Vaccine passport

David Warth, Byron Bay

A line has been drawn in the sand and it is all about vaccine passports being used internally in Australia.

We have put up with so many incursions on our freedoms over the last year. As a nation we have been remarkably willing to take personal and collective hits for what we are told is the greater good.

But now I feel the line has been well and truly crossed with the talk of vaccine passports being our way back to ‘normal’. What sort of spin is this… a future with vaccination passports would be grossly abnormal, highly divisive and about as un-Australian as it gets.

I am not the only one who feels this way. But what is surprising is that it seems that courageous right wing conservatives are leading the charge. It is they who are standing up for our rights.

Thankfully Gladys Berejeklian has come out against vaccine passports as well. This is significant, as Scott Morrison has suggested that the states would be responsible for implementing vaccine passports. With the state premiers and their chief medical officers having this option there is plenty of room for concern.

I love my wonderful Northern Rivers community and I cannot stand by and watch as the future of our young people is jeopardised. A future that, on top of the heavy burden that they will already have to bear, is the looming prospect of having to submit to ongoing vaccinations or have their lives cancelled by not being able to participate in many key aspects of normal life.

This I cannot allow. I have drafted a petition to Ban Vaccination Passports in Australia that I will launch soon.

I will also be calling a Town Hall type meeting at the Byron Bay Community Centre for members of our community to voice their opinions and concerns. All points of view will be respectfully heard. There is great strength in our community and we have never been afraid to confront difficult situations.