CORONAVIRUS —
INTERSTATE BORDER RESTRICTIONS — CLIVE PALMER
836. Mr T.J. HEALY to the Premier:
On behalf of the member for Thornlie
and myself, I acknowledge the student councillors from Wirrabirra Primary
School and Wirrabirra Education Support Centre who are in Parliament today.
I refer to the High Court challenge against WA's hard
border launched by Clive Palmer. Can the Premier update the house on the
McGowan Labor government's fight against Clive Palmer in the High Court
and outline why he is continuing to defend our right to maintain a hard border?
Mr M.
McGOWAN replied:
I thank the member for the question.
The case we are defending in the High Court is incredibly important for Western
Australia and for all Australians. That is why the Australian Capital
Territory, Tasmania, Queensland, the Northern Territory, South Australia and
Victoria have all backed us in this case. They know how important it is for the health and safety of all Australians that
states have the right to intervene to protect the health and safety of the
people within their jurisdictions. Mr Palmer's High Court challenge
poses a direct threat to our ability to manage our state's border in a pandemic. Since he introduced his
challenge in April, our hard border has been vital to keeping COVID-19
out of Western Australia.
Pending
the latest health advice, we expect to transition to a new controlled
interstate border from 14 November. As we move to the controlled interstate
border, my government reserves the right to reintroduce the hard border if
necessary and if the health advice recommends that measure. The new controlled
border is still an unprecedented measure that we would never have thought of
introducing prior to the pandemic, but it is absolutely necessary to keep our
state safe and strong. Our border controls are our state's safety net.
Mr Palmer's challenge threatens our controlled border and our ability
to reinstate the hard border if necessary. Under our controlled border, people
from New South Wales and Victoria will still be required to self-quarantine and
be tested, and we will have testing services and a COVID clinic at the airport.
It is crucial that, as a state, we
have the capacity to introduce border controls to protect the health and
wellbeing of all Western Australians. The Federal Court has already agreed with
Western Australia's position. In its finding of 25 August, the Federal
Court found —
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.
That
means that our border measures have worked. Other measures, according to the
Federal Court, ''would be less effective than the border
restrictions in preventing the importation of COVID-19''. We are
proceeding with borders. The controlled border will stop the importation of
people from New South Wales and Victoria without them having to self-quarantine
and get tested.
I
want to say this about Clive Palmer: Mr Palmer is grossly selfish. His actions
are grossly selfish. He is extraordinarily self-centred. He has shown
himself to be the enemy of the health of Western Australians. His actions here
have been disgraceful. Instead of participating in assisting the states of
Australia to defend the health of their citizens, he has actively undermined
them. He is a disgrace to this country.