In the lead up to the recent 2022 Australian Federal election, my husband and I were in the process of leaving our adopted home city of Darwin. We, like many others, had been virtually run out of town for failing to comply with the broad COVID-19 vaccine mandates introduced at the end of the previous year, rendering us essentially persona non grata, at least in terms of earning a living and supporting ourselves. Formerly a nurse and a fire fighter, we found ourselves unemployed (and unemployable) and unable to keep our much-loved home in the leafy suburb of Alawa. If you aren’t familiar with our story, you can read about my departure from nursing due to the unethical COVID-19 vaccine mandates here, and our departure from Darwin here.
While technically homeless, for the purposes of functional mail delivery and voting, our official address remained in Darwin until we eventually resettled in Queensland later in year. As a result, our election candidates were Darwin-based, and vying for the seat of Solomon. Although I’ve always taken the task of voting seriously, this year marked a significant increase in the due diligence I undertook in order to understand how each candidate, in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, intended to approach the ongoing pandemic response, and in particular COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
I wrote a letter to every candidate in my electorate, although admittedly a little generic, to ask their views on this topic, even those whom I was relatively confident I already knew (on both ends of the spectrum). I wanted to give each and every candidate the opportunity to respond, not simply rely on visiting their (or their party’s) website. Of course, I was hoping that several candidates would see how damaging the COVID-19 vaccine mandates had been and commit to removing them permanently, but I also hoped that those candidates who agreed with the mandates would be able to provide some rationale for their position, rather than the typical political spin. I was disappointed (although probably not surprised) to receive very few responses from a field of 23 candidates.
Below is the letter I wrote to each of my electorate’s candidates.
A couple of candidates from the so-called freedom parties wrote back a sentence here and there, reinforcing their support for the permanent abolition of COVID-19 vaccine mandates. This was reassuring, but expected. Of the candidates and/or parties who I was unsure of, none wrote back in any meaningful way. Through researching their websites, and in some instances reading between the lines, I was able to formulate a hierarchy for my planned voting preferences; however it was disappointing that these candidates did not seem to consider the issue of COVID-19 vaccine mandates to be as important as (I believe) they should have.
The only substantial response I received was from one of the Greens candidates. To this person’s credit, they wrote back a courteous and meaningful response, despite it containing views which were a great disappointment to me (again, this was not unexpected). Below, you can see the response from this Greens candidate. I have redacted the entire name in our exchange, as I do not wish to unnecessarily embarrass this person publicly. Although they had been willing to run for public office, a role which comes with inevitable, and often deserved criticism, they were not successful on this particular occasion and the point I wish to make here relates to the views expressed, not the person themselves.
Here is the response I received (I have not changed the peculiar format in which I received this response).
As I said, I was not surprised by the substance of this response, but the nonchalance with which it was delivered certainly did concern me. Frankly, it terrifies me that a person who holds these views may be both a future political leader AND a future nurse. Still, the fact that this person was at least willing to reflect and engage in a dialogue does give me some small hope.
I wrote back and attempted to further reinforce my point, and perhaps a little childishly, to protest the vague assertion that I was somehow unaware of how overwhelmed my previous workplace seemed to be during a recent COVID-19 wave (which sounded precisely as overwhelmed as it is almost every other day). Some might consider my response harsh, but I think the tone and content I employed were warranted given the seriousness of this situation. You may judge for yourself.
In line with my reply, I went on to vote in a way that I would not have previously considered given my broader concerns and values outside of the political landscape of the pandemic. I remain resentful about this, but not regretful, as I believe the issue of mandated pandemic ‘public health’ policy is one of, if not the most singularly important issues of my lifetime. If we let these issues fall by the wayside, we may very quickly find ourselves in a place where nothing else matters.
I also had belief, but things are much clearer since covid;-)
Here in Australia, the vast majority of the population believe - and firmly - that the solution to life’s various ailments are to be found in some future political candidate. If only they “vote harder” in the next election, things will turn around. The nation is forever one law, one edict, one political promise away from turning the corner.
We need to see politicians for what they are... self-interested thieves enriching one and other at the public’s expense. Most are well aboard the covid cartel’s global gravy train.