Speaker 1: All right, let's look at the latest just completely boneheaded attempt by Republican
Senator Ted Cruz to espouse his ideology of open everything, never close anything.
Asking people to think about someone else in their community or on this planet is a
form of liberal nonsense and blah blah blah blah blah.
And as a result, Ted Cruz has ended up getting called out very brutally by Michael Gunner,
who's the chief minister for the Northern Territory of Australia.
So the context of all of this are protests in Australia by anti-maskers and anti guidelines
people in the context of an Australia that has really taken the pandemic very seriously.
And so let's first start with Ted Cruz's tweet, which was in response to a video from Michael
Gunner from a press conference, which we will look at.
OK, so Ted Cruz tweets quote, I love the Aussies.
Their history of rugged independence is legendary.
I've always said Australia is the Texas of the Pacific.
Oh God, the covid tyranny of their current government is disgraceful and sad.
Individual liberty matters.
I stand with the people of Australia.
So the clip being referred to from the day before is a clip related to guidelines being
put in place, potentially fines for violating mandates, etc..
This is Michael Gunner, the as I mentioned, the chief minister for the Northern Territory.
Let's take a listen.
This is what triggered Ted Cruz.
Speaker 2: Ask yourself these three questions in my work Do I come into contact with vulnerable
people?
Is my workplace at a higher risk of infection?
Do I work on infrastructure or logistics that are critical to the territory, right?
If your answer is maybe or I don't know, you need to get the jab.
Critically, the direction also applies to industries who directly face customers in
circumstances where the worker may not know the vulnerability of the person they are interacting
with, right?
So it is simple.
If your job includes interacting with members of the public, then you need to get the jab.
If you work in hospitality, you need to get the jab.
If you work in retail or in a supermarket, you need to get the jab.
If you are behind the counter at the bank, if you're a receptionist or positions like
that, you need to get the jab.
If you are a barber, a hairdresser, a beauty therapist, you need to get the jab.
All these workers and many, many more directly interact with members of the public.
That means you are frontline workers in our economy.
That means you must be vaccinated.
Of course, there can be exemptions, but these are extremely narrow and must be backed up
with medical evidence.
Simply not wanting the vaccine is not a reason.
Today, we're also announcing the date from which this mandate comes to effect.
This is huge.
From Saturday, the 13th of November, if you have not received at least your first dose
of a vaccine, you will not be permitted to attend your workplace in that role, and a
failure to comply with a direction is a $5000 fine.
That means that workers must have received at least their first dose by Friday, the 12th
of November, at the latest.
Speaker 1: OK, so that's what triggered you had 30 got Ted Cruz to such a degree, and
this led to Michael Gunner to actually respond to Ted Cruz specifically.
And this guy really does not mess around.
The response from Michael Gunner, the chief minister for the Northern Territory's of Australia,
is Hey, Ted Cruz.
Good day from the Northern Territory in Australia.
Here are some facts.
Nearly 70000 Texans have tragically died from COVID.
There have been zero deaths in the territory.
Did you know that vaccination is so important here because we have vulnerable communities
and the oldest continuous living culture on the planet to protect?
Did you know that we've done whatever it takes to protect the territory that's kept us safe
and free?
We've been in lockdown for just eight days in 18 months.
Our businesses and schools are all open.
Did you know that we don't need your lectures?
Thanks, mate.
You know nothing about us.
And if you stand against the life saving vaccine, then you sure as hell don't stand with Australia.
I love Texas.
Go Longhorns.
But when it comes to COVID, I'm glad that we are nothing like you.
Ted Cruz just humiliates himself day after day after day, and one of the really interesting
aspects of this is that there's the stereotype of.
All sorts of different populations, which sometimes Republicans don't like.
You know, all the typical stuff highly educated is sort of feminine and European is sort of
feminine.
And actually, the trend there seems to be a lot of stuff is just sissy, right?
According to according to Republicans.
Then they have stereotypes about the opposite, about those that are rugged and they're sort
of like them.
They're conservatives and.
So they talk about, Hey, you know, in Switzerland, lots of people have guns.
They're manly, they're in.
They're fine.
You go in to talk to you, go and talk to the folks who own the guns in Switzerland.
And you realize, wow, they actually, from a legal perspective, are really in line with
Democrats.
And they explain that the role of guns in Switzerland is actually completely different
to that in the United States.
They don't understand United States gun culture, but Republicans go, Oh, look at Switzerland.
Similarly, with the Australian rugged individualism and all this stuff, a lot of the culture in
Australia is just different.
It's not guns in the same way that there are guns in the United States.
It's not out on the out, on the land.
In the same way that you know, some of these folks in Wyoming and Montana are wrapping
it up with certain political views.
That's not Australia, it's actually not.
Not it at all.
And Ted Cruz just embarrassed and humiliated once again.
Here shouldn't come as a surprise, but maybe he'll go back to Cancun to get away from the
negative repercussions of this one as well.