Watch Jacqui Lambie Slam Pauline Hanson’s Ridiculous Vaccine Discrimination Bill
"Having the freedom to choose isn’t the same as having the freedom to avoid the consequences of that choice."
Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie has sensationally blasted Pauline Hanson’s vaccine discrimination bill, saying what we’ve all been thinking: it’s not discrimination.
Pauline Hanson introduced the vaccine discrimination bill in the senate on Monday morning, but interestingly, she and fellow One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts were unable to actually participate in the vote, due to being out of state and attending Parliament remotely.
Hanson claimed we’re in a “pandemic of discrimination” against the unvaccinated in Australia.
“Senators here are on notice if you don’t support my legislation, then you don’t support Australian democracy and freedom and you don’t support the right to choose,” she said.
While five senators — Gerard Rennick, Alex Antic, Matt Canavan, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, and Sam McMahon — backed the bill, Jacqui Lambie was quick to rip it to absolute shreds.
“If you want to champion against discrimination, you don’t want One Nation,” Lambie told the Senate in a truly iconic speech.
“One Nation wants autistic children to be taken out of public schools because, and I quote, they are a ‘strain’ on the rest of the class.
“One Nation wants a ban on any immigration from majority Muslim countries, even if the person isn’t Muslim. People don’t choose what country they are born in, that is discrimination,” said Lambie.
“One Nation is opposed to same sex marriage. People don’t choose to be gay. That is discrimination. One Nation has no issue with that either.”
Lambie truly said it best when she pointed out that freedom of choice doesn’t equal exemption from consequence.
“Having the freedom to choose isn’t the same as having the freedom to avoid the consequences of that choice,” she said. “You have freedom to make a choice. But if you make a choice, those choices have consequences.”
Noting many other instances in which you must fulfil certain requirements to get a job — like a police check or a license.
“You put others before ourselves. You can decide not to choose those checks, no one is forcing you, but if you don’t do them, you can’t work where you want to work, it is as simple as that. That is the way it is.”
Ultimately, the bill was voted down, despite five LNP Senators crossing the floor. The rest of the government — including Labor, the Greens, and the crossbench — all voted against the bill.