The Liberal Party candidate for the Sydney seat of Bennelong has appeared in a video opposing vaccine mandates and saying there may be concerns about the safety of mRNA vaccines at an event organised by Australia’s anti-lockdown movement.
Simon Kennedy also suggested it was wrong for people to have lost their jobs for refusing to get vaccinated.
He made the comments earlier this month at an event organised by the anti-lockdown group, A Stand in the Park.
In a statement on Tuesday, Mr Kennedy said he was "a strong supporter" of the COVID-19 vaccination effort.
"Blanket mandates are a complex and emotive issue, and I think it's important that we have respectful conversations even with people that have different views than your own — and help to stop the spread of disinformation."
Emerging during the pandemic, A Stand in the Park has a history of sharing vaccine disinformation on social media as well as promoting anti-lockdown protests and promoting conspiracy theorists as guest speakers at its events.
In the hour-long video, which was recorded on April 10, a group of about 20 attendees ask the candidate about his views on vaccines and mandates.
"We have flipped into a society where we are acting on fear rather than confidence. I think that needs to flip," Mr Kennedy says to the group.
"People losing their jobs. I have an enormous amount of empathy for that."
"It wasn't a situation any individual put themselves in. They were being forced. They had to choose, do I take this course of action and put these chemicals in my body?"
Kennedy also says he understands people's wariness about vaccines, saying: "This is the fastest we've ever gone from disease to vaccination right?"
"And not only have we gone quickly from disease to vaccination, we're actually pushing it across the whole world," he said. "I understand caution around that"
After a participant interjects with comments about mRNA technology, Mr Kennedy tells the group that his wife is an infectious diseases doctor.
"She tells me, 'I get there's reason to be concerned,'" he says.
"There is reason to be concerned and I think each individual, it should be up to them to have the choice to say, they're the ones bearing the risk, of what happens to your body and what happens to that.
"That should be individual like it is with every other vaccine in society."
He also tells the group he is "anti mandates".
"Individual freedoms is one of my three core values," he says.
Attendees also cite a number of claims associated with the sovereign citizen movement, including that the government is an illegitimate corporation.
Mr Kennedy is a relatively new member of the Liberal Party, aligned to its conservative wing, and has been a partner at consulting firm McKinsey and Company.
Bennelong has been held by the Liberal Party for all but one term since its creation in 1949.
It was held by the Labor Party from 2007 to 2010, after Maxine McKew defeated former prime minister John Howard.
Retiring popular local member John Alexander currently holds the seat on a 6.9 per cent margin.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison was asked about Mr Kennedy's comments by a reporter on Tuesday, but said he was not aware of reports and could not comment.
The federal Liberal Party and A Stand in the Park were contacted for comment.
Note: This story's headline has been changed to make it clear that Mr Kennedy voiced his concerns about vaccine mandates, not vaccines.
