❓ Mrs. Harvey asks the Premier about the conditions for lifting the state of emergency related to COVID-19. The Premier explains the necessity of the state of emergency and that there is no set deadline for lifting it, but that phase 3 changes are coming.
AnsweredQoN 386Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
CORONAVIRUS —
STATE OF EMERGENCY — EXTENSION
386. Mrs L.M. HARVEY to the Premier:
I refer to the announcement today by
the Commissioner of Police, Chris Dawson, that the state of emergency has been
extended for a further two weeks. What are the conditions and criteria that
will result in the state of emergency being
lifted so that the people of Western Australia can return to the new normal of
living in a world with COVID-19?
STATE OF EMERGENCY — EXTENSION
386. Mrs L.M. HARVEY to the Premier:
I refer to the announcement today by
the Commissioner of Police, Chris Dawson, that the state of emergency has been
extended for a further two weeks. What are the conditions and criteria that
will result in the state of emergency being
lifted so that the people of Western Australia can return to the new normal of
living in a world with COVID-19?
AnswerView source ↗
The Commissioner of Police has
requested that the Minister for Emergency Services extend the state of
emergency for another fortnight. That was signed off by the minister today, I think,
or yesterday. That extends it, as the commissioner outlined. As I understand
it, every state of Australia is doing the same thing under their emergency management acts. This is a nationally consistent
measure across the Australian states. The state of emergency allows for
the operation of the Emergency Management Act, and that allows the commissioner
to make decisions and pass various
regulations to regulate the activity of people across the state. It allows the
border with the east to be put in place and measures for gatherings and
the like to be implemented. In particular, it allows measures to be put in
place in the Kimberley, the communities of the East Pilbara and other remote
communities of Western Australia. There is no line of sight at this time on
when the state of emergency will be lifted; we have no set deadline. But
obviously the situation across Australia—I think this would broadly be
a national cabinet–consistent decision—in the management of the
pandemic would have to be resolved and arrangements, particularly when it comes
to some of the remote communities where the state of emergency is necessary to
protect them, would need to be resolved as well. It is not clear at this time.
I realise this creates difficulties, but we are currently working on our phase 3
changes to lift and ameliorate some restrictions, and we look forward to making
an announcement about that in the coming days.
requested that the Minister for Emergency Services extend the state of
emergency for another fortnight. That was signed off by the minister today, I think,
or yesterday. That extends it, as the commissioner outlined. As I understand
it, every state of Australia is doing the same thing under their emergency management acts. This is a nationally consistent
measure across the Australian states. The state of emergency allows for
the operation of the Emergency Management Act, and that allows the commissioner
to make decisions and pass various
regulations to regulate the activity of people across the state. It allows the
border with the east to be put in place and measures for gatherings and
the like to be implemented. In particular, it allows measures to be put in
place in the Kimberley, the communities of the East Pilbara and other remote
communities of Western Australia. There is no line of sight at this time on
when the state of emergency will be lifted; we have no set deadline. But
obviously the situation across Australia—I think this would broadly be
a national cabinet–consistent decision—in the management of the
pandemic would have to be resolved and arrangements, particularly when it comes
to some of the remote communities where the state of emergency is necessary to
protect them, would need to be resolved as well. It is not clear at this time.
I realise this creates difficulties, but we are currently working on our phase 3
changes to lift and ameliorate some restrictions, and we look forward to making
an announcement about that in the coming days.
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