Thursday, 7 April 2022

COVID-19

Mr BATTIN (Gembrook) (09:39): I rise to speak about a football club I was at this weekend, the Berwick Football Club, where I spoke to Josh. Josh is a wonderful supporter of the Berwick Football Club. He has been a big supporter throughout the electorate down there, and one of the topics he came up with this week that he is frustrated about was masks. He is so frustrated that we still have masks on schoolkids, which are some of his kids in the area. They do not have a choice, and the families should have that choice. He is frustrated that retail workers still have to wear masks while working in retail and that hospitality workers still have to wear masks while working in hospitality. All he is asking for is choice: why can’t these people choose when to wear a mask?

At the moment here in this place—we have had another email to say that someone in here had COVID on Tuesday—we have a choice of when we wear a mask or not. When I was out at the Sri Lankan festival on the weekend, one minister wore a mask and other ministers and members of Parliament did not wear masks because they are given that choice in that environment. Why can’t people who work within the industries of retail and hospitality have that choice given to them?

We are not saying there should be no masks; we are not saying you do not have masks at all. I look across at the moment at the Labor Party and one person is wearing a mask, and I say you have got every right to because it should be a choice. And Josh wants to see masks go. He wants to see us get rid of them. He said it is too important that people do not have that choice. We are calling on the government on behalf of Josh and his community down there: can we still have those choices in our community rather than control from the government?