Controversial Liberal MP Craig Kelly says he’ll have to weigh up evidence on taking COVID jab

Craig Kelly says Aussies need to weigh all evidence before they have a coronavirus jab and won’t commit to getting one himself.

Craig Kelly insists he isn’t anti-vaccination. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Liberal MP Craig Kelly says Australians need to weigh all the evidence before they take a coronavirus vaccine and will not commit to getting an anti-COVID jab himself.

Labor is targeting Mr Kelly over a host of controversial comments on unproven treatments for coronavirus, attacks on government medical officers, and his recent podcast interview with conspiracy theorist and television chef Pete Evans.

Scott Morrison on Monday urged Australians to look to official government channels and not Mr Kelly for medical information on COVID, but has refused to condemn the MP.

Mr Kelly told The Australian on Tuesday he was not anti-vaccination and disagreed with Mr Evans on the safety of COVID jabs, but he would not commit to supporting government calls to vaccinate as many Australians as possible.

“I’ve made that clear in discussions with Pete and on my Facebook posts that I’m not (anti-vaccination). I want to expand coronavirus treatments, not limit them,” he said.

“On getting a vaccine, I’m going to tell people to make up their own mind. The government has not made it mandatory.

“I’ll look at all the evidence and make up my own mind when it comes to taking the vaccine myself.”

Mr Kelly said he went on Mr Evans’s podcast - which will release later on Tuesday - to push back against “cancel culture”. Mr Evans has been suspended from social media platforms for COVID-related misinformation including claiming hugs could be a cure for coronavirus.

While the Prime Minister has repeatedly said the vaccine will not be mandatory once it is rolled out later this month, the federal government has pursued an aggressive media campaign to convince Australians of the safety and the necessity of inoculations.

Labor moved on Tuesday to suspend standing orders in the House of Representatives over Mr Kelly’s COVID-related comments.

Speaking in the House of Representatives on the first siting day of the year, opposition health spokesman Mark Butler called on Mr Morrison to condemn the “dangerous” views of the rogue MP which he said undermined the country’s health response to COVID.

Mr Kelly is facing another preselection challenge and many Liberals expect he will struggle to hold on. The Liberal MP has relied on the interventions of Mr Morrison and former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in the past.

Mr Kelly said on Tuesday he is confident he can survive and run again in the safe Liberal seat.

“Every three years we have to reapply for our jobs … I will run again,” he said.

On Monday, Mr Morrison distanced the government from Mr Kelly’s COVID comments but said he was doing a “great job” in the electorate of Hughes, which neighbours his own seat of Cook.

“He’s not my doctor and he’s not yours. But he does a great job in Hughes,” Mr Morrison said at the National Press Club.