election has begun.

11.01.2022 COMING TO A MAJOR PARTY NEAR YOU What’s to say here except WOW.! Australia has never said NO to the UN and has always taken on their push. ... https://www.washingtontimes.com//professor-floats-idea-cl/

11.01.2022 INSURERS’ COVERT WAR ON SMALL BUSINESS Public faith in the insurance industry has been at a low point since the 2011 floods when thousands of policy holders were told they were not covered under their flood insurance. The sector now faces another reputational battering after telling businesses they were not eligible for payouts under their Business Interruption Insurance (BII), because after the SARs outbreak in 2003, most insurers quietly rewrote their policies to exclude pa...ndemics. Small business operators are now also being hit with drastic hikes in their business insurance premiums, with no explanation given as to why, although some have heard the rise is due to an increased risk of bankruptcy under Covid. While there has are many reports in the media of increasing insurance premiums resulting from the recent bushfires and floods in Queensland, the impact of Covid-19 on business insurance costs, especially for SMEs, has gone largely unreported. This seems strange, particularly as many insurers are citing the pandemic as the primary reason for their company’s big financial losses in 2020. In a disclosure to investors late last year Chubb reported its second quarter 2020 results would include Covid-19 related losses of $1.37 billion. Of the total Covid-19 losses, $605 million were tied to entertainment and commercial property-related business interruption and accident and health products including travel insurance products and $553 million related to public liability insurance products, including professional liability, workers’ compensation and other liability related policies. According to the global insurance broker, Lockton, writing in July last year, business sectors like small business, retail, hospitality, tourism, accommodation, were increasingly being reassessed in light of their increased risk of reduced earnings, profits and liquidity under Covid-19 conditions. There’s a massive silence from government and the media on this issue. The insurance industry is worth millions in advertising to the mainstream media, while highly paid lobbyists wield huge power and influence in Canberra, which means few politicians are willing to criticise the industry’s practices. If you are a small or medium business owner let us know if you have experienced any increases in your business premiums under Covid, been refused coverage altogether or had trouble getting your insurer to pay out on a Covid-19 related claim.

10.01.2022 BUDGET BONANZA FOR MIRANI. $130 BILLION DEBT The Queensland Budget, brought down today, mightn’t be great for Queensland, but it’s a bonanza for Mirani.... I sat in the House today, as the new Treasurer, Cameron Dick, presented it. I could barely believe it, when the budget included so many of the projects I’d been lobbying for. Just for my one electorate, out of 93, the Bill came to $137,165,000! And that doesn’t even include others, just outside the electorate, that substantially benefit my area. Another $30-million-plus. There are still promises to follow up on. Home - Queensland Budget 2020-21 Ring road $23.1 million Cap Correctional centre $48.5 million Bruce Hwy Southern End $12 million Walkerston Bypass $12.2 Million Ooralea Trade Centre $7.5 million Sarina State High $10.2 million Sarina Hospital $655k Boldercombe School $100k Pioneer Mountain Bike $500k Teemburra Dam $1.6 million Rookwood Wier $115 million Marmoor Hwy ??? Ramsay Creek. $20.8 million Total $272.9million

09.01.2022 REMEMBRANCE DAY 2020 IN MEMORY OF ALL THOSE WHO SERVED AND DIED FOR FREEDOM ... At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, the guns fell silent over the Western Front in Europe after more than four years of bloody warfare. German troops finally called for an end to the fighting and accepted all of the allied forces’ terms for an unconditional surrender. It is now 102 years since that day and every year without fail, we remember all Australia’s fallen heroes, whose bravery and sacrifice were made in the name of liberty, freedom and democracy. Sadly, this year there will be no parades, no mass wreath-laying at cenotaphs around the country, no crowds gathering to mourn and pay their respects and no lone piper playing the Last Post. There will still be Poppies however! Poppies are synonymous with Remembrance Day because during WW1, much of the fighting occurred in the once beautiful fields of Western Europe that had been turned into muddy, barren deserts where nothing grew. With one exception the red Flanders poppy! Somehow this beautiful little flower was able to grow amidst all the carnage, and for our weary soldiers who saw them growing in their thousands across the fields of France, it was the only symbol they had for hope and belief in a future beyond war. They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them or the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we shall remember them. Lest we Forget.

07.01.2022 PLEASE DRIVE SAFELY Our sincere condolences go out to the Families and loved ones during this time. Police have identified a woman killed in a tragic two-vehicle head-on crash at Homebush last night.... The Sarina woman, 43, died at the scene on Eton Homebush Rd where the two vehicles collided about 5.50pm. The driver of the other ute, a 24-year-old from McEwans Beach, was not physically injured. Mackay Police District Duty Officer, Senior Sergeant Tony McDowall said the man was taken to Mackay Base Hospital as a precaution. The Eton Homebush Rd was closed to all traffic as Forensic Crash Unit investigations got under way. Senior Sergeant McDowall said it was unknown what caused the horrific crash in the 100km zone on the busy thoroughfare. "It appears to have been a head-on crash; exactly how it has occurred at the moment, we're investigating with our Forensic Crash Unit," Senior Sergeant McDowall said. "Unfortunately the driver of one of the vehicles was deceased here at the scene." Sen-Sgt McDowall said investigations into how the crash occurred were under way. "We've got a couple of witnesses who have come forward which is great and now Forensic Crash Unit is on scene investigating to establish exactly what has happened," he said. He reminded all road users to be safe at all times, and to follow the Fatal Five.

07.01.2022 WHAT DID I TELL EVERYONE?

06.01.2022 A BIG THANK YOU TO THE PEOPLE OF MIRANI I am very happy to say that the seat of Mirani has been officially declared and I have once more been re-elected to represent the people of Mirani in State Parliament. I would first like to say a big thank you to the people of Mirani for the trust and support they have shown in re-electing me for a second term. ... It is an honour and a privilege to represent such a diverse electorate and I can’t wait to get straight back to work, fighting as hard as I can for the people of this region. A massive thank you also to my beautiful wife and daughters, my Mum and Dad and all my friends and supporters, whose hard work, energy and optimism never wavered throughout the campaign. Finally, I would like to say something to all the naysayers who have belittled One Nation’s win in Mirani this election. It is true that due to COVID there was a general swing against independents and minor parties in this election. That does not mean that One Nation is finishedor that my win was some kind of a fluke, as a certain Labor candidate has tried to suggest. The final count showed that on first preferences, the difference between Labor and One Nation was a mere 88 votes. Moreover, across the electorate there was a solid swing against Labor, while One Nation’s vote increased by nearly 5%. Labor’s sour grapes at the loss is puzzling, given Mirani’s long history as a conservative stronghold. A Labor candidate has held Mirani for less than 14 years out its 108 year history, and 12 of those years were pre World War 2! In 2020, 65.60% of people in Mirani voted for a Conservative candidate and less than a third for Labor. One Nation won the most first preference votes amongst those conservative candidates, and therefore its win better reflects the wishes and views of Mirani voters than a Labor candidate could ever hope to. In closing, I would like to congratulate Robbie Katter, Nick Dametto and Shane Knuth of the Katter Australia Party on their re-election. I know that KAP are a party as dedicated to doing their best for regional Queensland as I am. I look forward to working co-operatively with them again to ensure that the people of Central and Northern Queensland are given a strong voice in Parliament. https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/qld/2020/guide/mira

05.01.2022 LABOR WON'T TALK MINING More than two months ago, we filmed this video at Mount Morgan. At the time, I had been waiting for a couple of weeks for the Minister to get back to me with about a meeting request. To this day, I’m still waiting to have a meeting to discuss this job-creating opportunity in Mount Morgan and today the government is dissolved. If Labor were to retain government, we can't expect them to show any more interest in mining than they did in their last term. If we are to KickStart Queensland, we need to seize every opportunity to create jobs, develop industries, and earn royalties revenue for the government. Given the state of the budget and the State’s economy right now, we need a sense of urgency that Labor just doesn’t seem to understand.

05.01.2022 OORALEA STATE HIGH REQUEST Futuristic planning and foresight is part of being a Member, it’s not always up to Government and bureaucracy to stay ahead of the curve. Please watch and share my video about the request I made to the Govt to help make access to education easier for satellite communities, reduce journey times as well as restrict traffic interaction for Mums, Dads and most importantly Students.

05.01.2022 STANAGE BAY A big shout out to all the residence of Stanage Bay I will be down there on the 16th of October at the Crab Pot Bar to say hello. It will be nice to see you all there.

05.01.2022 NO 1 QUESTION ON NOTICE

05.01.2022 DIRECTION FORWARD It’s always nice to plot the course so we know where we are going and what to expect when we get there, QLD’s budget spend is no different.

03.01.2022 RUNS ON THE BOARD Recently we have had other Parties speaking about a QAS Station in Marian, I just wanted to make it very clear that this concept was put forward by us 03/06/2019. A comprehensive study was made by our Office to demonstrate to the Ministers Crawford and Miles at that time, that this project had merit. We provided Response times from 60 scenarios and provided improved response times if this was implemented.

03.01.2022 ARE WE SEEING THE RISE OF A NEW AUTHORITARIAN ORDER IN QLD? Queenslanders continue to be subjected to arbitrary rulings and lockdowns, and there are growing concerns not only around the impact this is having on civil liberties, but also the potential for these powers to become normalised, and ultimately permanent. ... It is a well-known dictum of politics that Executive Government, once it assumes certain powers, seldom gives them back. Friedrich Hayek, the British Economist, wrote in ‘Law, Legislation and Liberty’ that temporary measures and policies seem to have a way of becoming permanent once the emergency is over: Emergencies’ have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded and once they are suspended it is not difficult for anyone who has assumed such emergency powers to see to it that the emergency will persist. The original Covid-19 Emergency Act granted the Queensland Government enormous powers to control and restrict the movement, speech, assembly and association of the people. Since then we have seen an unprecedented transfer of executive decision-making authority into the hands of a select few, all without the normal checks and balances or parliamentary scrutiny. The sheer scale on which the Queensland government has moved to govern by decree, creating new criminal offences, on the mere say-so of a Minister or Cabinet, has been, in constitutional terms, quite alarming. As such, fundamental legal principles inherited from our common-law heritage, including due process, the presumption of innocence and the writ of habeas corpus have been substantially undermined. Are we witnessing a move towards a more authoritarian model of governance which will long outlast the present crisis? For some, this may be a desirable outcome. For the rest of us, the radical transformation of our relationship with the state carries many dangers. Not least of which will be the fundamental change in our relations with each other, a change characterised by increasing distrust, resentment and mutual hostility.

02.01.2022 SCIENTISTS SAY 62% EFFICACY RATE OF ASTRAZENECA MAY NOT BE ENOUGH FOR HERD IMMUNITY ... Australian scientists have raised questions over the roll out of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, citing data which shows it has only a 62% efficacy rate. Professor Stephen Turner, President of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology said the question is really whether it (AstraZeneca) is able to provide herd immunity. We are playing a long game here. We don’t know how long that will take. Earlier, Professor Turner, told the Sydney Morning Herald that the AstraZeneca vaccine is not one I would be deploying widely because of that lower efficacy. Professor Turner’s comments have cast a cloud over Australia’s immunisation plans, with 53 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine already on order. Australia has had a total number of cases of 28,600 and 909 deaths, which in a country of 25 million people is remarkably low. Given such low case numbers and community transmission rates, experts say Australia could afford to wait. The government needs to be flexible in its rollout decisions once we have a better understanding of the efficacy of the other vaccines Dr Adrian Esterman, Chair of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of South Australia said.