The outgoing US ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, has labelled her cousin Robert F Kennedy Jr’s views on vaccines “dangerous”.
After a speech to the Nationwide Press Membership in Canberra, Australia on Monday, Caroline Kennedy took intention at various Trump administration appointees together with Tulsi Gabbard, warning that her appointment would “obviously … be of great concern”.
Donald Trump has nominated RFK Jr to supervise US well being companies, regardless of his propagation of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, and Gabbard to be director of nationwide intelligence, regardless of her being a vocal supporter of Russia.
Caroline Kennedy informed reporters that as an envoy, she’s “not supposed to comment on politics and now you’re asking me to also comment on family”.
“But, yes, I think Bobby Kennedy’s views on vaccines are dangerous … but I don’t think that most Americans share them. So we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
“But certainly he’s – you know, I grew up with him. So, I have known all this for a long time and others are just getting to know him.”
She famous her uncle Ted Kennedy “spent 50 years fighting for affordable healthcare in the Senate”, work that the previous president Barack Obama constructed on with the Inexpensive Care Act.
“My Aunt Eunice started the Special Olympics and the national institute of maternal and child health is now named after her.
“So I would say that our family is united in terms of our support for the public health sector and infrastructure and has the greatest admiration for the medical profession in our country, and Bobby Kennedy has got a different set of views.”
Requested about Gabbard – a vocal supporter of Russia who Democratic lawmakers have mentioned “poses a threat to US national intelligence” – and whether or not Australia ought to belief the US with delicate intelligence, Caroline Kennedy replied that “there are thousands of people who work in our intelligence agencies and work closely with Australia and we have no more trusted or capable ally and that’s going to continue”.
“So let’s see what happens with President Trump’s appointments. They have been … making waves, headlines … let’s just calm down and wait and see what happens.
“But obviously that would be of great concern and we’ll see who … actually gets confirmed.”
Requested if the appointment of Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel might pave the best way to annexation of the West Financial institution, Kennedy mentioned she “can’t speculate” on the Trump administration’s Center East coverage.
“But obviously I was present at a campaign rally in 2008 where Governor Huckabee got a mobile phone from God almighty and he talked with him on the phone in front of a large audience. I don’t know.”
Trump’s election has precipitated consternation in Australia, which hopes to be exempted from tariffs because of the US commerce surplus with its Indo-Pacific ally, and is more and more entwined militarily with the US because of the Aukus alliance for the acquisition of nuclear submarines.
Kennedy, a often media-shy ambassador, delivered the off-the-cuff solutions after a speech arguing that Aukus was mandatory as a deterrent to maritime disruption, citing Philippine and Vietnamese ships “rammed and sunk by Chinese coastguard vessels”.
“The long delays and higher prices that are resulting from the Middle East conflict are insignificant compared to the global consequences of a conflict in this region.
“Aukus is an existential investment in Australia’s sovereignty and way of life and you can’t put a price on that.”
Kennedy famous the Aukus alliance had “bipartisan support” within the US, together with among the many incoming Republican Congress majority.
On worldwide efforts to fight local weather change, Kennedy argued “the green energy transition is under way” and supported by the non-public sector. She mentioned efforts have been “multi-faceted” however conceded they may not be as “fast” beneath the Trump administration.
