Mayor Greg Williamson has slammed George Christensen’s Covid-19 ‘fear porn’ comments

Greg Williamson: ‘This is about trying to keep Queensland as free from this disease as possible.’

Dawson MP George Christensen has come under fire over social media comments he made about Queensland’s snap three-day lockdown.

Mr Christensen took to his official Facebook page on Tuesday afternoon, writing: “How about some perspective instead of the pandemic fear porn being spread by opportunistic politicians, bureaucrats and the mainstream media?”

Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson slammed the comments, describing them as “ very disappointing” and urged residents to follow Queensland government health advice.

“This is about trying to keep Queensland as free from this disease as possible,” Cr Williamson said.

“Everybody is so worried about the way this spreads now, particularly this Delta variant.

“This is not political speak, this is just the health officers of Australia trying to lead us down a path that still keeps us all safe.”

A post George Christensen made on his official Facebook page on Tuesday afternoon, after Queensland's three-day snap lockdown was announced. Picture: Facebook

Mr Christensen said he was entitled to his own opinion, as was the mayor.

“Anyone who thinks it is fine to shut down numerous capital cities and regional cities when there’s only one single Covid-19 case that is serious or critical is not thinking about the business owners and workers whose livelihoods will be crushed,” he said.

The mayor also took a swipe at the federal government’s handling of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, saying there was “no doubt this could have been handled better”.

He said about 21,500 people had received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine in the Mackay region as of Monday.

But just 2800 people in Mackay have received two doses.

Cr Williamson said he had “no idea” about the total number of vaccinations given in Mackay until earlier this week, because authorities were not able to give him the figures.

He said he was finally given the figures after Queensland’s chief health officer stepped in.

“I’m confident now that we will have those (up to date vaccination) figures on almost a daily basis,” Cr Williamson said.

Mr Christensen said the vaccine rollout was federal business, not local government business.

“Some countries decided not to export vaccines to our country and there has been (myriad problems) with the AstraZeneca vaccine which cannot be blamed on the federal government,” the Dawson MP said.