While much of 2020 has been centred around covid-19, there is one issue, outside the US elections, much closer to home that is very concerning. The rising political tensions between Australia and China.
Many can argue that we have been in an abusive relationship with China for many years. But tensions started to escalate when Scott Morrison supported the notion of an inquiry into the origins of the SARS-CoV-2, sparking condemnation from our biggest trading partner.
China’s tactics to compel Australia to back down on its position are seen as bullying, oppressive, intimidating and even terrorising. Using import tariffs to force us to bend to their will is clearly “Coercive politics”, as Scott Morrison states.
On November 30, Lijian Zhao, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, posted a false image depicting an Australian soldier killing an Afghan boy. This act of provocation coincides with an inquiry into alleged war crimes committed by Australian soldiers against Afghan civilians and prisoners.
Scott Morrison immediately called into question their publishing of this photo saying they should be “utterly ashamed”, as it was “truly repugnant, deeply offensive, utterly outrageous”, asking Twitter to remove the post describing it as “disinformation”. He asserted that the investigation into these alleged war crimes is a transparent investigation that is expected in a “democratic, liberal” country.
Despite their unconscionable conduct, an unrepentant China doubled down stating that the war crimes' report "fully exposed the hypocrisy of the human rights and freedom these Western countries are always chanting".
When China is questioning our human rights record, you feel the irony of their statement.
Which leads me to think, do they have a point here? When looking at the situation from a different perspective, the Australian government has used coercive measures to corner its citizens into many things. "No jab, no play", proudly crafted by Scott Morrison is the perfect example of bullying tactics, and this has been enforced on the citizens of Australia for years now.
Parents, concerned about the safety and efficacy of vaccines, are discriminated against in the harshest way, being denied access to welfare and services in a clearly punitive policy that could also be described as truly repugnant, deeply offensive and utterly outrageous for a liberal democratic country. But cornering people into submission is the Scott Morrison way and it seems he is intent on doing the same thing with the covid-19 vaccine making it “mandatory as possible”. You can’t have it both ways, ScoMo!
Within hours after making that remark, Scott Morrison beat a hasty retreat from his position, the Australian public’s very vocal discontent with a rushed vaccine being enforced as mandatory ringing in his ears. Now he is using coercive tactics to encourage businesses to enforce it instead. QANTAS "no-jab, no-fly" is the first example of this.
The reason so many Australians were up in arms about the covid-19 vaccine being mandatory? There have been no long-term studies to show they are safe.
And instead of providing us with a transparent investigation, as you would expect in a “democratic, liberal” country, trade and commerce are winning over safety issues. There is vigorous promotion of vaccines and their purported safety, whilst the fact is that safety data will be available only after six years’ proper, peer-reviewed testing.
Looking at it from this viewpoint, you can argue that we the people have been in an abusive relationship with this government for years.
Signs of abuse in relationships are:
Heavy-handed, bullying attempts at control
Threats to harm you, family and loved ones by, for example, withdrawing money, emotional support, and freedoms, and threatening mental wellbeing
Fear of the abuser and what might happen to you if you fail to comply with their controlling rules and actions.
Sound familiar?
In case anyone is in ANY doubt!
Before complaining about his treatment from China, perhaps ScoMo should be taking some of his own advice when making decisions that bully, oppress, intimidate, discriminate, and even terrorise his own constituents, because what is good for the goose is good for the gander.