It’s the end of the second week of Parliament for 2022 and WA Labor is in disarray.
Last week I asked the Premier in Parliament about his grandstanding to undertake an unnecessary quarantine period if he leaves our State and returns after the delayed re-opening now set for March 3rd. Meanwhile, his Attorney General will be attending the same Federal Court hearing but is not going to isolate or enter into quarantine and was fined $1,000 for not wearing a mask at a Church service in Broome. The Premier also said he will don full PPE and exit quarantine if he has to attend a National COVID Cabinet Meeting but then go back into quarantine.
This week, we saw the disturbing report in the West Australian newspaper of the early morning, 11-officer armed police raid on the home of an Indigenous woman claimed to have leaked a Report that exposed racism and toxic dysfunction in Minister McGurk’s Department of Communities. Instead of trying to fix those issues, we see their effort to deflect by targeting an Indigenous woman suffering that same racism.
This is the reality of the McGowan Labor Government. It is the opposite of the gold-standard truth and transparency that they promised during the State Election.
Witness too, yesterday’s Acacia Prison riot. My colleague Shadow Minister Peter Collier, has called out the McGowan Labor Government’s COVID blunder. They claim vaccination is the best protection for all of us, especially the most vulnerable. Yet, second to the homeless community, prisons have the lowest vaccination rates in our State. At 12 % triple dose vaccination, our prisons are lagging behind the upwards of 60 &triple dose vaccination rate of the general community.
The Acacia Prison riot was born out of prisoner’s healthcare panic and shows the WA Labor Government cannot manage even one of the most controlled populations in our State. Due to COVID infections among inmates, visitation rights have been cancelled and prisoners are put in solitary confinement for being close contacts. The result is the reckless violence that manifested itself starting Sunday night.
However, the Government made no mention of what started the riots, just telling the media that three guards received minor injuries. Thankfully, the guards avoided what could have been a deadly encounter. Labor’s Corrective Services Minister, Bill Johnston has proven equally as inept in this role as in his role as Labor’s Energy Minister.
Western Australians are waking up to WA Labor’s PR spin, omission and incompetence.
Western Australians deserve better.
Dr David Honey MLA
WA Liberal Leader & Member for Cottesloe
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