Page 2590 - Week 09 - Thursday, 16 September 2021
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Since 12 August to today, at least 13 directions have been made under the Public Health Act of 1998. These instruments are not notifiable instruments, but the legislation website says that they are included on the legislation register for information. While we are supportive of the measures of the public health directions, we do not believe that they should not be subject to scrutiny in this Assembly. More importantly, however, the response of the ACT bureaucracy, the best and the not so awesome, needs to be highlighted so that we can learn lessons to inform future service delivery.
The press conferences by the Chief Minister and other ministers and officials have indeed been welcome, open and informative. However, there is no compulsion on those speaking to disclose full details of some matters. They continue at the whim of the Chief Minister, who has been generous, but who yesterday questioned the approach to journalism of a journalist whom he appeared to disagree with. The press conferences will not be recorded in Hansard and will not be able to be analysed for future reflection once recordings are taken off the websites of the agencies recording them, which is indeed an additional reason for the establishment of this committee.
Last year when we were asked to go home for a few weeks, during a much less intense lockdown, people were in shock about the whole situation. We established the COVID-19 select committee in order to keep on the record and officially check on the government’s power. This allowed not only for the compulsion to answer questions but also for Hansard to record these public discussions. The companion to the ACT Assembly’s standing orders states:
In the Australian parliamentary tradition, select committees, in contrast to standing committees, are established with specific terms of reference and set reporting dates. Select committees respond to issues that fall outside the remit of standing committees or are of such importance or urgency that a specific committee is considered necessary to examine them.
The Legislative Assembly has made extensive use of select committees …
The existing standing committee structure of the Assembly was established when a global pandemic was thought to be a mere hypothetical possibility. Possibly, with the exception of the 2003 bushfires, there has never been an issue that has had a greater impact on Canberra or Canberrans that we have been dealing with.
The issues that I would like to put on the record that need to be inquired into include the lack of fit-testing of protective masks for nurses at the Canberra Hospital working on the COVID-19 wards, in the emergency department and in ICU. I was utterly astounded to be contacted by nurses, as we went into lockdown, who were afraid for their own safety because their masks had not been properly fit-tested. It took weeks to have that issue resolved. There is also the lack of fit-testing of masks for paramedics transporting COVID-19 patients to hospital.
The issues include: the process for nurses wanting to come back into the health system, and not the majority of those who have opted to come back have actually made it back into our system, from the latest data that we were given in press
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video