Cormann to McGowan: explain yourself

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has heightened his criticisms of Western Australia's hard border, arguing the state government is now acting against public health advice.

That comes come one day after the premier, health minister and chief health officer appeared to offer contradictory messages on when was appropriate to reopen the state’s domestic border.

The state’s chief medical officer, Andrew Robertson, on Wednesday suggested WA was now in a position to reopen its domestic border to all other states and territories bar NSW and Victoria, given they had essentially eliminated community transmission of COVID-19.

That came after it had been reported Australia would need to go 28 days without a single instance of community transmission of the virus for WA to consider relaxing restrictions.

The state government has repeatedly said that reopening to specific states and not others was unconstitutional, a claim that has come under repeated scrutiny from figures within the federal government and some in the private sector.

Health Minister Roger Cook subsequently told a Business News Politics & Policy breakfast that reopening the border would be incumbent upon NSW and Victoria stamping out community transmission of the virus.

NSW recorded just one new case of COVID-19 overnight while Victoria recorded two.

Mr Cook’s comments appeared to contradict health advice, tabled by Premier Mark McGowan in state parliament yesterday, which indicated WA should consider relaxing border restrictions in two weeks’ time, with restrictions on travellers returning from NSW to be considered two weeks later.

Mr McGowan later told state parliament the border measures would stay in place for the time being, based on advice from Dr Robertson.

Senator Cormann told reporters this morning the public health advice no longer supported the state government’s position, and that it was now time to reopen to the likes of the Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania and the ACT.

“The truth is finally seeping out,” he said.

“We’ve always been supportive of clear and strong measures to protect people’s health, but there’s absolutely no reason to inhibit people’s freedoms, to prevent people from travelling, to prevent people from spending their money where they want to.

“There’s no reason to infringe on people’s constitutional freedoms in relation to those jurisdictions [that have eliminated community transmission].

“I’d like to hear the premier explain himself.

“Tell me why a business in WA, or why a family in WA, should suffer the inconvenience when there’s no good public health reason to impose that inconvenience?”

Those comments come after Mr Cook yesterday accused Senator Cormann of making ignorant comments regarding WA’s preparedness to fight COVID-19.

Senator Cormann told Business News this morning he believed the opposite was true.

“It looks to me as if my comments are more based on the health advice in front of the state government of WA,” he said.

“I’m just asking the question: if zero active cases and zero community transmission … isn’t good enough, what is?”

Mr Cook had argued the health advice meant any easing of border restrictions would require a tightening of domestic restrictions.

He cited NSW, which has remained open to travellers throughout the pandemic but has maintained stricter requirements on venue capacity, as indicative of what may be required should the state reopen its border.

However, Senator Cormann told Business News he did not accept the premise of that argument.

“I do accept that we need to do more than we have been doing to make our community and make our economy COVID-safe,” he said.

“The COVID virus is going to be with us for a long time and we need to do more to ensure we have the risk management process in place to continue … while the virus is still with us, and I don’t see that happening.”

Today’s comments come after the ABS released data yesterday showing WA recording the lowest unemployment rate in the nation at 6.7 per cent, slightly below the national average of 6.9 per cent.

It added to a host of data, including a survey from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA released yesterday which showed an overall rebound in short-term business confidence, that indicated WA’s economy has fared better overall relative to other states.

Treasurer Ben Wyatt had argued ahead of last week’s budget announcement that business confidence had been key to WA’s economic recovery, and that any further outbreaks of COVID-19 ran the risk of dampening that confidence.

When asked how those figures supported the argument that WA’s economy was suffering given border restrictions, Senator Cormann argued there was room for improvement, specifically when it came to the state's unemployment rate.

“It should be lower,” he said.

“We should have more people in jobs in WA.

“We are very fortunate because as a result of the decisions the federal and state government working together have made, our resources sector has been able to keep going, our agriculture exports continue to perform well.

“In that sense, we are fortune, but we are not allowing people in WA to reach their full potential.”

WA recorded five new cases of COVID-19 yesterday, bringing the total number of active cases in the state to 24.

All of these cases are in hotel quarantine.