“There have been conflicting reports about the details of the current effects in Mexico and the United States so to be forewarned is forearmed,” Senator Joyce said. “Australia has the benefit to see the issues pertaining to a possible pandemic before having to deal with it in our country.

 

“There is no point panicking, this disease has to be managed and one of the considerations we should look at is how to avoid people congregating in a certain area before dispersing to varying corners of our nation.

 

“So the question arises: how will Federal Parliament work if this turns into something worse than we expect. We have the capacity via the internet and remote access to make it work sufficiently. If I can do all my banking and have my private information transferred over the internet then I imagine I can vote and attend to Senate Committee work if required from a remote location.

 

“If Swine Flu proves to be virulent beyond current reports and the capacity to mitigate the effects via vaccination do not give the desired result it would be peculiar in the extreme to march politicians from all over the nation into one building to cough and splutter on each other before sending them back to their local electorates to return the favour to the public.”