Craig Kelly’s anti-vax stance is foolhardy and dangerous

Craig Kelly during Question Time in the House of Representatives. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

Australian politics is pretty rigid. There is not much allowance for those who are not prepared to stay within the tent at all times. If you stray more than once, it is likely the party will wield a heavy hand and you will be cast off into the wilderness reserved for those with independent thought. The latest drama involving Craig Kelly reinforces this view. As long as Kelly stayed within the boundaries of sense and sensibility, his occasional departures from reality could be tolerated.

Normally Kelly has been effective because he is so well researched. We can only despair that the one time he chose to stray into a topic where he ignores the great bulk of available advice and expert opinion should be on a subject as critical as this one. Resigning from the Liberal Party was a step that surprised me. Our politicians don’t have enough going for them to win on their own. They need the support of a major party to survive.

The seat of Hughes was once a Labor stronghold based on the votes of coalminers from Heathcote and its surrounds. Then came the waterfront developments along the Port Hacking River and the coalminers were swamped by business and professional types seeking the prestige of a waterfront home. On anything like its current boundaries it will never again be a Labor seat. The question, however, remains: can Kelly hold out against an officially endorsed Liberal candidate supplied with central office funding and the support of all the parliamentary heavyweights?

If anyone can it will be Kelly. He does more media than most of the frontbench. Talk back radio loves him and he uses every opportunity he is offered. He is exactly what he seems — a really good bloke who sometimes gets lost on the way to the forum. Up until now his eccentricity was benign but the anti-vaccination stance is as foolhardy as it is dangerous. In fact, it is so bad he deserves to lose his career over it. Once he took a position that would cause so much suffering and grief in our community he excluded himself from mainstream Australia.

He had already quit the Liberal Party not far ahead of the inevitable move to punt him from their midst. A once likeable figure is turning himself into an alien in his own neighbourhood. I don’t know if he has it in him but he should stand up and apologise for his remarks and withdraw them. Community tolerance for this form of ratbaggery is wearing thin. I am all for preschools and kindergartens banning kids who have not been vaccinated. That may be the only way to protect us from the ignorant and the stupid. It amazes me that some parents have to be compelled to act in the interests of their children.

One thing that continues to cause me distress is the number of councils, particularly in Melbourne, that continue to agitate for a change in the date of Australia Day. For a huge percentage of our population this is just not an issue. This is just another extension of this ridiculous cancel culture, which infests some sections of our community. Those idiots need to be called out for what they are — fools who get their kicks out of their very active form of vandalism.

In the US we have just witnessed the ultimate act of vandalism. When a group of thugs spurred on by the worst of losers, Donald Trump, wreaked havoc on Capital Hill. Invading the heart of democracy was no problem for Donaald Trump or the brand of thugs who claimed to be acting on his behalf. Let’s hope this never happens in Canberra where we have seen a truckers’ blockade of Parliament House but have never seen any attempt to take over a parliament chamber.

While it should not be necessary, security will have to be beefed up considerably in Washington. It is to be hoped that the Secret Service takes the necessary time to identify every single one of the those thugs and bring them before the courts for a single but incredibly significant moment of madness these people need to hear the clang of a prison door of their cell.