Tuesday, 22 February 2022

COVID-19

Mr GUY (Bulleen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:08): My question is to the Minister for Health. With the government subjecting children in grades 3 to 6 to wearing masks to primary school, can the minister explain to Victorian parents what evidence the government has that a child in grade 3 is vastly more dangerous and infectious to other schoolchildren than a child in grade 2?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Members on my right will come to order. The Premier will come to order.

Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (14:09): Can I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. It does tend to fit a bit of a pattern of questions that we have seen from those opposite as they head down their Trumpesque—

Mr R Smith: On a point of order, Speaker, I cannot hear the Minister for Health. The Premier is speaking over him. I never thought I would say this, but I do want to hear what the minister has to say. If the Premier is going to continue to talk over him and defy your instruction for him to be quiet—

The SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! I have warned members. If members continue to shout across the chamber, they will be removed from the chamber.

Mr FOLEY: Thank you, Speaker. The announcements that we made today have been widely welcomed across the Victorian community, including the education sector, because what they do is fit the pattern of schools, having been open, staying open, and that has been a fantastic effort. I want to thank the Department of Education and Training for their great leadership in that area.

In regard to the specific issue which I think the honourable member touched on, it goes to the issue of the public health advice, which under the legislation that we now operate under will be published in due course, together with the chief health officer’s advice and my explanations of the reasons for this decision. I am sure the honourable member will be quick to have a look at that once it is online.

But it is pretty simple. The issue is that there is chief health officer advice to me in terms of giving these public health pandemic orders, and that goes to the issue of the fact that for some six weeks kids in the five- to 11-year age bracket have been eligible for their first doses. Victoria only comes in behind the ACT when it comes to those levels of kids having taken up those levels; we are at about 53, 54 per cent of kids in that age bracket. Compare that, for instance, with kids in secondary school, where it is well into the 80s because those families and kids have had a substantially longer period of time, back to 2021, to get their vaccinations.

So when you have something like 45 per cent of a particular group not yet having taken those first doses, let alone the second doses, that gets us to a position of risk, and how you manage risk in a global pandemic is you seek to mitigate that risk by both protecting those kids and protecting the families that they are a part of, particularly their grandparents, and their wider network of connections. And when he sees the public health advice that will suitably reflect that, I urge the honourable Leader of the Opposition to read it, to understand it and to desist his Trumpesque heading down rabbit burrows of questioning the public health advice at every turn.

Mr GUY (Bulleen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:12): Mask mandates at primary school are causing huge damage to many schoolchildren, particularly those with mild spectrum disorders, which is having a huge impact on the parents who are dealing with those kids in particular who are struggling—

Mr Edbrooke interjected.

Mr GUY: Kids with spectrum disorders.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Frankston will leave the chamber for the period of 1 hour.

Member for Frankston withdrew from chamber.

Mr GUY: Why hasn’t the government followed the lead of every other state where all kids are allowed to go mask free—primary school kids—at school and instead focus on two years of lost learning?

Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (14:13): This is a government that has done more for kids on the spectrum, whether they are in mainstream or specialist schools, than any other in the country has, particularly over the course of the last two years with the global pandemic. The support that we have brought to those families is second to none. I want to give a special shout-out again to the department of education for their outstanding leadership in this area, and that extends to how our public health officials have dealt with the whole issue of the public health measures, be they vaccinations or indeed exemptions, which continue to be available for families based on the specific circumstances of their individuals and loved ones in any age category, including this five- to 11-year age category. In that regard I question the honourable Leader of the Opposition’s question in being ill advised and baseless.