Feeling forced to book COVID vaccine online, to sign up for a myGov account, and to get a vaccine passport?

This pretty much nails it!

Anonymous, 27 May 2019

I hope Australians won't be forced to subscribe to this mygov shit because of covid vaccination. It is already bad enough that the government treats out personal data and health information as its own property. This has got to stop! I won't be signing up for any online crap that mandates to know my email or mobile number or wants me to download their app onto my phone.

Anonymous, 29 March 2021

Centrelink, Medicare, ATO, Child Support, myHealthRecord, and the rest of the myGov gang, this lot are worse than scammers!
At least all that scammers want is your money, but these shysters want everything: your money, and all your personal data, and your medical information, and all your private life, and to have control over your body, and to have you under their surveillance from cradle to grave...
In the old days you could get away with giving them only your name and address, but now they also demand your email address and mobile phone number, and force you to agree to their terms and conditions that make you obligated to check their online messages on a daily basis, as if they are going to pay for your Internet data usage or mobile services! And now they also want a photo ID for COVID vaccines. Are they serious??

Pat, Australia, 4 April 2021

Increasingly these days we have only two choices: forced or forbidden. Anything with prefixes "e", "i" or "my" intensifies the despair.

Anonymous, 2 June 2021

This is no longer a joke. Soon we won't be able to buy food without handing over our contact details. Thanks to covid, the government found a way to deal with those who want to protect their privacy: starve them to death. In Queensland, from 9 July every supermarket, grocery shop and retail food outlet will have to demand that you use the Check In Qld app or give them your name, address and contact details.
The app Privacy Policy, if you can call it that, says it will send the authorities the location, time and date of your visits; your full name; your phone number; your email address; and information about the technology you used to check in. Nowhere it explains what that "information about the technology you used to check in" includes and what sort of data it can steal from your device. It could easily grab your device ID and other identifying information. This applies to Queensland Check In Qld app, Western Australian SafeWA app, Tasmanian Check in Tas app, and ACT Check In CBR app.
Sadly, it is highly unlikely that this coercion and mass surveillance will be completely removed when the pandemic is over. Coronavirus became a convenient pretext for stripping the population of their privacy, civil rights and freedoms.

Anonymous, Australia, 28 June 2021

To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail. To a government with a surveillance app, everything looks like an excuse for forcing everyone into using it.

Anonymous, 29 June 2021

Queensland check in app is the worst of them. For instance, NSW app asks for your email OR phone number, and keeps data for 28 days. Qld app demands phone AND email, and keeps data for 56 days. And of course no other state or territory decided to bar people from grocery shopping unless they say goodbye to their privacy. And the pandemic is absolutely no justification for this intrusion in Qld, because Qld infection rates are much lower than NSW. It is pure abuse and violation.

Darren, 30 June 2021

We all have to pay with our privacy for the incompetence of our government while they keep stuffing up every step of the pandemic management. The only reason Australia didn't become a covid cesspool is due to its geographic isolation, not because politicians and bureaucrats did anything better than other countries. Instead of securing a safe and effective vaccine and offering it efficiently and with respect for individual privacy, Australian federal and state governments focus on finding new ways and excuses for data-grabbing. Extorting personal information out of the population is the only thing they are quick and good at.

Greg, 1 July 2021

Maybe it's time someone started depicting the state premier like Sean Leahy used to draw Joh Bjelke-Petersen: in a Nazi-style military uniform, with a gun, and crossed bananas swastika on the sleeves?

Anonymous, 1 July 2021

And if you test positive for covid in Queensland, they tend to force you to go to hospital instead of letting people with mild or no symptoms to self isolate at home like all other states do. Don't Queensland covid zealots see that this imprisonment approach only deters people from testing and does more harm than good?

Anonymous, 1 July 2021

As far as I know Qld takeaways and drive though will stay exempt from this contact information collection. So our eating may become less healthy, but we shan't starve to death.

J.E., 2 July 2021

Tyranny is the easiest way paper pushers get to tell everyone else how to live their lives. And covid-19 provided an excellent opportunity.

Anonymous, 4 July 2021

Wait until they mandate that we show a proof of covid vaccination wherever we go. And guess what? They will make it so that it can't be accessed without signing up for mygov.
This whole pandemic has been a perfect chance for the governments to covertly trial how much privacy intrusion, liberty deprivation and personal data abuse the public is willing to tolerate.

Anonymous, 4 July 2021

Yes vaccination passports are a real possibility. Of course they will be digital and will require an app connected to the Australian immunisation register, which is tied to Medicare account, which has to be linked to myGov.
At this stage state and federal governments are herding the public into accepting that everyone 'must' disclose personal information wherever they go. Once people accept that, it will be an easy push to make everyone show their medical/vaccination records too. Beware however that if we let the whole notion of medical privacy become extinct in this pandemic, we will never get it back.

Nathan, 6 July 2021

Check-in GestAPPo. It is no longer a joke or Godwin's law, it's the sad reality.

Anonymous, 9 July 2021

My own experience confirms that it is impossible for an ordinary adult to get a covid vaccine in Australia through state health authorities without booking online and giving them email address and phone number. Which I am not willing to do, because devil only knows where it is going to end up. At the very least all the data is likely to be deposited into the immunisation register, from which it is impossible to delete anything or opt out.

Anonymous, 11 July 2021

Be very careful if you are booking covid-19 vaccine online. Many clinics and medical centres dupe you into making the booking via HotDoc, HealthEngine, 1stGroup sites, etc. So you will be creating an account with a commercial entity and giving your personal and medical information to them, and then your data can be used for advertisement, marketing and financial gain of those businesses and their "partners". Just read Health Engine Privacy Policy. It is outrageous that an official government web site even links to such companies, let alone tells people to actually use those systems!

Greg, 13 July 2021

Great to see that someone put this in such a fine way. For a while I though I was the only one using paper tax returns mainly to avoid giving out my email and phone number. But over time I discovered that many others do the same. And rightly so! Scam calls, emails and text messages pretending to be from the taxation office are too common to be careless.
I'd use myGov and myTax if they didn't demand email address and mobile phone number as mandatory... but they do, so I am still with paper. On paper I can simply leave those fields blank. And then whenever I receive a call or a message from someone claiming to be ATO, I know immediately those are scammers, because I have never given ATO that info. Very simple and effective protection!
Another reason why I leave phone and email fields blank on my tax return is because it says "Your contact details may be used by the ATO...to conduct research and marketing". I DO NOT agree with that at all, but nobody is asking. What's the point of that text anyway if there is no way to say NO or to opt out? What's the alternative? Not to lodge a tax return at all? Really? Can I? By behaving like this the government is basically saying that if some criminal first tells you that he is going to kill/rape/rob you, that makes it Ok.

Anonymous, 23 July 2021

Queensland tyrants updated their restrictions direction. The collection of personal information became mandatory for takeaway. So now the only way to get food without being under surveillance is via drive though. Live on junk\fast food or surrender! Or use home delivery, which means giving personal information to another bunch. And surely this will be barred in a few weeks too. They will continue tearing people's privacy and dignity apart until they have us all microchipped or wearing some tracking device like police ankle bracelets.
Another interesting change is "a person is not required to provide contact information if the person is exercising law enforcement, intelligence, or national security functions on behalf of a government agency". Marvellous! Queensland government, police and secret squirrels exempted themselves, but all normal people have to comply. The government well and truly forgot who pays their salaries and who they are supposed to be working for.

J.E., 23 July 2021

Those Orwellian vaccine passports, linked to the damned myGov and MyHealthRecord... I hope Australia sees sense and we will never have them here, that is if we still live in a fair, free and democratic society.
The naive idiots who support those passports "to get life back to normal" just can't grasp that normal life will be the last thing they will ever get if those passports become a reality. The idiots are too eager to get to a footy match, yoga class and a cafe with almond milk latte that they are ready to forgo their freedoms and human rights. If it was just their rights and their freedoms, they are welcome to do so if they so choose, but they are too selfish and too petty to care that they are also denying freedoms and human rights to everyone else.
The proposed vaccine passports will not be the solution, they will be the first strep in the perpetual medical surveillance, discrimination on the basis of health, and the loss of bodily integrity and autonomy for every citizen. It won't be just one vaccination. I guarantee you it won't stop there. It is a slippery slope. Once the control system is up and running, it will be expanded further. Today it is COVID-19 Delta, in ten years it will be COVID-29 Sigma... and it will require a bunch of booster shots in between. Then the governments will proceed to adding other medical procedures to the mandatory list, not just injections. No prostate exam, no colonoscopy, no pap smear - no holiday, football game or dinner at a restaurant for you! And you will have to show and prove to every government official, petty bureaucrat and cafe owner that you were injected, tested, x-rayed, and had a scope shoved up your ***.
Those who think that this is some conspiracy theory are the very same people who 500 years ago wouldn't believe that the Earth revolves around the Sun, and 2 years ago would not have believed that the whole world could shut down and everyone's human rights will be denied to them until they get injected with a swiftly concocted substance long term effects of which are unknown to science.
There is no evidence that the so-called fully vaccinated are any less likely to spread the virus, only that they are less likely to develop serious symptoms, which means they are actually more likely to continue walking around when sick and infecting others.
This COVID vaccination is still a global medical experiment, and vaccine passports are simply a means of coercion to take part in it. If someone wants to be vaccinated, nobody is stopping them. But they have no right to mandate that everyone else must do the same, or that every vaccinated person should be forced to use a vaccine passport and show their full name, date of birth and medical information on demand. Otherwise if unvaccinated people are denied something or restricted in any way, they should be paying less tax. They already paid for the vaccines and the passports of those who wanted that. This discrimination and abuse must stop now.

Anonymous, 11 August 2021

Beware: there are no legal protections for Check In app data in Queensland. Despite all the promises of Queensland government that the app data will be used only for contact tracing and nothing else, police and other agencies can access it. The app privacy policy and statements are misleading and deceptive, and there is this clause, "information collected using the Check In Qld app may be disclosed to, and used...where the use or disclosure is authorised or required by law". This is a very common clause, but unfortunately the most damaging. It essentially means we have no privacy protections at all. As we already know, during a pandemic the government becomes a law unto itself, therefore it can do and does whatever it wants.

Anonymous, 16 August 2021

Hopefully one important fact doesn't get overlooked in this vaccination debate: vaccine development and production IS A BUSINESS, and an extremely profitable one at present! The companies that make vaccines don't do it pro bono, for the love of humanity. They do it for the benefit of their shareholders.

Derek, 19 August 2021

I had two doses of the vaccine, but there is no way I wish to show a vaccine passport or any other proof of vaccination to some person at every door. It has my identity details (name and date of birth), and my medical information, so it should remains private at all times. That's called a human right to privacy.
If the government decides that people concerned with privacy can be barred from living a normal life, I like the idea suggested above: those who are not allowed to go somewhere or do something should pay less tax.

Claire M., 19 August 2021

Those who think that this pandemic will end with two injections are just plain stupid and naive. Those who advocate for vaccine passports thinking that they will be temporary and that's their ticket to freedom are stupid and naive too. I am more than sure that this vaccine will need a booster, and then something else... And the government will use this excuse for keeping QR codes, vaccine passports and other freedom and privacy violations in place forever.

Kay, 20 August 2021

Excellent picture! And I totally agree with the previous comment. Those who think that this war on human privacy and autonomy is temporarily are grossly mistaken. There will be vaccine boosters, then other vaccines, then other medical procedures and checks. Vaccination passports will turn into CCP-style identity card and social credit system. Haven't we learned already that any Australian law allowing increased surveillance, unlimited personal data harvest and human rights disregard is never repealed in this country, it is only made worse over time. Once an atrocious legislation is passed, it is here to stay.

Anonymous, 21 August 2021

Of course there WILL BE vaccine boosters. As I said before, vaccines are a big business. And boosters are another round of massive profits for the makers.
And no, it isn't "free". It is paid for by those who pay taxes.

Derek, 21 August 2021

The vaccination and vaccine passports zealots fail to comprehend that it is not the solution. It is not going to be the end of this virus. It will instead be the beginning of the new virus, the one that destroys human rights and the free democratic society. These vaccine passports will quickly become health passports, then social identity passports. They will be expanded to hold other information about each person, and become a tool for discrimination, persecution, and mass surveillance. Those ignorant, shortsighted people who support the proof of vaccine systems will be responsible for denying the privacy, freedom and equality not only to us all, but also to the generations to come, to their children and grandchildren. The problem is those people don't care about any of it, they just want to get to a pub or a footy match, now!

Anonymous, 25 August 2021

There was an online petition to parliament, which my family signed. We'll see how much effect it has in this supposedly free and democratic country.
"Experimental vaccines being pushed onto the community to enforce Vaccine Passports is unethical. Vaccine Passports create an unprotected inexcusable situation for all aspects of personal and medical freedoms in our country. No member of government that truly cares to deliver in the best interests of their citizens would consider or support Vaccine Passports. Good leaders advocate to protect the rights of their people to be free to make a personal decision about COVID-19 vaccination that will not see them discriminated against or segregated for declining this or any vaccination and making sure they are free from punishment if they choose to say NO. These draconian passports would infringe on peoples' rights and be an invasion in their personal lives opening the door to more tyrannical features being added down the line. We do not want our country to become a two-tiered society that consists of the vaccinated and unvaccinated. Private companies and health agencies should not be able to gain access to the health records of any citizen that in turn is a violation of their civil and human rights. While we defend the right of businesses to operate how they choose, this must NEVER extend to infringing on the inherent rights of anyone to make private and personal medical decisions. Through ensured informed consent every person must make their choice without facing any discrimination, coercion or fear of exclusion. Say NO to medical apartheid in Australia. We therefore ask the House to say NO to digital passports and ban Vaccine Passports/Certificates."

Paul, 30 August 2021

It puzzled me for a long while why so many vaxxi-nazis advocate for vaccine passports. If they believe this vaccine is safe and effective, fine, nothing is stopping them from getting it.
Since this vaccine is not guaranteed to prevent the so-called "fully" vaccinated people from catching the virus and infecting others, the passport push is definitely not about public health and safety. It is also pretty clear why governments would want to bring these passports in: it's a tool of population control and surveillance. But it was mystery why some ordinary people became such rabid supporters of the vaccine passport idea. And suddenly a colleague of mine explained it in an argument. She got jabbed twice, but instead of being happy and content with that, she keeps saying that mandatory vaccine passports are a great idea because they will force everyone to vaccine. And why does she want that so much? Because she is afraid that these new and largely untested covid vaccines may have some long term effects that are not yet known. And she doesn't want to suffer these effects while seeing the unvaccinated people unaffected.
This is sick and crazy, but that's the sort of people who are supporting these proof of vaccination certificates, or vaccine passports, or whatever they will be called.

Anonymous, 11 September 2021

With vaccine passports, it's pretty easy to understand why the govt wants to bring them in. It's a way for the govt to compel everyone to vaccinate and effectively make covid vaccines mandatory, while maintaining that these vaccines are theoretically voluntary. The govt simply wants to shield its ass and avoid being sued or held accountable for any possible harm. If in a few years it turns out these vaccines cause cancer, or dementia, or autism (pun intended), or some other harmful effects, the govt will say, 'Not our fault, you CHOSE to vaccinate! The vaccine wasn't compulsory.'

Steph, 13 September 2021

I am fully vaccinated with Pfizer, but I at all don't like the idea of vaccine passports or de-facto forced vaccinations. I truly believe that each person should be free to choose and free to live their normal lives. If someone wants to feel safe and protected - go and get a vaccine, like I did. But insisting that we should live in a police state and show out identity and medical data at every entrance door is totally moronic. Your children won't thank you for that in 20 years!

David E., 13 September 2021

Numerous incidents and reports already confirmed that covid vaccines DO NOT reliably prevent infection and transmission of the virus, especially delta variant. They do decrease the probability of serous symptoms and deaths, but that only proves the point that vaccination should be a personal choice, not forced or mandated. In addition, vaccinated people are generally more complacent about distancing and hygiene. So the purpose of vaccine passports is to keep everyone under state surveillance. They have nothing to do with protecting anyone's health.

Anonymous, 14 September 2021

I would bet that Covid Check-In apps won't be scrapped even after the states jab 70%, 80% or whatever percent they want!

Tomo, 14 September 2021

It's beyond me why those who want can't get a vaccine without an email address and phone number? What if I don't have them? What if I don't want to use these contacts for medical purposes? What if I am sick of scam and spam? My name, date of birth and Medicare number should be enough for any vaccine. That's unless the govt wants our data more than it wants us to have the vaccine!

Arun, 16 September 2021

As Moderna vaccine is coming to Australian pharmacies, stay away from booking through the Pharmacy Guild of Australia sites www.guild.org.au and www.findapharmacy.com.au. According to their policy, they can use your contact details for marketing and promotional spam. It's a pity that some turn the pandemic emergency and desperation into data abuse for profits, which damages people's trust in pharmacies and vaccination program.

Anonymous, 17 September 2021

Vaccine passports will surely be used as an instrument for forcing people to vaccinate while absolving the government of all responsibility for possible long-term adverse effects of covid vaccines or their future ineffectiveness, because on paper the vaccine will remain elective. You are free to choose not to vaccinate, sure, but you won't be able to live your life unless you get jabbed repeatedly. Just like in the US, first they lied to people that vaccines will not be mandatory, but now they are tightening the noose around the necks of the unvaccinated. This week it's companies with over 100 employments that can fire the unvaccinated, next it will be 50, and so on until even self-employed working from home will be forced to vaccinate, or to test every day so you'll be forced to rock up at testing facilities like a prisoner on parole. Australia will do the same, because Australia loves copying oppressive shit from the US and the UK. We are not going to copy their First Amendment to guarantee and protect freedom of speech. No way. But when it comes to spying on people or controlling them, then we suddenly want to follow the US example.
Rest assured that two jabs won't bring freedom. That's why Australian sate and federal governments want vaccine passports to be app-based. So that they an easily strip you of your "fully vaccinated" status any time later and require that you get injected the third time, then forth, then drop your pants, bend over and have a rectal exam... Simply watch the language of pollies and the news, they are gradually beginning to replace the words "fully vaccinated" with "received two doses". That's how you know you will soon be forced to have the third.

Anonymous, 18 September 2021

Instead of giving everyone a true free choice to vaccinate without creating online accounts, or queueing for hours, or being forced to supply a "unique" phone number and email and then get scammed and spammed, our government is forcing vaccines into people and personal data out of people.

Anonymous, 20 September 2021

Another fully-vaccinated person here. Hopefully really 'fully', for good. I had Pfizer and suffered very painful side effects, but that's beside the point. What I want to say is that despite being vaccinated myself, I am vehemently in favour of voluntary vaccinations and respect the choice of others if they don't want to do it. I am also very much against vaccine passports (and any other form of checks, surveillance and medical apartheid), against the requirement to provide phone numbers or email addresses for vaccinations, and against the pressure to do online booking, to create any sorts of accounts, or to download any apps. Everyone should be given an opportunity to get the vaccine (if they want!) by simply walking in and giving nothing more than their name, medicare card and maybe the date of birth. And then go on and live normal life without being compelled to download some app, sign up for mygov, and produce vaccination record at every entrance or check in everywhere. Otherwise the privacy invasion and infringement of rights are rapidly becoming much greater threats than the virus.

Eddy, 23 September 2021

It is really sickening that people are cornered into booking the vaccination online either with HotDoc, or FindAPharmacy, or some other online booking system. People are paying for this whole vaccination program from their taxes, so why are they forced to give their personal data to third parties just to get a vaccine they already paid for?? Our data is a business asset for those booking services, and we are giving it to them for free. Worse still, our government is forcing us to do it! Who knows where that data is going to end up. It could be transferred overseas, or uploaded into a cloud storage, or used for spam, or stolen, or hacked... The situation is appalling! If the government wants people to vaccinate, they should make vaccines available without the need to sign up for online accounts and to give highly private data to some shonky companies!

Anonymous, 12 October 2021

Although the state government has got its coveted 80% vaccination target, they are still not even beginning to talk about abolishing COVID check ins and surveillance apps!
There is a lot of talk about "opening up", i.e. about taking our money, but there is zero talk about giving people their privacy back.
As most smart people expected, this virus that appeared in 2019 will be used as an excuse for spying on people for years, maybe until 2030. And by then the population will either get used to telling the government where and when they go to the toilet and grocery shopping, or we will simply get another virus of very dubious origins that will warrant this ongoing mass surveillance and deprivation of privacy.

Anonymous, 18 October 2021

Our entire family is vaccinated, but we have truly had enough of this spying check-in app, and none of us will agree to show the proof of vaccination when we go about doing normal daily things. Full name, date of birth and a medical record is not something that a country with strong protections for privacy and human rights would demand to see at every building entrance. But as we all know, Australia is not such country. As a result, we will not go to any place that demands to see our personal data. We don't want to spend our money in a place that acts as a spy for the government. Hopefully that every business that mandates proof of vaccination will lose enough of their customers to learn to respect people's privacy.

Anonymous, 19 October 2021

Even though voting at the state and federal elections only replaces one privacy-abusing government with another, luckily we still can vote with our feet and our wallets. If you are against vaccine passports, avoid the businesses and companies that require them! By making the decision where to spend your money you are casting a vote for the kind of country you want to live in!

Anonymous, 19 October 2021

A paper vaccine certificate wouldn't be so bad if you don't allow anyone to photocopy it, only to have a look at it. But those digital passports are crap. They require signing up for myGov and Medicare, then signing up for Apple or Google account, then downloading an app which will sure be tracking and stealing and sharing user data. It is really annoying how some politicians and bureaucrats are saying that paper certificates are inferior because they can be forged. There are apps that forge covid check-ins and digital vaccination certificates too! These people either have no idea what they are talking about, or are pushing the government agenda to get everyone to sign up for myGov and other online crap.

Rory, 20 October 2021

Rory, I suspect the govt is peddling digital vaccine passports because they have cunning plans to either mandate boosters at a later stage or add other medical procedures. So they don't want to be replacing the paper certificates that say you used to be considered FULLY vaccinated. That would cause too much pushback and protest from the people who though they were already done with this shit. But digital passports can be changed by the govt unilaterally, at any time, without any interaction with you. Today your phone says you are 'fully vaccinated', and tomorrow suddenly 'nope!' go get injected again or have swabs shoved into your body orifices.

Eddy, 21 October 2021

The earlier commenters were right. Now we hear about boosters. And I think it would be totally unethical to start coercing the general fully vaccinated population into having covid vaccine boosters when more than a half of the people on the planet haven't been vaccinated at all. I hope the covid fascists amongst our governments and the medical paper pushers will not try to make the third dose mandatory. Offering it optionally to the vulnerable people is fine, if they want it, but demanding that the rest of us get injected with this crap again is totally unacceptable. Of course vaccine manufacturers are going to say we need boosters. That's how they keep their multi billion business going.

Anonymous, 26 October 2021

If I had known that the government will start pushing boosters, I'd have never had any of this vaccine in the first place. What's the point? I don't care about the virus if I have no freedom or privacy. But now it looks like will never be truly fully vaccinated. We will never be free. We will never be able to go anywhere without the big brother watching. The government is clearly intending to treat us like lab rats forever. Well I have learned my lesson. I won't believe any promises about freedoms and getting our life back to the way it was before 2019. It's not going to happen no matter how many times we get jabbed.

Anonymous, 28 October 2021

If WHO had any brain or authority, they would focus on giving the vaccine to the poorer countries instead of letting our governments keep sticking needles into us for the umpteenth time. The third world is almost totally unvaccinated. Which means the virus will keep spreading and turning into new variants there. Eventually it will turn into a variant that these vaccines don't cover. And we'll be back to square one with covid-22.

Anonymous, 28 October 2021

I don't want to hear about any boosters until they vaccinate children of all ages. Why should I be forced into having the third injection while some bogans and religious fruitcakes with five or ten unvaccinated brats keep spreading the disease all the while living on welfare paid with my tax money?

Anonymous, 31 October 2021

Boosters? No bloody way!
I am not willing to fund this perpetual enrichment of vaccine manufactures with my taxes. Two shots done, and that's it. End of story. If this shit doesn't work even after two shots, we shouldn't be given it in the first place.
I had plenty of terrible side effects after the two shots. Enough already! Fully vaccinated means F.U.L.L.Y. Full f*cking stop!

S.A., 1 November 2021

From the beginning my concern has been, will the restrictions brought in under the guise of COVID be removed once the pandemic is over? It looks like they will not. In Australia, powers taken are never given up.

Anonymous, 4 November 2021

Remember, remember the Fifth of November...

Anonymous, 5 November 2021

Same problem in Western Australia. The government keeps finding excuses for keeping everyone locked in and under control. First we were promised freedom of travel at 80% vaccination rate, then at 90%. Now that's not good enough either. Now it's 90% vax rate PLUS two covid tests for being able to travel like a normal human being. And of course those tests won't be anonymous on-the-spot tests. They will require a form full of your personal data and they will get to grab your DNA sample. We already had police misusing covid app data. What is there to stop anyone from misusing the tests?
It looks like it doesn't matter how many new treatments, tests and vaccines are invented. It doesn't matter if the chance of dying from covid is 0.001%. If there is any pretext for keeping people under surveillance, the government will do that.

Ole, WA Australia, 6 November 2021

My point precisely Ole! Covid doesn't tend to kill anyone who is totally healthy. The people who die from/with covid are those who already have other serious health issues. So covid only advanced their death, not causes it. It is sad of course. But more devastating is that our government refuses to see things in any perspective. For example there are thousands of Australians whose death had been or will be advanced by the inhalation of coal dust thanks to extensive coal mining. Yet the government doesn't care about those premature deaths. On the contrary it is constantly attempting to expand coal mining, which by the way will leave Australia with a collapsed economy in 10-20 years, which will cause more health care cuts and lead to more deaths from many other causes.
So why is the government so concerned with covid deaths and doesn't care about coal-caused deaths?
1. Coal brings money (for now). Covid doesn't.
2. Coal doesn't give the government the excuse and the powers to put everyone under surveillance, control everyone's movements, and take away everyone's rights and freedoms. Covid does.
Our long-term health and well-being are not a consideration at all.

Anonymous, 8 November 2021

So when are these spying covid check in apps going to be scrapped? First we were promised normal life when vaccination rates reach 70%. We got there and got bugger all. Then the promises were moved to 80%. Got there and... bugger all again. Now they're talking about 90%. Let's guess, we'll get to 90%, and still won't get our privacy and freedom back. The authorities show no desire to abolish this tracking of the whole population. They will cling onto every pretext to keep this surveillance forever.
Let's call things by their real names. It's no longer covid19 pandemic. It's mass surveillance and personal data harvest pandemic. The government has got the most encompassing way for continuous collection of personal data and mass surveillance. They grab a whole lot of identity and contract information on so many occasions: covid tests, vaccine booking, vaccinations, QR check in apps, travel permits, vaccination passports and certificates, quarantine house arrests, etc etc etc. Combined with the tracking by the check in apps, precise location tracking in quarantine and facial recognition, it is surveillance and control on an unprecedented scale. And the worst thing, they are not planning on winding this back.

Anonymous, 11 November 2021

So what did we get injected with that pfizer shit for?? We are still living like in prison!! Tweaking square metres per person in a pub is not "removing restrictions"!! When the gov stop tracking us with their qr codes and forcing people into tests and quarantines, then we can call it removing restrictions.

Anonymous, 16 November 2021

As the attendance tracking apps with QR codes are now mandated by every state and territory, they became a part of the most extensive mass surveillance operation on Australian soil. Yet the laws that protect personal data are weak, vague, inadequate, and in some states non-existent. For example, Queensland still hasn't introduced the laws that would ban unauthorised access to that data. But then, what else can we expect from the state that practises forced hospitalisations of everyone who tests positive?
To have any public trust and cooperation, the whole country must have uniformed laws:
The collected personal information must be limited to the minimum necessary for achieving the stated legitimate purpose.
The data collected under the pandemic pretext must never be used for anything else or combined with any other data. No if-s, no but-s. No exceptions for police, ASIO and the rest of that wonderful bunch.
This data must be securely stored in Australia.
All pandemic-related apps and other software must be open source.
This data must be completely and irreversibly deleted once it is no longer needed for the purpose it was collected for, including all data from QR-code check in apps and vaccine status certificates.
All surveillance systems and tools must be dismantled when the state of emergency has been lifted.
The state of emergency must not continue beyond what's absolutely medically necessary.
There must be severe punishments for the governments and their employees for breaching these laws. There also must be severe penalties for employers, business operators and anyone else who abuses any data from covid tests, vaccine certificates or contact tracing apps.
Individuals must have the right to sue for breach of their privacy. Otherwise, the governments will continue do as they please without any repercussions.
And these have to be legislation/laws, not regulations. Because regulations can be changed by any minister at any time, while legislation changes must go through the parliament, which is the foundation of democracy.

Anonymous, 17 November 2021