14 Australian Politicians Urge Prime Minister to Reject WHO Pandemic Treaty

The politicians warned the WHO will hold an unacceptable level of authority, power and influence over Australia’s affairs if the country adopted the treaty.
14 Australian Politicians Urge Prime Minister to Reject WHO Pandemic Treaty
WHO officials attend a press conference in Geneva, on April 6, 2023. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images
Alfred Bui
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Fourteen Australian politicians have written a letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese asking the Labor government not to sign the upcoming World Health Organization (WHO) pandemic treaty.

It comes as Australia prepares to take part in the 77th World Health Assembly on May 27, where member countries will decide whether to agree to a health accord with global implications.

The WHO pandemic treaty, currently in its draft stage, is a legally binding agreement that requires member countries to “recognise WHO as the guiding and coordinating authority of international public health response” and follow the WHO’s directives during a health emergency.

The initiative was introduced in 2021 and aims to streamline governance, supply chain, and various other interventions to deal with future pandemics.

Some legal experts and politicians have raised concerns, however, about its impact on the sovereignty of member countries, and whether it bestows too much authority to the WHO.

Apart from the treaty, the WHO will push for amendments to the current International Health Regulation (IHR), which seeks to change the current IHR non-binding recommendations into binding ones.

The proposed amendments will cover all “public health emergencies of international concern” (PHEIC) and allow the WHO director-general to determine what a PHEIC is and when it ends.

They also grant the WHO director-general the power to impose vaccine mandates, border closures, and other measures to combat PHEIC.

Both the treaty and the IHR amendments are currently under negotiation and have not been finalised.

Politicians’ Letter to Australian PM

On May 14, a group of federal senators and MPs from the right- to centre-right, penned a letter to Mr. Albanese, advising the Labor government to reject the treaty and the IHR amendments.

The 14 MPs include Senators Ralph Babet, Alex Antic, Pauline Hanson, Matt Canavan, Malcolm Roberts, Matthew O‘Sullivan, as well as MPs Terry Young, Tony Pasin, Russell Broadbent, Colin Boyce, Luke Howarth, David Gillespie, Barnaby Joyce, and Llew O’Brien.

The letter said the WHO pandemic treaty, along with proposed IHR amendments, would pose a significant threat to Australia’s autonomy and independence.

“If adopted, and implemented into Australian domestic law, the World Health Organisation will hold an unacceptable level of authority, power and influence over Australia’s affairs under the guise of declaring ‘emergency,’” it read.

“We have received a large volume of correspondence from Australians who are rightly concerned about the IHR amendments and the WHO pandemic treaty, and we share those concerns.”

The letter also alleged that the WHO’s recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic caused more damage than what they prevented, as well as resulted in untold economic and social losses.

In addition, they said that according to the WHO’s constitution, the agency is meant to be an advisory and coordinating body to assist governments in strengthening health services at their request.

“The WHO has no power or jurisdiction to implement a WHO pandemic treaty, which goes well beyond its jurisdiction,” the letter read.

Health workers conduct COVID-19 tests at the Bondi Beach testing clinic in Sydney, Australia, on Dec. 28, 2021. (Jenny Evans/Getty Images)
Health workers conduct COVID-19 tests at the Bondi Beach testing clinic in Sydney, Australia, on Dec. 28, 2021. Jenny Evans/Getty Images

UK Rejects Current Draft Treaty

Amid the WHO’s push for the treaty to be approved, some member countries have openly disagreed with its content.
On May 14, Andrew Stephenson, UK Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care, confirmed that his government would not sign the treaty at the current stage.

“I set out some of our negotiating red lines, and I am happy to confirm from the Dispatch Box that the current text is not acceptable to us,” Mr. Stephenson said.

“Therefore, unless the current text is changed and refined, we will not be signing up to it.”

The minister also noted that the UK would only join the treaty if the WHO respected the country’s national sovereignty.

“Under no circumstances will we allow the WHO to have the power to mandate lockdowns,” he said.

Earlier, the Slovakian government announced that the country did not support the current version of the agreement, citing sovereignty concerns. While New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters had made it government policy not to adopt any treaty that could threaten the country’s sovereignty.

David Bell and Thi Thuy Van Dinh contributed to this article.
Alfred Bui
Alfred Bui
Author
Alfred Bui is an Australian reporter based in Melbourne and focuses on local and business news. He is a former small business owner and has two master’s degrees in business and business law. Contact him at [email protected].