Australia has become the first nation to launch an official inquiry into the alarming spike in excess deaths that the country has suffered over the past three years.
On Tuesday, the Australian Senate voted to establish a parliamentary inquiry into the nation’s excess deaths.
The passing of the motion gives the green light to what is possibly the first inquiry of this nature in the world.
The push for the inquiry was led by Senator Ralph Babet of the conservative United Australia Party.
Over the past year, Babet has submitted five motions seeking to get the go-ahead on the inquiry.
Last March, Babet tabled two unsuccessful motions calling for an inquiry into Australia’s skyrocketing excess mortality.
This was followed by another unsuccessful motion in February of this year.
Several weeks later, his fourth motion calling for the Senate to acknowledge the need for an inquiry scraped through with a win.
The victory marked a shift in support within the Senate and paved the way for this week’s vote to finally establish an inquiry.
“Fifth time’s the charm!” said Babet in a statement after his motion passed successfully.
“This appears to be a world-first inquiry for what is a global