Tuesday, 5 April 2022

COVID-19

Mr HODGETT (Croydon) (14:33): My question is to the Minister for Health. One of Australia’s leading health experts, Dr Nick Coatsworth, stated on Friday that there was plausible harm to children in forcing them to wear masks. Paediatric infectious diseases physician—

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Deputy Premier will come to order.

Mr HODGETT: Paediatric infectious diseases physician Robert Booy has said:

We need to get the masks out of schools … We need to stop impeding …

kids’ education. Paediatric psychologist Deirdre Brandner went further to say learning, communication, socialisation and emotional regulation were hurt by the prolonged wearing of masks. When will Victorian kids in grades 3, 4, 5 and 6 be allowed to attend school without wearing a mandatory mask?

Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (14:34): Can I thank the member for Croydon and just reflect ever so briefly on those opposite’s almost fundamentalist desire to see failure in our public health system. Those opposite, through their Trumpian position on so many things, are wishing the worst for Victoria’s public—

Mr Hodgett: On a point of order, Speaker, the minister is debating the question. It is a serious question, and I ask you to bring him back to answering it.

The SPEAKER: I uphold the point of order. The minister to come back to answering the question.

Mr FOLEY: Can I thank you for your guidance, Speaker. We know that public health advice is at the heart of what has been by any global standards a successful Australian and Victorian response to the global pandemic. To reflect briefly, last week I had the pleasure of being with Professor Peter Doherty, who the Doherty Institute is named after, who reflected that in particular the role that the Victorian government played had contributed substantially to better public health outcomes. He reflected on the role that masks played in that, as indeed have the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, which earlier this year published—and it is there for the world to see on their website—a particular study about how masks in junior schools, together with a range of other projects, including vaccinations and appropriate management of pandemic social distancing and ventilation and other measures, contributed to a reduction of somewhere between 23 and 28 per cent in transmission in those schools, which then if you multiply that out across their home settings, saves thousands of infections in those communities and saves lives. So I will take the advice of Peter Doherty and the centres for disease control every day when it is reflected in the advice of our—

Mr Hodgett: On a point of order, Speaker, I asked when Victorian kids in grades 3, 4, 5 and 6 will be allowed to attend school without wearing a mandatory mask, and I would ask you to bring the minister back to answering that question.

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister is being relevant to the question that was put to him.

Mr FOLEY: One of the contributing factors, as the honourable Deputy Premier pointed out, is the contribution that free provision of RATs has delivered, saving thousands of cases in our schools. Put all of that together, what the contribution of our public health officials in partnership with families and schools—private, independent and Catholic—has done is save thousands of cases across our community and, with that, pressure on our health system. And ultimately, serious disease and death have been averted as a result of these measures. In that regard those who undermine those credentials, such as those opposite, those who undermine how that advice is applied—it is really something for those opposite to reflect on.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for Lowan can leave the chamber for a period of 1 hour.

Mr FOLEY: And I would urge them to reflect very seriously on that.

Ms Kealy interjected.

The SPEAKER: The member for Lowan can leave for 90 minutes.

Member for Lowan withdrew from chamber.

Mr FOLEY: That is very disappointing from the member for Lowan and those opposite. In short, the answer is: for not a second longer than it needs to be, based on public health advice.

Mr HODGETT (Croydon) (14:38): Will the minister guarantee that the mask mandate for kids will not be extended further to include students in younger primary school years or to students in secondary schools?

Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (14:38): Again those opposite fish for the catastrophising, wishing failure and hoping that systems break down because they do not actually support evidence, they do not actually support what the public health advice is. They are actually extremists pretending to be—

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! When the house comes to order. There is too much shouting.

Mr FOLEY: Thank you, honourable Speaker. I would refer the honourable member to the public health advice—the most transparent state and territory in the country when it comes to the advice we receive and how we act on it. That advice specifically deals with the issue the honourable member raises. Now, I know those opposite essentially treat the government as their research arm because they are too lazy to do any work themselves—

Mr Walsh: On a point of order, Speaker, on the issue of relevance, in the 10 seconds remaining can you please ask the minister to actually address the question the member for Croydon asked and give a guarantee that kids will not have to wear masks in the other years at school?

The SPEAKER: The minister should come back from attacking the opposition and answer the question.

Mr FOLEY: I guarantee that this is a government that will follow the health advice and fix this problem—this one-in-100-year pandemic’s impact on this health system.