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."

Sources

ABC News

CathNews New Zealand

Meanwhile, the Australian Government is urgently tightening its rules on kava use.

Last year, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) agreed to amend the status of kava in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code.

The amendment banned takeaway kava and tightened existing regulations on how it is prepared.

It came into effect immediately in Australia.

New Zealand held off, however as the Code didn't consider kava's cultural importance to the Pasifika community.

Australia then conducted a 12-month review of the Code. They were looking to see if further changes were needed, or if amendments should be reaffirmed or revoked.

In March, the Australian Government decided to keep the changes.

Kava's cultural importance

The New Zealand Government has confirmed it will not keep the proposed changes, with respect to kava's cultural use.

University of Waikato kava expert Dr Apo Aporosa is pleased.

As a Pacific person living in Aotearoa, the Government recognising kava's cultural significance is important, he said.

"Their consideration included recognition of kava's cultural importance to Pacific peoples as part of cultural practice and relational connection, together with kava use safety, continuing to classify kava as a ‘food' under the Food Safety Standards," he said.

Aporosa said it also meant the Government stood by its commitment as a signatory to the United Nations' Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It showed this by recognising the culture and practices of Pacific peoples in Aotearoa.

Alcohol alternative

The Government's decision also considered the increased use of kava by Maori, as part of their pre-migration culture, Aporoso said.

"This also supports and encourages Maori's use of kava as an alternative to alcohol. We know that kava does not cause 99 percent of the health and socio-cultural impacts caused by alcohol.

"This is also why it's important that Pacific people be given unfettered access to kava - we seek to limit alcohol harm in our community."

Aporosa has advised the Australian Government on kava safety since 2008.

It is sad that Pacific families across the Tasman were not considered when changes were made, he said.

"This has imposed additional barriers to kava access in Australia.

"Additionally, those barriers in Australia continue to prevent me from posting kava to my family or friends over there. However, I can post a box of Jack Daniel's.

"Go figure, particularly when you consider the disproportionate level of harm caused by alcohol when compared with kava."

Deputy director general of the Ministry for Primary Industries Vincent Arbuckle said last year's amendments were made under an urgent proposal.

"This is not the usual process for changes to Standards," he said. Under the FSANZ Act, urgent proposals were reserved for matters that were an urgent public health risk.

"The proposal meant that New Zealand's Pasifika community did not have sufficient opportunity to engage in a matter of significant cultural importance."

Food Safety Minister Meka Whaitiri said kava was a culturally significant beverage for the Pasifika community. Therefore the amendments would not be adopted in New Zealand on cultural grounds.

Source

• Stuff

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president says the government should provide at least 20,000 humanitarian places for refugees from Afghanistan in the wake of the current Taliban takeover.

In a letter to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Coleridge points out the "outpouring of concern for the people of Afghanistan" since the Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban seized control ten days ago.

Even though Australia has provided 8,000 places for Afghan people for several years, the current need to increase the refugee intake is pressing, Coleridge urges.

He told Morrison that although the additional 3,000 places it is offering "is a substantial commitment," more are needed.

Based on estimates from key humanitarian organisations and pledges from other countries, Coleridge suggested to Morrison that at least another 17,000 places need to be made available.

Coleridge also promised Morrison help from the Catholic Church in Australia.

"Australia has stepped up before in response to significant humanitarian crises and I urge your government to be generous," his letter says.

The Catholic agencies "stand ready to assist your government with the resettlement of refugees as an expression of our great concern for the people of Afghanistan."

Coleridge's letter emphasises the very real danger people in Afghanistan face.

He said many Afghans would find themselves vulnerable under Taliban rule.

He made particular mention of those who supported Australia's defence personnel when they served in Afghanistan. They included people who lost their lives, religious minorities and women.

"It would seem our moral duty to stand with those who supported Australian military forces as interpreters or in other capacities, who it seems likely will suffer reprisals and even death for their work," he continues.

"We should also offer refuge to other Afghans who are likely to suffer persecution or risk being killed because of their opposition to the Taliban, or because of their beliefs, values and way of life, including members of the Christian community.

"There is a particular risk to women, and Australia's humanitarian response should recognise and support their dignity and human rights."

Source

• Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference
• Image: BBC

Last August the United Nations (UN) found actions taken by the Saudi- and UAE-led coalition in Yemen might amount to war crimes. They include rape, torture and using child soldiers as young as eight.

Save the Children wants an immediate ban of Australian defence export licenses to Saudi Arabia and other parties to the Yemen conflict, as the Australian government has been underwriting weapons purchases.

These purchases include providing tens of millions of dollars to Electro Optic Systems (EOS), which has designed a remotely operated vehicle-mounted platform.

The platform holds cannons, machine guns and missile launchers.

Australian Defence officials have confirmed the government spent taxpayer funds to support developing weapons systems.

Save the Children Director of Policy and International Programs Mat Tinkler is concerned about Australia's weapons' exports.

"Australia is becoming increasingly isolated in our support for the Saudi-led coalition in this way," said Mr Tinkler.

"The world over, nations have taken steps to end arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE in light of the UN's finding of possible war crimes".

The Australian Government announced in January 2018 its ambition to become a top 10 defence exporter in the world.

The Australian Department of Defence's Senate Estimates confirm the government had granted export permits to an Australian company that sold 500 weapons mounting systems to Saudi Arabia.

Tinkler says the fact that Australia is "still exporting defence equipment to Saudi Arabia and the UAE raises serious questions about what role we're playing in prolonging this war, in prolonging the suffering of children in Yemen.

"Many Australians would be rightly be shocked to learn that Australia could potentially be contributing to the world's worst humanitarian crisis."

Australian news outlet, ABC, claims it has seen confidential EOS board minutes which describe signing a Letter of Intent for the sale of 500 remote weapons systems units destined for the Saudi Ministry of Interior.

Following the ABC's report, Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne told a Senate Estimates hearing that a ban on the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia was under review.

Source

• Save the Children
• ABC
• Image: www.alarby.co.uk