The Libertarian Party will:
Conduct a Royal Commission inquiry into the harms of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This should include the Wuhan lab origins of Covid, the deliberate neglect of alternate cures and preventive treatments, the damage caused by mRNA jabs being forced, the wastage of vaccine doses, and the inquiry into the post-pandemic excess deaths.
Ensure accountability.
Hold corporations who sell, or regulators who approve, a product that has dangerous adverse effects fully liable for their negligent actions. Under no circumstances should a government grant a blanket indemnity as was the case with the providers of mRNA vaccines.
End the regulatory monopoly.
Approval of medicines by TGA should be a voluntary measure that manufacturers may choose to undertake. We would welcome competitive regulation, where alternate regulatory bodies can enter the Australian market and compete with the TGA on price, reputation, and speed of approval. Australians should be able to buy medicines not approved by any Australian regulator, as long as they are clearly labelled as such, at their own risk.
End the licensing monopoly.
The principle of competition should also be applied to medical practitioner licensing bodies like AHPRA, such that no one licensing body should be able to monopolise the field. Professionals may seek approvals of regulators that understand their mode of practice.
End the pharmacy cartel.
Restrictions regarding the ownership, location and operating hours of pharmacies should be removed.
Allow more over-the-counter medicines.
There are a number of pharmaceuticals currently designated as “prescription-only” medicines which could be sold over the counter or at supermarkets without increased risk to the public - for example, Ivermectin.
Uphold the doctor-patient relationship.
Doctors should also be at complete liberty to prescribe off-label usage of all prescription medicines. Citizens’ consumption of prescription medicines is entirely a matter between their chosen physician and themselves; no government body should interfere in that sacrosanct and private relationship.
Exit the WHO.
Australia should exit the World Health Organisation (WHO), like the US and Argentina have already done. No global body should have jurisdiction over health decisions affecting Australians.
Discussion
The Libertarian Party is a strong advocate for freedom in every field including health and medicine. People must be free to choose medical professionals for advice and treatments for keeping themselves healthy and for restoring health when it is impaired.
The present medical-industrial complex is controlled by pharmaceutical corporations (Big Pharma). Drug regulation in Australia is monopolised by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) but this body is 96% funded by Big Pharma and has been completely ‘captured’ by the industry it is supposed to be regulating. Medical licensing is monopolised by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) which in recent years has seen fit to immediately suspend doctors who raised questions about mandated treatments, without fair process and without evidence of harm to patients. The government also grants monopoly powers to the Pharmacy Guild for the distribution of drugs, resulting in decreased availability of medicines and increased healthcare costs, which are passed on to both consumers and taxpayers.
This model has led to a health system characterised by a cycle of unhealthy lifestyles, followed by disease diagnoses, and subsidised drug prescription, which enriches those corporations while Australians continue to get sicker. Doctors are often left powerless to effect change, for fear of being deregistered.
Regulatory agencies ought to compete in a market for such services, so that customers can decide which ‘tick of approval’ they trust for impartiality and thoroughness (similar to the way credit-rating agencies compete for business). The same applies to licensing bodies like AHPRA. Instead of an enforced monopoly, health professionals would choose to be licensed by whichever body (or multiple bodies) they trust the most. Consumers can choose service providers accredited by the regulatory agency they trust.
A real free market will encourage holistic health, including healthy living and preventative action. When foods, medicines and treatments are regulated by market competition rather than by captured industry bodies, and when subsidies and legal immunity for corporations are removed, it creates better incentives for all participants. Consumers have an incentive to act responsibly toward their health, including following diet and exercise regimens that are effective in preventing disease; corporations are incentivised to serve the genuine needs of consumers and act responsibly, or face the threat of losses. Doctors and health professionals are empowered to provide holistic advice and genuine care. Allied health providers emphasising healthy living and prevention are given a platform to get their message across as well.
The Libertarian Party strongly opposes being a party to any global treaty which restricts the independence of our medical professionals. During the COVID-19 pandemic, state and federal government policies inflicted shocking harms in terms of personal freedom, unnecessary loss of livelihoods, unneeded and in some cases disastrous constraints on children’s education, businesses, and community groups, reckless escalation of government debt, lost personal connections, loss of privacy, deterioration of health and happiness, and lives lost. Politicians hid behind the so-called expert view. The mainstream media rarely showed courage and independence as though every person other than the government-appointed experts knew nothing, and crucial issues were never debated publicly. Censorship became the norm, including the censoring of world-leading experts, whenever research findings questioned the government or Big Pharma narrative.
Never again should any of this be allowed to occur: lockdowns, government-mandated masking, social distancing, or contact tracing, intrusions into the doctor-patient relationship, censorship of medical information, vaccination mandates, prevention of peaceful protests, or forced travel restrictions for Australians.