CORONAVIRUS —
MANDATORY VACCINATION POLICY
644. Ms M.J. DAVIES to the Premier:
I refer to the mandatory vaccination
frequently asked questions document that was uploaded to the Department of
Health website yesterday, removed this morning, amended and then reposted.
(1) Is the
requirement for all travellers entering WA from low, medium, high and extreme
risk jurisdictions to be fully vaccinated by 15 November part of the plan that
the Premier refuses to share with the Western Australian public?
(2) Why was this included in the
document and why was it removed?
Mr M.
McGOWAN replied:
(1)–(2) As
I said on the ABC radio this morning, an administrative error was made. I think
it was picked up by Nathan Hondros, who works for the Liberal Party, who
published or tweeted it, because I do not think he is particularly supportive
of vaccinations, so he tweeted that. It was obviously picked up by ABC as well.
An administrative error was made.
All I will say is that is the
direction that Western Australia is heading. That is the broad direction.
People getting vaccinated so that they can travel overseas or interstate is
obviously something that I think most people would support. We are currently
working on how in the future those sorts of arrangements could be implemented,
but we have not made a final decision on it. It is nothing that is set in
stone, but I have seen Alan Joyce out there
saying, ''If you want to fly Qantas overseas, get vaccinated.''
If you ever want to go overseas
again, get vaccinated. If you want to go to Bali or Thailand or Britain or
America, get vaccinated. If you want to go over east, obviously there
are much higher levels of infection over there, so clearly that is a broader
direction that the government is currently examining.