Tuesday, 5 April 2022

COVID-19

Mr QUILTY (Northern Victoria) (12:52): One in six Victorians has contracted COVID this year, and many more have been forced into isolation as a result. This forced isolation is a huge issue. People who test negative are still required to stay home, and sometimes they are stuck isolating for weeks as member after member of their family contracts COVID while they remain negative. The isolation itself sometimes is causing worker shortages and staffing issues, and it is clear we will all be exposed to COVID at some point anyway.

In the last couple of weeks COVID finally started spreading through this Parliament as well. Many MPs are now discovering firsthand how the rules work. Matthew Guy, the Victorian Liberals leader, is among them. After being forced to isolate he finally realised the COVID rules are a bit of an issue. He told reporters that:

… it is very weird when it happens to yourself because then you realise you haven’t planned … your whole week to be at home.

Perhaps some in the Liberal Party may have missed it, but COVID restrictions have been a nightmare for Victorians for two years. It should not have to happen to you before you see that it is a problem. It is enormously disruptive to put entire households into isolation. The close confinement means that more of us will catch it and those who do not will have to isolate even longer.

The logic behind mandatory isolation rules is falling apart. If the point is to keep things open, then we should minimise mandatory isolation requirements. What is the point of forcing vaccinations if we still cannot open our society? We are as protected as we are ever going to be. It is time to end the state of emergency and get back to life as normal.