Bob Katter says he won't be signing up to the Federal Government's contact tracing app. Full stop.
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And, the Kennedy MP, says if it becomes compulsory he'd rather be thrown in jail.
"I will not now, or in the future, agree to a contact tracing app."
The colourful Queensland MP cast a look backward when he said: "The Christian Brothers, and other educators, insisted on us reading 1984 and A Brave New World, and now these Orwellian predictions have never seemed more real.
"What ever argument you have for forsaking your freedoms, at the end of the day you will find it's a poor trade off."
He praised the federal government for its handling of the pandemic but condemned its failure to force the hands of State Governments to implement regional quarantining - except for the "shining example of Western Australia".
Quarantining was "a far better alternative than implementing an Orwellian phone app that will invade every aspect of our much loved privacy and freedom".
Mr Katter's comments come a day after New England MP Barnaby Joyce told the world he "treasured the government knowing as little about me as possible" and saw no reason as the pandemic curve was being flattened by other means.
Mr Joyce, the former deputy prime minister, and Nationals colleague Llew O'Brien are refusing to sign up, citing privacy concerns.
Government Services Minister Stuart Robert said he wasn't sure everybody "fully understands the app".
He has promised to undertake a privacy assessment and publish the Australian app's code to allay fears surrounding the scheme.
We've touched base with some regional politicians and this is how they feel about the app:
Pat Conaghan, Member for Cowper (Nat):
"I am confident the COVID-19 app will be designed with the highest security. I will be downloading the app and I encourage everyone else to consider downloading it as well as it will need approximately 40 per cent of people to use it to be effective.
"Once the app is deleted, all the information the app had collected will be deleted with it. Hopefully in a several months time, there will be no need for an app to slow the spread of coronavirus."
Wendy Tuckerman, Member for Goulburn (Lib):
"Yes I will upload the app, as long as the government can ensure the data collected will only be used for tracing those exposed to positive cases, which I believe they will.
"This will be an important tool to manage the pandemic. Let's not forget that most people every day allow mobile phones to be tracked through location notification allowance."
Leslie Williams, Member for Port Macquarie (Nat):
"If downloading the app will help to prevent and trace clusters of COVID-19 and therefore potentially save lives I will definitely be downloading it.
"My understanding is that for it to be successful around 40 per cent or more of people will need to download it for it to be effective so I would encourage everyone to do their bit to help stop the virus.
"To date most people are complying with social distancing and self isolation requirements which is excellent but there is always more that we can do. It makes sense to me to download the app and use available technology if it's going to help stop the spread."
Stephen Jones, Federal MP for Whitlam (ALP):
"I want to see the details, but if the privacy and security related issues can be dealt with I will."
Mark Coulton, Member for Parkes (Nat):
"I certainly will be downloading it. I'm not concerned about my privacy, I think there is plenty of ways people can find out what I am up to and I don't think this app will be of any concern to me in that regard.
"If we want to get back to some normality in our lives, which means we have to live with the virus because we haven't got a cure for it, the way we do that is quickly get on top of an outbreak, isolate those people and that is the best chance we've got of stopping more people from getting the infection."
Anne Webster, Member for Mallee (Nat):
She will download a government COVID-19 contact tracing app when it becomes available as it "would improve how coronavirus cases were traced".
"At the moment what happens is someone is diagnosed as positive, that person is called by Department of Health and Human Services," she said. She said the person with coronavirus told the department where they had been and who they had been in contact with in previous days.
"They need to try to contact all those people only being remembered by memory," she said. The app, she said, provided far more accuracy, which would allow social distancing measures to be reduced.
Dr Webster said she understood people were concerned their personal liberties might be infringed. But she was confident that would not be the case.
Dr Webster said many people were confused by how the app functioned. She said it did not track people's locations. But she pointed out that people could be traced via credit cards, Facebook or if they had location settings turned on on their mobile.
"A lot of people are not aware how easily tracked they are," she said as she encouraged people to support the app.
"I accept people are nervous," she said."At the end of the pandemic, we all remove it from our phones. All that information is also removed from government portals."
Dr Webster said the app was necessary to reduce the risk of future COVID-19 infections.
"We all want to get back to life as normal," she said.Dr Webster said if people had questions about the app they could contact her office for more information.