CORONAVIRUS —
RESTRICTIONS
352. Mrs A.K. HAYDEN to the Premier:
I have a supplementary question.
If the decision is based on health
advice, why do the social distancing rules vary between retail, hospitality and
tourism small businesses—especially in our closed regions such as
Kalgoorlie, Broome and Geraldton—yet none of them apply to crowded
buses or trains? Surely that risk is a lot higher.
Mr M.
McGOWAN replied:
The member has obviously not been
following this debate, and this has been going on now for three months. We have
accepted the health advice as we have gone along. Nothing in this environment
has been perfect, none of the solutions have been perfect and nothing is
entirely consistent in this environment in any state in Australia or any
country in the world. We have tried to ensure that we have had as little mixing
and as much social distancing as possible, particularly over the period when
the virus was at its strongest in Australia and Western Australia. I note that
the rate of the spread of the virus is increasing in many countries around the
world, and thousands of people are dying
every single day. In the United States I note that there are still hundreds, if
not thousands, of people dying every
single day. In Britain it is the same. In parts of Europe it is the same. I dread
to think what is going on in parts of
South America, Africa, India, Indonesia, Asia or even in Russia. I dread to
think what is going on. It is unreported, probably because most
journalists have left those places and because the way of judging and
collecting statistics is not to the standard that we have in Australia, but it
would be appalling. The good thing is that the measures we have put in place in
Australia, and in particular in Western Australia, have worked, and we have
avoided the thousands of deaths. We have avoided the thousands of deaths
because of the measures we have put in place. If the member wants to try to
politicise that, be it on her head.
I visit a number of businesses and I
am very apologetic. I am very apologetic to businesses I visit. I am very sorry
about what has happened. I am embarrassed by what we have had to do. It is a terrible
situation, and some of the measures we had to put in place have been shocking.
At the start of this process we had to do it, and I did it as part of the
national cabinet with all of the other Premiers, chief ministers and the Prime
Minister. It was appalling; it was terrible. I could not sleep. It was
absolutely appalling. I was shocked and appalled by the measures we had to put
in place, but every time I raise it with a business and I apologise to them,
they all say that they understand, because as a nation and a state we have
avoided some of those shocking situations that have been seen in other
countries around the world. We have avoided the deaths of people's
parents, we have avoided the deaths of people with disabilities and we have
avoided some of the deaths of people whose immune systems might be compromised.
That is what has occurred in Australia and Western Australia. Overwhelmingly, I
think people are understanding and have embraced the changes we have put in
place. I urge the Liberal Party to stop politicising this.
The SPEAKER: That is the end
of question time.