CORONAVIRUS —
QUARANTINE ARRANGEMENTS — IMMIGRATION DETENTION CENTRES
672. Mrs L.M. HARVEY to the Premier:
I have a question for the Premier.
The SPEAKER: Here he comes.
The ''Rockingham Rocket'' has arrived!
Mrs L.M. HARVEY: Given that
the Australian Hotels Association media release—at the time of the
Premier's $500 000 announcement for Perth hotel staycations—stated
that some Perth hotels have occupancy at levels of less than 10 per cent, why
would the Premier even consider putting returning Western Australians in a Christmas
Island detention centre instead of giving the economic activity to struggling
local hotels?
Mr M.
McGOWAN replied:
Where
returning Australians go is a matter for the commonwealth government. As I said
in the debate earlier, under the
Constitution, quarantine, immigration and foreign affairs are the
responsibility of the commonwealth government.
Mr D.C. Nalder: Are you
happy to comment on it?
Mr M. McGOWAN: I am happy to
comment on it. We have done our fair share.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER: Members!
Mr M. McGOWAN: We have done our fair share. Currently,
we are using eight major hotels for returning Australians, Victorians, flight
crews, maritime crews and the like. Our staycation campaign is a brilliant
campaign designed to get Western Australians
to holiday in the city. Obviously, our work on the Wander Out Yonder campaign
has been very successful in getting Western Australians
to holiday across regional WA. However, we know that our city hotels need more attention and more support.
When we made the announcement last week with Bradley Woods, the tourism
minister, the arts minister and me, it was about getting Western Australians to
holiday in our hotels. I expect that during
the school holidays, members will see many, many thousands of Western Australians
take this opportunity.
The commonwealth government has put
in place an international border, so we cannot have overseas tourists come in. We support the international border; we
support what the commonwealth government has done. We have endorsed it
the whole way along. We have not raised cases to criticise the commonwealth
government but we have put in place an interstate border to further protect Western
Australians from the introduction of COVID into our state. Western Australia—I
am sure Bradley Woods would acknowledge this—has the freest and
strongest economy in the nation. Our figures on tourism —
Mr D.C. Nalder interjected.
The SPEAKER: Member for
Bateman, you do not have to comment on everything.
Mr D.C. Nalder interjected.
Mr
M. McGOWAN: Please, member for
Bateman. We have the strongest economy in Australia and the strongest hospitality,
retail and tourism sectors in Australia, and that is of great benefit to the
members of the Australian Hotels Association.