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Former New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet has strongly opposed the COVID-19 vaccine mandates, labeling them “wrong”.
The retiring politician, a Catholic, made the claim during a valedictory speech on Tuesday, reflecting on the government’s response to the pandemic.
He suggested that the enforcement of the vaccine mandates impinged on individual freedoms.
“If the impact of vaccines on transmission was limited at best, as is now mostly accepted, the law should have left more room for respect of freedom” Mr Perrottet said during an interview with ABC Radio.
Perrottet, who served as NSW Premier from October 2021 to March 2023, argued that mandatory vaccination policies were misguided.
“Vaccines saved lives, but ultimately, mandates were wrong. People’s personal choices shouldn’t have cost them their jobs.”
Trust people to make their own decisions
He regretted enforcing these mandates and highlighted the importance of trusting people. “We need to trust people to make their own decisions” he stated.
Mr Perrottet became premier in late 2021, replacing Gladys Berejiklian upon her resignation amid a corruption probe.
After taking over the top job, Mr Perrottet oversaw the state’s emergence from pandemic restrictions.
“When I became premier, we removed [vaccine mandates] or the ones we actually could, but this should have happened faster” he told the legislative assembly on Tuesday.
“If a pandemic comes again, we need to get a better balance encouraging people to take action whilst at the same time protecting people’s fundamental liberty.”
Cemetery of reform
Mr Perrottet also used his speech to call for changes to Australia’s federation system, saying Canberra was becoming a “cemetery of reform”.
“If we established Australia today, no-one in their right mind would set up the federation the way it is” he said.
“We currently have federal and state health systems that don’t even work alongside each other. Rather, they actively work against each other.
“If we can’t reform the federal health system after a one in 100-year pandemic, we never will.”
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