Tuesday, 21 June 2022

 Dr CUMMING (Western Metropolitan) (12:50): My members statement today is that the Minister for Health must stop all the mandates for health workers now. We are in a health crisis, and every paramedic, nurse, doctor and healthcare worker should go back to work now. This government should never have mandated the COVID vaccine, especially when they always have known that the vaccine has serious risks and does not stop you from catching or passing on COVID. Health professionals should be able to make their own health choices. They are the best qualified to make this decision, not the government. The community do not care if their paramedic, nurse or doctor is vaccinated. In an emergency they just want help immediately. It makes no scientific or medical sense to mandate vaccines for healthcare workers. Your vaccine status should not stop you from helping someone. End all the mandates now—hold the line, from hero to zero. This government should not hide behind industry or business mandates. You need to lift all the mandates now. We need to have our healthcare workers go back to work now, and we should never, ever have mandated the COVID vaccine.