CORONAVIRUS
— MANDATORY VACCINATIONS — TEACHERS
860. Mr P.J. RUNDLE to the Premier:
I have a supplementary question. Can the Premier guarantee
that there will be a teacher in front of every classroom for term 1 of 2022?
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER: Order, please!
Mr M. McGOWAN
replied:
Madam Speaker, I have answered this question to the member
before, and he increasingly, as I have said before, reminds me of Rick Tamlyn.
You should actually YouTube him so that you can work out why I say that.
We will do what is
necessary to get the education workforce vaccinated, and that is what we are
doing. We want to protect children.
We want to make sure that our schools continue to operate, because they are
essential to the operation of this state. Since COVID came along, we
have actually had four days on which schools were not open in the last two years—four
days. Victoria has had month after month after month. New South Wales has had
month after month after month. Since COVID came along, we have had one person
acquire the virus in Western Australia and pass away, sad as that is—one
person. I heard some figures on Europe earlier today. In Europe, they are
expecting 700 000 people —
Several members interjected.
Mr M. McGOWAN: I mean, honestly!
The SPEAKER: Members!
Mr M. McGOWAN: Europe is predicting that 700 000 people will
die shortly. We are trying to prevent and protect against that.
A quality opposition would
say, ''We stand with the government.'' If I was the opposition
leader—I did it for five and a
half years or thereabouts—on this issue I would have stood with the
government. I would have said, ''I'm with you. We are
going to do what has to be done to protect the state.''
Several members interjected.
Mr M. McGOWAN: You did not, you have not, and the
people will judge you are accordingly. They judged you in March, and they judge
you now.