Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce defended the right of National Party colleague George Christensen MP to protest as part of a “free rally” on July 24 around Australia.
The protests of seeing thousands of Australians marching through many capitals were in response to several state governments blocking COVID-19.
and interview Joyce said on ABC Radio on July 26 that Kristensen was within the right to attend a legitimate rally in Queensland and express support for other demonstrations nationwide.
He disagreed with Kristensen’s feelings, but did not believe that silence was the answer, and he said it would not help at all.
“Let’s be realist about this. Everyone is free to say what they want,” he said.
“What do you want me to do to go there without knowing he’s going to say it and confront him? It reinforces the feeling that you don’t have the freedom to say what you like. Will it really help the process? “
Joyce also said that Australians are free to make their own decisions.
“We are all intelligent sentient beings,” he said. “It’s up to you to agree and we can hear other opinions.”
Joyce also said he personally believed that if the country did not follow the path of controlling the virus, it could fall into a situation like Indonesia. But he personally believes that Australia, like any other virus, needs to agree with the fact that it must co-exist and control the virus.
“It’s a very bitter drug, but you have to be honest with people. It’s like saying you’re going to get rid of the flu. You’re not,” he said. “You have to manage it, and it’s like saying you’re going to get rid of someone who’s ever got measles. You make it your ability I have no intention of managing it as far as I can. “
Comments from Joyce by Kristensen officer On Facebook: “Civil disobedience is ultimately the only response to a law that limits freedom. This is what we saw in Melbourne today.”
The comment was accompanied by an image quoting a passage from American civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, “I have a moral responsibility to violate unfair law.”
Christensen has called on thousands of protesters who have broken health orders in Victoria to oppose the restrictive COVID-19 blockade implemented by the state government led by Prime Minister Daniel Andrews.
Victoria experienced one of the longest and toughest COVID-19 blockades in the world, spent about five months on a complete blockade in 2020, and is currently in its fifth blockade.
Even in Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, thousands of people protest the state’s month-long blockage after authorities have restricted travel and business in the Greater Sydney and regional regions due to the outbreak of the Delta Variant. People came out. Placed under less restrictive orders.