Chris Bowen
By Neeraj Nanda
MELBOURNE, 17 August 2020: The Shadow Minister for Health, Chris Bowen today said “The vulnerable should get the COVID-19 vaccine at no charge”. Chris said this while answering a question by South Asia Times (SAT) at a Zoom multicultural media conference today if a possible COVID-19 vaccine in Australia will be covered under Medicare or the people have to pay for it.
Answering the SAT question he said, “First the access to the vaccine should be there and how much will be covered we will decide then.”
Answering another question Chris Bowen said nation-wide compulsory mask-wearing is not necessary and each state should decide accordingly.
Kristina Keneally
On a question about the banning of Tik Tok by the US and Australia doing the same, Kristina Keneally Shadow Minister for Home Affairs said the rise of fake news is very real and a danger to democracy. The danger to democracy by disinformation is significant but not just for a particular platform. Labor has set up the Senate inquiry into this issue and it will say more on this issue in the coming months, she said.
About the COVIDSafe app, Chris Bowen, replying to a question said, It is not working and so far it has traced 14 contacts. The app also needs to be updated and not all have done that. On communications to multicultural communities, he said, it needs to be updated and there have been poor translations.
