SAFEWA APP — ACCESS — POLICE INVESTIGATION
276. Ms M.J. DAVIES to the Minister for Health:
I have a supplementary question. Why
has there been such a failure in communication between the minister and the top
officers of his department? This was critical information that I suspect was
not being shared due to the election campaign.
Mr R.H.
COOK replied:
At all times the Department of
Health and the WA Police Force work closely together during this COVID-19
pandemic, and have done a remarkable job. I thank them for all their incredibly
hard work. A lot of discussions go on in the background to continue to
facilitate the mission of keeping Western Australians safe. But the member is
quite correct; there was something going on at that time, and, as she says, it
was the election campaign. We were in caretaker mode —
Ms M.J. Davies: You were
meeting with them regularly.
Mr R.H. COOK: That is right.
We met regularly, but obviously we met only for the purposes of continuing to
conduct meetings of the emergency management team and to make decisions with
regard to COVID-19 or other related matters, which were quite appropriately
dealt with within and between departments.