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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 266 asked in the Legislative Council on 24 March 2022 by Hon Dr Steve Thomas

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

CORONAVIRUS — PUBLIC HEALTH AND SOCIAL MEASURES

266. Hon Dr STEVE THOMAS to the Minister for Regional Development:

I refer to today's media release by the Premier about the easing of public health measures from Thursday, 31 March, which I note was an hour or two after the minister berated the opposition for daring to debate emergency management measures. Given the motion moved by Hon Tjorn Sibma, will the minister now apologise to him for the debate that she engaged in, particularly when she told him that today was a terrible day to debate emergency measures in relation to COVID?

Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:

Obviously, Hon Dr Steve Thomas lives in a parallel universe! I started my contribution by acknowledging that it was appropriate that the opposition raise these issues.

Several members interjected.

The PRESIDENT: Order!

Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN: Members opposite have completely misunderstood their own motion. They wanted to cease the emergency powers. They were not asking for the removal of the level 2 restrictions; they were asking why we had the emergency restrictions under the Emergency Management Act and the Public Health Act. That is what they were arguing. I pointed out the actual reasons. I addressed that foursquare. I talked about the vaccinations that come under the public health provisions. I then talked about the whole range of directions that are in place, and that will remain in place for some time, to give us the power to control COVID. It was not a motion about removing level 2 restrictions. It was a motion asking why we had not ceased to have the state of emergency under those two pieces of legislation.

Several members interjected.

The PRESIDENT: Order!

Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN: Members opposite do not even understand their own motion. They have conflated all these provisions.