Update on Claims of Forced Inoculation of Indigenous Australians
Update on Claims of Forced Inoculation of Indigenous Australians
June Mills, the elder who made claims of forced vaccination of indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory1, has issued a retraction, saying that she has received information from “reliable sources” that there was no forced vaccination.
Once claims of this magnitude are made, we must question retractions for validity and the potential of coercion. I have many inquiries about this retraction:
In the first video, she said that she was being “inundated by calls from the communities” claiming forced vaccination. I am interested in the difference between these sources and the new, “reliable sources”. In the video from the other elder, which has not been retracted, he also said he was receiving multiple calls from elders in these communities tearfully claiming forced vaccination.
In the first video, she said, “they are deliberately murdering our people, by force vaccinating them without their will”. In the second video she goes out of her way to say that she has never advised against vaccinations, although that explanation is cut off. While in no way absolute proof, this in particular is the primary talking point I believe a coerced retraction would contain.
I have only been able to find this short version of the video, which was recorded from what appears to be a live stream. The only people I have seen sharing this clip so far are very vocal about their support of government measures. The tweet above is from someone who has called anti-mandate protesters “Nazis”.
The retraction very well could be genuine, but due to the magnitude of the claims, and the government’s acknowledgement that the army is transporting people to camps, we should request more than a fifty-five second, cut-off screen capture of a video. What else did she say that we’re not seeing?
Like with Peng Shuai, once an accusation of this magnitude is made, the individual making the claim should be taken to a safe location to confirm the original claim or to make retractions and be asked follow up questions. Here is a great breakdown of how Peng Shuai’s supposed retractions are highly suspect, if not blatantly coerced.
An ABC news report claims that Robinson River, one of the communities that June Mills said was force vaccinated in her original video, is now one hundred percent vaccinated2. Though Australia has traditionally been a free and democratic country, in this instance, with this level of accusations, we should note that the ABC is state sponsored media. Think about how you would view reports of forced inoculation in China followed by the government denying it, but state sponsored news cheering that the community is now completely vaccinated.
Where is the independent investigation and confirmation or refutation of these claims? Why has the government of the Northern Territory not given media full transparency and access to these communities? Why are we nearly a week into this situation and only have homemade videos and official government statements, contradicting those videos, to go on?
The Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, Michael Gunner, has not behaved as an altruistic leader through all of this. His official response to these claims was to attack the character of those raising concern. It must be noted that his response is nearly identical to those of twentieth century totalitarians when confronted with accusations of crimes against humanity. Before the concentration camps were liberated, and could not be hidden any longer, the Nazis attacked the character of those amplifying reports from the resistance that were making their way to the Allies. Like Gunner, they specifically touted how nice the camps were and attacked the accusers as spreaders of propaganda and lies. His administration’s lack of transparency through this breeds rightful suspicion.
Lastly here is another extremely brief video, with no context, that has come out in the last day. I don’t know the background, but it certainly does not make me confident that everything is fine in the Northern Territory. We must continue to demand an independent, international investigation into these claims of state violence.
