CORONAVIRUS
— INTERSTATE BORDER RESTRICTIONS — TRANSITION PLAN
760. Mrs R.M.J. CLARKE to the Premier:
On behalf of the member for
Dawesville, I welcome the student house captains from the Frederick Irwin
Anglican School Halls Head campus. Welcome to Parliament House.
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's continued commitment to keep Western Australia safe.
(1) Can the
Premier outline to the house how WA's safe transition plan will ensure
that WA's existing way of life can continue safely?
(2) Can the
Premier update the house on the state government's response to the
evolving outbreak in the Northern Territory?
Mr M.
McGOWAN replied:
(1)–(2) I thank the member for Murray–Wellington
for the question. Nearly two weeks ago, the Minister for Health and I announced
Western Australia's safe transition plan to provide a soft landing for Western
Australia out of the pandemic as we ease our controlled border when we
hit 90 per cent double-dose vaccination. Our controlled border has been a flexible
tool to keep WA safe depending on the conditions around us. We now have a serious
outbreak in parts of the Northern Territory; therefore, under the controlled
border regime, the Northern Territory has been declared a low-risk jurisdiction.
That means from 4.00 pm today, arrivals must now complete 14 days of
self-quarantine and get tested within 48 hours of arrival and again on day 12.
Arrivals from low-risk jurisdictions, including the Northern Territory, are
also now required to be double-dose
vaccinated. Anyone who has arrived on or after 10 November 2021 and has been at
an exposure site, up to and including today, will be required to self-quarantine
for 14 days and be tested immediately within
48 hours and again on day 12. Anyone from the Northern Territory, especially
Darwin, Robinson River and Katherine,
who did not visit the exposure site venues and has arrived from 10 November
up until 4.00 pm today, should go and get tested if they develop any symptoms.
The
controlled border gives us the flexibility to impose stricter conditions if the
situation deteriorates, or softer ones if it improves. Obviously, we are
very concerned now about what is going on in the Northern Territory, so this
measure is necessary to protect Western Australia as we get our vaccination
levels up. Our controlled border cannot last forever. Early next year, in late
January or early February, we will ease the controlled border. We will make a decision
on the exact day when we hit 80 per cent double-dose
vaccinations in December. We expect that will be in late January–early
February. Once the date is locked in, it will be there and will remain
in place. Our safe transition plan will ensure that we have good health
outcomes and also keep economic momentum into 2022.
I remind members that there are some
states in which restrictions are in place. New South Wales still requires mask wearing indoors, the
two-square-metre rule in venues and no music festivals. South Australia,
based upon the new rules it is putting in place, will have a whole bunch of
restrictions, particularly on businesses over the Christmas–New Year
holiday period, which will be devastating for many of those businesses. On the
other hand, we are very keen to avoid any of that while we get to the 90 per cent
vaccination rate.
There is one other point I want to
make: we are all in this together. We need to work cooperatively. Now is not a time
to undermine or to nitpick. It is not a time to pander to the anti-vaxxers and
the conspiracy theorists who are out there. What we have seen in both Western Australia
and Victoria has been deranged and crazy. Some of the behaviours are deranged.
They are lunatic. They are crazy behaviours, both here and in Victoria, with
intimidation and threats, and people rolling gallows around the streets of
Melbourne. This is not the Australian way.
No-one should support that. Everyone should condemn that sort of conduct.
I encourage everyone to condemn that conduct. We need to join together at this
time of trouble and strife and condemn that sort of behaviour. My advice to
everyone is: please go and get vaccinated.