Senator Gerard Rennick

Yesterday I spoke to support an amendment to the Workplace Health and Safety Bill that made it illegal to discriminate against someone on their Covid-19 vaccination status. Yet again the amendment failed to get up because Labor and the Greens voted against it. What’s astonishing about this is that the former Prime Minister Scott Morrison himself said this week that Covid vaccine mandates were never recommended by the Federal Health Department outside of Health settings. So why are politicians, bureaucrats and companies still mandating them. It’s certainty not because of health reasons is it?

In parliament after Question Time every day, backbenchers take note of the questions asked in QT. To be honest it's a waste of time, but yesterday was my turn so I touched on a few of the issues of the day. --- Senator RENNICK (Queensland) (8.03.23, 15:58): I'm glad Senator Ciccone quoted former Assistant Treasurer Rod Kemp. He didn't really have to go back that far, because I've said that all along, ever since I got into this chamber—that superannuation is a rort and that it was only a matter of time before Labor would try to get their hands on the money. But also, given that it is International Women's Day, we should talk about how inequitable superannuation really is for women. If we look at the mean balance of superannuation for women aged 60 to 64, it is $280,000, whereas for men it is $360,000. So, there's about a 30 per cent higher mean balance for men when they retire than there is for women. What could be better, on International Women's Day, than to decide to abolish super and let women keep their superannuation so they can own a house? At the end of the day, if there's a man and a woman in a house, they share it 50 per cent. What better way could there be of sharing the debt than that? I would also like to follow up on Senator Liddle's questions, which I thought were very relevant. I commented earlier this week on the Labor Party abolishing the PBS subsidy for the 15,000 people with diabetes. I find it incredible that you would make it harder for these people by abolishing a drug that actually does work. I note that the Labor Party continues to push a fifth shot of a vaccine that hasn't stopped transmission or infection. Maybe they should stop spending money on vaccines that don't work and put it back into measures for mental health and diabetes, which, mind you, is up by 10 per cent since the rollout of the COVID vaccine. This isn't surprising, because diabetes is an autoimmune disease and, as we know, the vaccine induces an autoimmune response. Surprise, surprise. Are we surprised that we get an increase in diabetes? No, we aren't—if I can answer my own rhetorical question. I'd also like to pick up on Senator Ciccone's claim that we have $1 trillion in debt. We don't have $1 trillion in debt. I looked it up just then through the Australian Office of Financial Management, and we are currently at $900 billion. Can I say: a lot of that debt was incurred throughout COVID, in response to the hysteria driven by Labor premiers who got up there every day, day after day—one at nine o'clock; one at 10 o'clock; one at 11 o'clock—giving us the numbers of COVID cases. When there weren't COVID cases they'd tell us that there was COVID in the sewage. Then we'd go for three months without COVID, we'd get one case and we'd shut down the entire state over one case. Finally, when COVID did break out last year, we were told not to go to the hospital. Rather, if you had a case of COVID, you were told to stay at home and take Panadol. After all the hoo-ha and being told how we had to shut down and lock down and how the federal government was basically blackmailed into throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at the state governments, which were just generating fear—that was the real pandemic: fear—we found out in the end that the hospitals still weren't ready. They're still not ready today, mind you. Our ambulance waiting times are through the roof. The ambulance ramping is out of control. We have record waitlists across all the states. We overinvested in hysteria and didn't actually invest in good, solid, long-term health infrastructure like beds, like more doctors and like nurses. We didn't put more money on the front line for services, instead of fearmongering. Of course, that is what we get with this side of the government. To get back to some of this original super stuff, personally, I've always been on the record as saying superannuation is a tax rort and it does favour the wealthy. But, can I say: this proposed rule that we're going to tax unrealised gains is totally unworkable. I'm not saying that as a politician. I'm saying that as a person who spent 30 years in finance, reconciling balance sheets. I can assure you that, if you think you're going to be able to calculate unrealised gains in any equitable manner, you are kidding yourself. What's going to happen is that you're going to add compliance costs, so you're going to have to pay for an auditor or a valuer to value these assets. Then you're going to have liquidity problems because you're going to have to sell an asset to actually pay the tax. Then, the third problem is that you're going to generate uncertainty, because people aren't going to know what the value of an asset will be deemed to be before June 30. I would ask that you at least reconsider that unrealised gains proposition, because it's unworkable. (Time expired)

Earlier this week I spoke about the infected blood scandal in the 1970s and 1980s that saw thousands of Australians infected with HIV and AIDS from contaminated blood. While many have died already, there are still many who are suffering from government neglect and gaslighting of their suffering. Of course history is repeating itself with the same treatment being dished out to people who have suffered injuries from the Covid vaccines. The government needs to offer an apology to victims and ensure they get proper compensation and treatment. It also needs to learn from the past and take greater precautions when accepting and purifying the blood. Accepting blood just three days after people have been vaccinated with the V is unacceptable, given studies have shown that spike proteins can last in the blood up to 60 days and beyond.

Yesterday the RBA continued its madness by raising interest rates for the tenth time to 3.6% in less than a year. It’s worth nothing it took the RBA ten years to drop interest rates from 3.6% to 0.1%. Yesterday I spoke about the stupidity of the RBA and their inability to manage the economy without destroying it. Inflation is caused by either too much demand or not enough supply. Most of the inflation today is caused by a lack of productivity in the country resulting in supply shortages. By that, I mean we don't have enough infrastructure to supply essential services such as energy, water and transportation. If we built more baseload power stations, dams, roads and rail we could produce more goods and services at a lower cost. This will make business more competitive and lower the cost of living. Rather than manipulate the price of money which will only help speculators and banks, the RBA should fund a Sovereign bank to fund the Sovereign seven Infrastructure assets - Dams, Power Stations, Roads, Rail, Ports, Airports and Telecommunications - to underpin Australia's sovereignty. This would deal with inflation in a productive way that creates jobs and provides essential services, rather than the destructive way the RBA is following of austerity which will cause massive unemployment and homelessness. We also need stop over allocating resources to non-productive roles like poker machines, superannuation and useless university degrees. How ironic is it that Australia has never had more people completing University degrees, yet skill shortages are worse than ever! If the Greens want to lower inflation they should support lower immigration in regards to foreign students who add to demand but don't add to supply. Australia was built on the back of immigration but in the past they added to supply by building infrastructure projects like the Snowy Hydro.

How's this for a rort! Transmission line stakeholders can charge a regulated rate of return of around 6-7% while only having to pay a concessional rate on a loan from the, wait for it "The Clean Energy Finance Corporation.” Despite the bureaucrats saying they intend to fix this rort it still hasn't happened. A risk free margin of say 3% on $25 billion dollars would be worth $750 million that taxpayers have to stump up every year. It's amazing how the government is happy to lend to the big end of town at concessional rates, while allowing the RBA to shaft the little guy with rapid interest rate rises.

“Australia exports 2.5 times more carbon in fossil fuels than it emits from burning them, the most recent analysis of the nation's carbon stocks shows. The CSIRO study is the first full carbon budget yet completed for Australia and is part of a global project to better track carbon emissions.” In 2013 the ABC reported that Australia had already reached net zero two and a half times over. Since then Australia has reduced its CO2 emissions from over 600 million tonnes to less than 500 million tonnes. So we are closer to absorbing four times more CO2 than we emit. It’s worth noting that the CO2 absorbed by phytoplankton in our oceans aren’t even counted. Yet when one clicks on the link to the CSIRO report in the ABC article it is no longer there. See link below or on my website.👇 I asked the CSIRO in estimates why the link was removed. They aren’t trying to hide how much CO2 is taken up by Australia’s natural environment are they? Surely if Australia is already at net zero multiple times over there is no need to build renewables which are expensive and bad for the environment right? https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/02/20/3694468.htm https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/10/851/2013/bg-10-851-2013.pdf

AHPRA (Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency) - Mr Fletcher : “We're advising doctors and all registered health practitioners to use their professional judgement and the best available evidence in their practice.” AHPRA - 9th March 2021 Position Statement “While some health practitioners may have a conscientious objection to COVID-19 vaccination, all practitioners, including students on placement, must comply with local employer, health service or health department policies, procedures and guidelines relating to COVID-19 vaccination.” So what happens when the best available evidence doesn’t agree with government procedures and guidelines? It’s about time the government started listening to doctors and nurses on the frontline, not the rent seekers in the back room. Whistleblowers should be praised for the courage not suspended by bureaucrats who have never worked in a ward.

I asked the RBA governor in estimates why he is increasing interest rates so fast given the cost of living is also increasing rapidly. His reckless actions are going to force many people to default on their mortgages. He could have tempered demand by “jawboning” long term interest rates. If he had said he was going to increase rates by 0.5% every six months for the next 4 years it would have given people time to adjust their expenditure. It would have also allowed wage increases to absorb the higher costs. The RBA has no idea. The Parliament should be making decisions about Australia’s currency not unelected bankers.

In estimates I asked John Skerritt if he would apologise to the victims of the Moderna vaccine, particularly the mother of 21 year old Natalie who watched her daughter suffer before passing away. Skerritt claimed Moderna was 100% effective in stopping death. Rather than showing some humility and compassion, Skerritt blatantly lied to cover up his reckless and misleading statement. Skerritt never referred to a New England Journal of Medicine once. He referred to 140 million Moderna doses used the US. This is just another example of how Skerritt will lie to cover his crimes. And if he lied about this, what else did he lie about? The 7 and 9 children whose deaths were given the causality decision by the AEFI assessment team comes to mind. Did Skerritt lie about that as well? He lies about everything else. On script just as Skerritt’s lie is exposed I start getting abused by Senator Katy Gallagher as to my motive. This callous creature has no empathy either and is only interested in playing politics. Full transcript of press conference is below and I quote: “And of course, we can build on widespread global experience. So in the US alone, there has been over 140 million doses of Moderna used. The other really encouraging thing about Moderna is even after six months, it's proving to be 93 per cent efficacious against any infection, 98 per cent against severe disease and 100 per cent against death. And that's really exciting.” https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43521?fbclid=IwAR2PdUfoU_rwt_z4oqHRP11YpHChK4rEiso-PP-torqT6E11hexcmnA3R0c

In estimates I asked the Australian Federal Police how to press charges against bureaucrats for reckless and negligent behaviour. Unfortunately they weren’t interested in holding them to account.

Last Thursday afternoon in estimates, John Skerritt (TGA Head) claimed that cardiac arrest wasn’t a side effect of the vaccine. This is despite the fact that the TGA acknowledges myocarditis as a side effect of the vaccine. Later that evening I asked Skerritt if myocarditis caused cardiac arrest. As usual he downplayed it by saying “Not usually…you just need to look at the medical literature.” The medical literature clearly states that myocarditis can lead to cardiac arrest. So if vaccines can cause myocarditis, they can cause cardiac arrests. The fact that Skerritt says otherwise means he is has no idea or a liar. If he can lie about such a simple link between myocarditis and cardiac arrests then he can lie about the deaths of the 7 and 9 year old who had the determination of causality from cardiac arrest. John Skerritt has constantly lied to me over the last 18 months. Despite providing evidence that continually proves his lies he has gotten away with it. It’s a sad indictment on our government that he will go unpunished for the pain and suffering he has caused.

While banks receive billions in handouts from the taxpayer, they are closing bank branches by the dozens in regional communities. I spoke about this last year in the chamber and hope to address this issue via a Senate committee into regional banking later this year. The banks have a social licence and they should honour it.

Unfortunately, I have to rise and speak on the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 2022. It's disappointing to have to do so, because all my life I've categorised the Labor Party as being the wreckers of the Australian workforce. I grew up listening to my father constantly telling me how the wharfies went on strike in World War II and wouldn't help our troops out and export our wool et cetera et cetera. I don't really see this bill as being the final nail in the coffin for small industry and small business here in Australia—no, no, no. The Labor Party put the final nail in the coffin of small business a long time ago. I call this the grave digger's bill. Basically we're now chucking dirt on small business so that they'll be completely forgotten about and erased from history, six feet under, with this ridiculous idea that we can have multi-pattern bargaining. That is Labor for you. They have to mandate everything. They just have to. There is no individual in the Labor Party's psyche. No, it's just communism: 'We're going to own all the property, we're going to have one set of rules.' We see that constantly. Everything the Labor Party does is all about centralisation, command and control...

The federal government’s bill to rein in soaring energy costs has passed just parliament, with measures to temporarily cap gas prices. Labor have only locked in the wholesale price not the retail price. This will help retailers to buy more renewables which are made offshore and reduce baseload energy supply. The high end of the cost curve for gas is now $12 to produce, so producers will cut supply for any gas that costs more than this and withdraw new supply coming on due to the uncertainty around prices. This will push up energy prices even more.

Australia's top health experts and bureaucrats have been caught out...they haven't read critical reports.

Scientists should always be the best skeptics and use evidence we can trust.

Recently in Senate Estimates, I questioned the ACCC regarding an insurance company who refused to pay out insurance to a family whose house was destroyed in a fire...all because they sold eggs their chickens were laying. If you run a business or a side hustle from home, you may want to check your insurance clauses.

On Sky's Bernardi, I discuss the next way our freedoms could be taken and a way in which you could have a real say in your future.

In October's Senate Estimates, I questioned Senator Wong about Leppington Triangle (Western Sydney Airport) transparency.

What is it with the bureaucrats they just wash their hands of everything and say it's the responsibility of another department. In estimates I asked CASA whether or not they use independent doctors to assess the safety of the vaccine. Needless to say, they don’t despite the fact the TGA is captured by big pharmaceutical companies. I would have thought CASA being an independent regulator would have their own independent doctor. They also claim they have had no individual reports of vaccine injuries. This is concerning as I have been contacted by airline staff who have been injured by the vaccine.

How long will people have to wait in order to recharge their electric vehicles? The government has no idea. This is despite the fact they recently passed legislation that will subsidise the cost of an electric car by up to $30,000 at the expense of the taxpayer. Despite this Labor still doesn’t have a plan for providing enough charging stations to actually change these environmental vandals. They are still going through consultation with no fixed date as to when there will be a plan. Recharging stations would be just another cost that the government has overlooked. There are numerous reports of recharging rage in other parts of the world. It only seems a matter of time before it starts to occur in Australia.

Some misinformation is more equal than others. Bill Bowtell was paraded around by the ABC as a health expert early in the pandemic. It turns out he was a former Keating staffer and who had no medical qualifications whatsoever. He was awarded an honorary title adjunct professor which gave him an air of expertise but in reality it meant nothing. He was employed by the notorious Kirby Institute which has a reputation for make dire predictions about viruses. Another of their acolytes, Raina McIntyre made a fool of herself in 2009 when she predicted 20,000 deaths from swine flu. When Norman Swan blamed Covid for the deaths of Kimberley Kitching and Shane Warne there was little uproar from the establishment media. Why would there be. Covid has been blamed on sorts of deaths. Kitching and Warne didn’t even have Covid when they died. Heck, even the TGA have admitted that the PCR tests can’t even distinguish between live and dead virus but it’s still the gold standard for testing Covid. A false positive doesn’t stop the authorities from assigning Covid as the cause of death. You’d think the ABC would uphold editorial standards and do more than make Norman Swan apologize. But hey, this is our ABC, responsible for some of the worst Covid fear mongering. Of course had the foot been on the other shoe, and someone suggest the vaccine was responsible for their deaths there would have been outrage from the media. It’s just another example of how bureaucrats and the media are not held to account.

The RBA governor is clueless. He has no understanding of monetary policy. He cannot distinguish between lending to the private sector and the public sector. He also cannot distinguish between secured and unsecured debt. He contradicts himself so many times in this conversation it is embarrassing. First he says the RBA shouldn’t subsidise governments yet he is more than happy to subside private banks. (see prior videos) He then says the RBA doesn’t decide what projects it should lend on. No one said it should decide what projects it should lend on. However it should lend on projects that governments need to build to provide essential services such as dams and power stations. Having said the RBA can’t lend to governments, he then admits that the RBA did actually lend to the government in order to destroy the economy because of C vid. In other words he print and spent rather than print and built. Dumb move. Finally he tries to dismiss my statement that the taxpayers have to pay a mark up on their own currency to the banks by claiming governments don’t borrow from banks they issue bonds. He has no idea. The banks who buy those bonds charge interest on them that is ultimately underwritten by the taxpayer. The banks gets to make a profit on government paper. If the RBA issued the bonds via an infrastructure bank, the interest charged could be returned to the government costing the taxpayers nothing. The RBA also has no idea of the meaning counter cyclical. Why are they raising interest rates if the cost of everything else is rising. They are only compounding cost of living pressures. They should expanding the volume of credit to fund the supply of more electricity into the grid, rather than senseless austerity measures that only hurt hard working taxpayers.

This week, the RBA raised rates for the 8th straight month. To change the price of money so rapidly is sheer madness. It’s even worse when the RBA said inflation wouldn’t rise until 2024 and then say that rates wouldn’t increase based on that forecast. Given their obscene money printing, what did they expect. If these people are experts then god help us. Needless to say it’s a reflection of just how little accountability there is that the RBA governor still collects his $1 million pay check. It’s a joke that he says he is accountable to parliament. I certainly never voted for him and neither did you.

Boy oh boy is our energy grid going be in trouble with this lot in charge. If only bureaucratic spin could be converted into electricity we would become the energy powerhouse of the world. Key points from this line of questioning are: 1) Energy department doesn’t have costings on storage. 2) Nine times more renewable energy that what exists today is needed to meet 2030 targets. 3) The minister can’t understand why I would want costings. 4) It’s impossible to say what costings will be because of counterfactuals. When asked what a counterfactual is the bureaucrat couldn’t answer. 5) 447 gigawatts of storage is required but there is scant detail on what sort of storage that will be. A household battery can store around 10 - 15 kilowatts so that works out at about 44 million batteries - this will reduce as more gas and hydro is used. But even if only 25% of that figure was stored in batteries that’s still a lot of batteries.