Sunrise host Natalie Barr was talking about the new rule, which came into effect on Monday, with Perth Lord Mayor and broadcaster Basil Zempilas and Herald Sun columnist Susie O’Brien.WA Premier Mark McGowan, who has promised to make life “very difficult” for those who continue to refuse the Covid-19 jab, announced the new measure on Friday as part of the country’s “broadest” vaccine passport rules, beginning January 31.Under the new rules, unvaccinated parents must apply for a special exemption to visit their sick children in hospital. The government said it would support “medical exemptions” on compassionate grounds such as end-of-life visits.“We know one thing the Premiers and the Prime Minister have been united on is the need to get vaccinated, so it becomes the ultimate test, doesn’t it?” Zempilas said on the Seven program.“If you’re unvaccinated and you’re going to what’s deemed a high-risk area – a hospital or an aged care facility – the ability to go and see your loved one if you’re unvaccinated may well be taken away from you. Could that be the trigger to make you change your mind? I guess that’s the force at play here. It’s a tough decision, isn’t it? “What would a parent do, confronted by that, would it make you change your philosophy? Maybe it would, and maybe that’s what the government are banking on.”Stream more entertainment news live & on demand with Flash, a dedicated news streaming service. New to Flash? Try 14 days free now >O’Brien said she was “all for this”.“I mean, this is not about the rights of parents, this is about the rights of the sick kids and the rights of the elderly to stay as safe as possible at a time when we know we’re dealing with a very virulent strain of the disease,” she said.“If you are unvaccinated without a good reason, without a valid exemption, then you are going to find your movements curtailed. We went through this in Victoria months ago where even 12-year-olds couldn’t attend their own primary school graduations, until the rules were relaxed. So I think this is what the government needs to do at this point, to really shock and challenge people into it, as Basil was saying, change their philosophy, change their action and get vaccinated.”Barr agreed. “Other states have had various forms of this – and people have had time,” she said. “I mean, really.”The conservative Caldron Pool website on Monday shared a clip of the discussion on Twitter, where it has been viewed nearly 600,000 times.Andrew Bogut, former basketball star and outspoken critic of Australian governments’ Covid-19 policies, described it as “sickening”.One person replied, “This is a dangerous road we are headed down, with the cheering on and normalisation of government coercion.”Much of the negative reaction came from users in the US, where conservatives frequently seize on examples of Australia’s heavy-handed pandemic response.“Disappointing to see a nation lose their humanity,” wrote American health researcher Vinay Prasad.“These people are INSANE,” said writer Kimberly Morin.One user commented, “It’s quite disturbing how deeply Australia has embraced unnecessarily cruel authoritarianism in the past two years.”Some defended WA’s decision, however.“Unvaccinated people wandering into a hospital is a recipe for disaster,” one person wrote.Another added, “Hospitals are not a safe place, and they are obligated to maintain the safety of all who enter – patients as well as visitors, vaxxed as well as not. An unvaxxed visitor represents a person who is most likely to die if infected with Covid, and this makes the hospital culpable.”Last week, WA chief health officer Andy Robertson said “high-risk settings” such as hospitals and aged care facilities would be the focus for the government in the fight against Omicron.The new rules don’t stop unvaccinated people seeking treatment in such a facility.“Entry into a hospital or RACF by unvaccinated individuals (in those jurisdictions) is prohibited unless an exemption is in place or permitted under compassionate grounds, such as visiting a family member during the terminal phase of their life,” Dr Robertson wrote in the new health advice.“In situations where visitation is permitted by unvaccinated individuals, additional risk mitigation precautions are required to be met by the individual.”Earlier this week, Mr McGowan said he wouldn’t rule out further restrictions as the state continues to record tens of cases each day.frank.chung@news.com.au
Powered by WPeMatico
