CORONAVIRUS —
HEALTH ADVICE
609. Mr M. HUGHES to the Premier:
I refer to Western Australia's
success in stopping the spread of COVID-19, which has meant the state has now
gone 150 days without a case of community transmission.
(1) Can the
Premier outline to the house what role health advice has played in this
government's response to COVID-19, including its decision to implement
a hard border?
(2) Can the Premier advise the
house whether this advice has been made public?
Mr M.
McGOWAN replied:
(1)–(2) I thank the member for Kalamunda for the question.
It is true that we are now at 150 days in Western Australia without a case of community transmission across
our state, which is a good position to be in and something that we are
obviously very keen to see continue. It is a credit to every Western Australian,
especially all those Western Australians who have accepted the rules and
sacrifices and pulled together during this very difficult time. We know that it
has been difficult for many people, particularly those who wanted to travel to
the eastern states, who have family, friends and loved ones there, or those who
wanted to come back and for whom there have been some impediments in relation
to that. We are doing the right thing by Western Australians when it comes to
our border arrangements, in particular the hard border. It has been based on
the best of health advice.
I am aware that there have been
claims by the Liberal Party that we have not shared the health advice. I saw
that on the television on Friday. I want to explain why those claims are false.
I will make a few points. Firstly, health briefings have been regularly offered
to the opposition. The last health briefing was yesterday. Secondly, on 16 June,
the government tabled 149 documents in this house that set out all the health
advice and all the information upon which the government has relied in putting
in place the hard border. It was 149 pages of information. It appears that
members of the Liberal Party have not noticed that, so I will now give it to
them again. I seek to table that information.
[See paper 3610.]
Mr M. McGOWAN: These
documents include specific advice on the closing the border directions to the
Commissioner of Police. I will quote one of the many lines of from the Chief
Health Officer. He states —
If the Closing the Border Directions
were revoked, this would result in an increase in the risk of a re-introduction
of the disease and subsequent community transmission.
That was tabled in this Parliament
on 16 June.
Thirdly,
in the Legislative Council on 18 August, the government tabled the Chief Health
Officer's advice on phase 4 restrictions and the cancellation of
the Perth Royal Show. In recommending a delay to phase 5, the Chief Health Officer
stated, and I quote again —
The
implementation of border controls and public health, mass gathering, and
physical distancing measures continues to be highly effective in
controlling the COVID-19 outbreak in Western Australia �
I seek to table that again so that
the Liberal Party understands the evidence upon which the government relies.
[See paper 3611.]
Mr
M. McGOWAN: Finally, I will
table, for the information of the Liberal Party, the judgement of Justice
Rangiah in the Federal Court on 25 August. Justice Rangiah of the
Federal Court heard the evidence of Clive Palmer's witnesses, the federal Liberal Party's
witnesses, and the state government's witnesses. Mr Justice Rangiah
concluded, and I quote again —
�
The border restrictions have been effective to a very substantial
extent to reduce the probability of COVID-19 being imported into Western Australia
from interstate.
�
�
If the border restrictions were replaced by that suite of
measures plus a ''hotspot'' regime, involving either quarantining or banning persons entering
from designated hotspots, they would be less effective than the border
measures in preventing the importation of COVID-19.
For the benefit of the opposition, I
table the document.
[See paper 3612.]
Mr M. McGOWAN: It is 91 pages
of evidence that backs the state government's position on the border.
In total, we have now tabled 242 pages of information so that the state Liberal
Party can understand the evidence upon which we have relied in relation to the
decisions that we have made. This is the second time that I have done it. Any
claims made by the Liberal Party that we have not shared the health advice, as
I heard last week, are false. We have tabled the information again in case its
members did not know that the information had been tabled or in case they
deliberately ignored the fact that we had tabled the information.