For more than a week now, the streets around Parliament House have been littered with anti-vax protesters from around the country who have converged on the capital to vent their anger at mandates, COVID restrictions, and the government in general.
But in spite of the sometimes aggressive, conspiratorial tone of the protesters — some have called for the government to be forcibly removed, and accused politicians of paedophilia — they have won support from rebels inside Scott Morrison’s Coalition partyroom.
Queensland Senator Gerard Rennick told Crikey he plans to meet with protesters this morning.
“I’m not involved with organising any of the rallies, but I’m going to go down and see them. For these people who’ve been injured or lost their jobs [from vaccines or mandates] it’s a life-or-death situation for them. I can’t seem to get it through to the PM.”
Rennick, who is not vaccinated, has spent the last few months boosting unverified claims of “vaccine-related injuries” on his Facebook, which has seen his following and engagement surge.
Rennick isn’t alone on that front. Nationals MP George Christensen, who is retiring at the next election, attended protests in Canberra over the weekend.
“I watched with pride over the past few days as thousands of Australians uprooted their lives and drove to the nation’s capital to send a message to all politicians: we want our freedoms back!” Christensen wrote on his Telegram.
Christensen, a major online promoter of conspiracy theories about COVID and vaccines, has been billing taxpayers for “e-materials”.
Senator Alex Antic, a conservative from South Australia, has also posted messages of support for the “Freedom Convoy” protesters arriving in Canberra.
Then there’s former Liberal MP and United Australia Party leader Craig Kelly, whose Clive Palmer-backed party is helping fund the protesters, and who has promised to sign a group of them into Parliament House to present a list of grievances to the prime minister. It’s a far-fetched idea, especially since Parliament is closed to the public due to COVID protocols this week.
Even if protesters don’t make it close to Parliament — police have cordoned off most roads up the hill, with only pass-holders allowed up — their supporters within the Coalition could cause more headaches for the government during a potentially chaotic sitting fortnight.
Rennick and Antic are both promising to continue withholding their votes from government legislation in the Senate over vaccination mandates, although both have indicated they are willing to support the contentious religious discrimination bill currently dividing the Coalition.
Rennick says his vote is only confirmed if the federal government takes action to remove any remaining vaccine mandates (even though these are largely implemented by state governments in specific industries) and ensures greater compensation for people who have had alleged adverse reactions to vaccines.
The government can also no longer count on the vote of Northern Territory Senator Sam McMahon, who abruptly resigned from the Country Liberal Party last week.
Religious discrimination aside, the government’s legislative agenda for the sitting fortnight is minimal. But internal tension over mandates, and the optics of Coalition senators joining forces with anti-government protesters, will still cause plenty of problems.
