Ms. Farrer questions the Premier's statement regarding gonorrhoea cases in Aboriginal children, alleging a slur and demanding clarification on the location of those cases and overall prevalence in non-Aboriginal children. The Premier defends his statement, clarifying the age range and location of the cases.

AnsweredQoN 229Legislative Assembly
Asked
25 March 2015
Portfolio
Premier

QuestionView source ↗

SEXUALLY
TRANSMITTED DISEASES — PREMIER'S COMMENTS
229. Ms J. FARRER to the
Premier:
I refer to the Premier's unacceptable response
yesterday to the member for Victoria Park's question, and to the
Premier's statement last week —
In 2013, there were 39 cases of
gonorrhoea in Aboriginal children � How many cases of gonorrhoea are there in
the wider community? There are none—not a single case.
(1) Can the
Premier confirm that there was not a single case of gonorrhoea in Western
Australia in non-Aboriginal children, as he stated last week?
(2) If no to (1),
why did the Premier slur Aboriginal people as the sole sufferers of the disease
of gonorrhoea?
(3) Of the 39
cases the Premier referred to in justifying the closure of remote communities,
how many of these cases occurred in remote communities?

AnswerView source ↗

(1)–(3) I
explained that answer yesterday, but I will repeat it for the member. I do not
have the figures in front of me, but, from memory, those figures related to
children aged 10 to 14. They related to children in the Kimberley—across
the Kimberley. That was the information I had. When I initially presented it,
perhaps it was not made clear that it was within the Kimberley, but those
statistics —
Several members interjected.
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
Hang on! I remind members it was two young children, 10 to 14-year-olds, in the
Kimberley—that was the information I provided.

Explore WA Government Data

Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.

Explore more