❓ Mrs. Hayden questions the Premier about social distancing at Ascot racecourse and requests clarification on whether places of worship will receive similar exemptions to the two-square-metre rule. The Premier denies Ascot was exempt, outlines ongoing work to increase density in places of worship, and defends his attendance at the races as a sign of WA's success.
AnsweredQoN 849Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
CORONAVIRUS —
PLACES OF WORSHIP
849. Mrs
A.K. HAYDEN to the Premier:
I
refer to Channel Seven news last night, which showed the Premier attending a massive
Melbourne Cup crowd at Ascot racecourse. There was clearly no social
distancing, there was unruly and rowdy behaviour, and the two- square-metre
rule was completely ignored, including by yourself, Premier.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members, I want
to hear this!
Mrs A.K. HAYDEN : Will our
quiet and respectful places of worship also be exempt from the two-square-metre
rule so that they can provide important and desperately needed pastoral care?
PLACES OF WORSHIP
849. Mrs
A.K. HAYDEN to the Premier:
I
refer to Channel Seven news last night, which showed the Premier attending a massive
Melbourne Cup crowd at Ascot racecourse. There was clearly no social
distancing, there was unruly and rowdy behaviour, and the two- square-metre
rule was completely ignored, including by yourself, Premier.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members, I want
to hear this!
Mrs A.K. HAYDEN : Will our
quiet and respectful places of worship also be exempt from the two-square-metre
rule so that they can provide important and desperately needed pastoral care?
AnswerView source ↗
To be totally clear, Ascot
racecourse is not exempt from the two-square-metre rule, so, once again, the
premise of the question is wrong.
To go to the other points that the
member raised, we are currently working through options for places of worship
to allow for a higher density in those venues, as we have done with cinemas,
various theatres and places of that nature.
The difficulty is that there are far more places of worship that we need to
deal with—something in the vicinity of 1 000. We are working
through those solutions with the Commissioner of Police as we speak. That work
has been ongoing for the last fortnight or so.
Thirdly, I was invited to the races
yesterday by Perth Racing and I accepted the invitation. I was asked to present
a trophy in the Run and Eat a Kebab handicap, which I did. While I was there, a
number of people came up to me and said hello and asked to have photographs. I am
not going to push people away or have security arrest people who come and talk
to me. We have been so successful as a state that yesterday, Ascot was the
biggest race meeting in Australia. We had
more people there than at any other race meet in Australia—Flemington
in particular. Our success means that we have more activity, more events, more
venues, more functions and more jobs than in any other state. That is something
that we should be proud of as a state. We should be proud of that. We have now
gone nearly seven months without a case of COVID community transmission in Western
Australia. The Western Australian public has done a marvellous job. The
public deserves to be rewarded by being able to have these events that create
jobs. I urge the Liberal Party to support us when we are trying to put in place
measures that create jobs and keep the health of Western Australians secure.
racecourse is not exempt from the two-square-metre rule, so, once again, the
premise of the question is wrong.
To go to the other points that the
member raised, we are currently working through options for places of worship
to allow for a higher density in those venues, as we have done with cinemas,
various theatres and places of that nature.
The difficulty is that there are far more places of worship that we need to
deal with—something in the vicinity of 1 000. We are working
through those solutions with the Commissioner of Police as we speak. That work
has been ongoing for the last fortnight or so.
Thirdly, I was invited to the races
yesterday by Perth Racing and I accepted the invitation. I was asked to present
a trophy in the Run and Eat a Kebab handicap, which I did. While I was there, a
number of people came up to me and said hello and asked to have photographs. I am
not going to push people away or have security arrest people who come and talk
to me. We have been so successful as a state that yesterday, Ascot was the
biggest race meeting in Australia. We had
more people there than at any other race meet in Australia—Flemington
in particular. Our success means that we have more activity, more events, more
venues, more functions and more jobs than in any other state. That is something
that we should be proud of as a state. We should be proud of that. We have now
gone nearly seven months without a case of COVID community transmission in Western
Australia. The Western Australian public has done a marvellous job. The
public deserves to be rewarded by being able to have these events that create
jobs. I urge the Liberal Party to support us when we are trying to put in place
measures that create jobs and keep the health of Western Australians secure.
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