Premier Mark McGowan has accused the other states of being "self-interested" in their criticism of Western Australia's hard border closure.
Key points:
- The threshold to lift the hard border has been labelled "beyond caution"
- The Premier says critics are only interested in WA's "higher incomes"
- WA recorded one new case of COVID-19 overnight in a returned traveller
Mr McGowan made the comments as he defended WA's position that the hard border will not be lifted until there have been 28 consecutive days without any community transmission anywhere in Australia.
It was yesterday described by an epidemiologist as "admirable" but "beyond caution".
Mr McGowan said the move was necessary to protect the health of West Australians.
"What we're saying to the other states is before such time as we lift the border arrangement, we need to be absolutely secure and safe and absolutely confident that they have community spread of the virus under control," he said.
"That's the current health advice. That's the advice we'll continue with."
It comes after WA recorded one new case of COVID-19 overnight, with a returned traveller transiting through Perth between India and Melbourne having tested positive.
Mr McGowan said the situation was being managed by WA Health officials.
Other states want our 'higher incomes': Premier
WA's hard border has repeatedly been criticised by some other state governments for being too strict, but Mr McGowan said "self-interested reasons" were behind the comments.
"The other states want us to open the border so that West Australian tourists will flow east," he said.
"We have higher incomes, we have people that are more used to travelling, and therefore will have more tourists go from Western Australia to the east.
He said WA's experience showed the only way to protect the state was to maintain the hard border.
"We don't want to rely upon other state's border arrangements when we can rely upon our own," he said.
"They have had significant policy failures in the east that caused the spread of the virus into Western Australia in the early days, and therefore we're always very careful about our borders to protect our people.
"Our arrangements have worked and we want them to continue to work."
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Mr McGowan said there would be no benefit from a limited easing of the hard border to the Northern Territory and South Australia.
"All we'd do is lose jobs were we to open to those states," he said.
ADF withdraws from border checkpoints
Mr McGowan's comments also came as Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel withdrew from the state's border checkpoints at midnight last night.
Police Minister Michelle Roberts said while the state had received "minimal help through the ADF", the withdrawal would place additional pressure on WA Police.
"It will mean that we will have to send more police officers to regional West Australia," she said.
Ms Roberts said the state had that capacity because 150 additional police officers were recruited earlier this year.
In a statement on Wednesday, an ADF spokesperson said the decision was made because of "the need for Defence to begin prioritising preparation for the high-risk weather season".
'Disappointing' breach in Port Hedland
Mr McGowan also criticised a WA Health employee who was photographed near crew members disembarking from the virus-infected Patricia Oldendorff on Friday without any PPE.
The manganese bulk carrier remains anchored off Port Hedland in WA's north-west, with seven of the nine crew onboard — and 10 of 12 in hotel quarantine — having tested positive for COVID-19.
"I was disappointed, considering all of the carefulness and the expectation of the Government that Health would treat this matter with the upmost of seriousness," Mr McGowan said.
"Obviously it was a very disappointing and to a degree stupid thing that took place, and I'm unhappy that the example being set wasn't of the standard that we expected."
He says he had received advice that the woman was far enough away for it to not have been an infection risk.
The Department of Health said along with the WA Country Health Service, it had determined the staff member was "not a close contact" but healthcare staff needed to "model the appropriate behaviours".
"Both agencies accept the images do not meet public expectation but would like to make it clear there remains no risk to the community," a spokesperson said.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMib2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTEwLTAxL2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzLXdhLWhhcmQtYm9yZGVyLWNyaXRpY3Mtc2VsZi1pbnRlcmVzdGVkLXByZW1pZXItc2F5cy8xMjcyMTQyONIBJ2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMjcyMTQyOA?oc=5
2020-10-01 03:35:00Z
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