Furious row on Q&A as Nationals senator calls for lockdowns to be lifted IMMEDIATELY - as irate viewers slam the ABC for letting him on the program after claiming Australia was spending '$330million to save a single life'
- National MP Matt Canavan called for an immediate end to lockdowns this week
- The Queenslander doubled down on ABC Q+A program on Thursday night
- He claimed that Treasury's data on the cost of lockdowns was inaccurate
An MP launched an extraordinary attack on the national cabinet's strategy of lockdowns, saying policy-makers are too 'embarrassed' to provide accurate financial data and accusing them of hiding behind 'weasel words'.
Matt Canavan, Liberal National MP for Queensland called for an 'immediate end' to lockdowns this week and doubled down on Q+A, claiming the real cost of lockdowns was so 'eye-watering' that Treasury did not want to release the real costs.
On social media, Q+A viewers were furious that the national broadcaster featured Canavan at all, who is a vocal critic of lockdowns, on its panel.
Some belligerent social media activists even refused to watch the show, harshly calling his choice as a guest 'an insult to intelligence'.
The ABC Q+A panel discussed Australia's current Covid situation with one guest saying Sydneysiders were suffering and needed clarity on when the current lockdown would be over (pictured, a Penrith pharmacist in full PPE on Thursday)
Liberal National MP Matt Canavan launched an extraordinary attack on lockdowns, saying policy-makers are too 'embarrassed' to provide accurate data and accused them of hiding behind 'weasel words'
Mr Canavan's presence on the show was also slammed as 'a slap in the face to everyone doing the right thing' while many accused him of spreading 'misinformation'.
He raised eyebrows in a comment piece in the Australian Financial Review this week by claiming the cost of saving each life during pandemic lockdowns was '$330million'.
Mr Canavan bickered with Q+A host David Speers on Thursday over Treasury's recent finding that early intervention was the best way to get on top of the virus until we reach high vaccination rates.
When Speers tried to summarise the Treasury findings, Mr Canavan interrupted him saying 'where's the numbers?' and calling some of the findings 'weasel words'.
Matt Canavan (pictured with his wife Andrea) claimed that Treasury officials could not release accurate figures on the true cost of lockdowns because they would be 'eye-watering' and would 'embarrass' officials
'You can take that up with [Treasurer] Josh Frydenberg,' Speers shot back.
Mr Canavan maintained his claim that lockdowns have never been properly costed.
'There hasn't actually been a cost benefit study from our officials of lockdowns... compared to other policies,' the senator argued.
'That is a gross abrogation of their responsibilities as regulators and policy makers.'
Share this article
Mr Canavan said lockdowns were probably 'the most costly policy that we've ever adopted in peace time'.
'I fear that the [actual] figures would be eye-watering and would embarrass the officials making these decisions.'
He also refused to condemn rogue anti-vaccination MP George Christensen who said masks did not work.
ABC viewers attacked the public broadcaster for having Matt Canavan on the Q+A panel. Some called Canavan's place on the panel discussing climate change and Australia's Covid situation 'a slap in the face for everyone doing the right thing'
Sydneysiders have no spent 99 days in lockdown since the pandemic began as of Thursday (pictured, a local in Alexandria)
Thursday's Q+A panelists discussed how Australia could end the cycle of costly lockdowns, which health economist Angela Jackson said were causing too much 'suffering' to the people of Sydney.
She said it was time to give the people of New South Wales more clarity about how lockdown will end.
'Sydney needs to know what are the vaccination targets, what do the case numbers need to be at, at each level of vaccination, for them to come out safely.
'[The NSW government] should have that modelling and I think it is time to share it.'
'People need certainty and they need a plan.'
Senior ALP member Catherine King, the Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, slammed the Morrison government over the 'debacle' of the vaccine rollout.
She said the sacrifices made by Victorians during that state's long lockdown in 2020 'have been squandered'.
Long lockdowns around Australia have led to frustration with the strategy which Matt Canavan believes is far more expensive than we have been led to believe (pictured, police at an anti-lockdown protest on Wednesday)
'We've only got 19 per cent of the population fully vaccinated and were having this Hunger Games between priority populations versus states about how we manage this because frankly the Morrison/Joyce government did not do its job.'
Financial journalist Alan Kohler called Australia's Covid response in 2021 an 'epic stuff up'.
'We've learned the PM doesn't run the show any more, it's the states who do it.'
Mr Kohler said one of the major issues confusing the public and creating uncertainty was the projection of exactly how much of the population need to be vaccinated.
A recent theme has been the claim that with 70 per cent of the population fully vaccinated many restrictions could be eased.
'What percentages are we talking about? Is it the whole population or the adult population? Nobody really knows,' he added.
Comments 0
Share what you think
No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.
