Labor calls on government to answer Covid questions one month out from reopening

The arrival of a Covid case aboard an aircraft from Brisbane was a timely reminder of the challenges the state will face once borders reopen, the Opposition says. LATEST >>

The arrival of a Covid case aboard an aircraft from Brisbane was a timely reminder of the challenges the state will face once borders reopen, the Opposition says.

Labor leader Rebecca White called on the government to release more details about how Covid cases would be handed after December 15.

On that date, many of the restrictions on entry will cease to exist for vaccinated travellers.

Ms White said Tasmanians had a right to know details of the govenrment’s plan.

“We know that the biggest risk here in Tasmania is that our health system is not going to be able to cope once we open our borders and we see people come to Tasmania who have Covid,” she said.

“We still continue to ask questions of this government, which are questions the community has, about how our staff have been supported with the training they need so that they can cope when Covid comes Tasmania, how our emergency departments have been configured so that when patients are presenting, they’re not putting themselves or their loved ones at risk if somebody is in the ED with Covid.”

Kirby Institute modelling commissioned by the state government suggests Tasmania will face up to 69,000 Covid-19 infections in the first 200 days of reopening, which will occupy up to 397 hospital beds with a peak infection rate in early March.

An estimated 148 people will die, the modelling says. Tasmania has to date experienced 237 cases and 13 deaths.

Ms White said the government needed to release more detail of its plans for how the health system was going to handle large number of cases and how cases would be managed in the community.

“We need to make sure that the government is very clear with Tasmanians about what Covid-at-Home means and if somebody is at home and they do have coronavirus, do they call an ambulance or how are they supported with their general practitioner or other health services? “These are important questions that we all need to be absolutely clear about right now because it is just one month until Tasmania’s borders open.

“And we know that once that happens coronavirus will come to Tasmania — and we also know our health system is under huge pressure.”

‘Too busy’: Key ministers bail on critical Tassie events summit

A Saturday public forum focused on the survival of Tasmanian events in the face of coronavirus restrictions has been cancelled last minute because invited Government ministers are too busy to attend.

The Tasmanian Events Survival public forum will now proceed in the form of a closed-door meeting between departmental bureaucrats and local events representatives on Friday.

Among those attending the meeting will be Tasmanian Agricultural Shows President Scott Gadd who said it was crucial resolution was reached before another show year began.

“We attempted to do exactly this in December 2020 but didn’t get anywhere,” he said.

“As a result, only seven of Tasmania’s 23 annual shows could proceed in 2021, and a raft of other events also fell over.”

Tasmanian Agricultural Shows President Scott Gadd. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

He said there was a great deal of frustration regarding the complexity and slowness of achieving Covid-safe event status which he claimed became the undoing of numerous Tasmanian events over the last year.

“The Falls Festival, Launceston’s Festivale and the Hobart Summer Festival are just recent examples of how Tasmania’s health restrictions are regulating local events out of existence,” Mr Gadd said.

Minister Community Services and Development Jeremy Rockliff said the Government had engaged extensively with the sector to “support those shows which indicated they would be run this season”.

“Our priority continues to be the health and safety of Tasmanians, and it is pleasing to note that nine shows successfully ran this season, including the Royal Hobart Show through our support of $250,000, all following Covid-safe guidelines, with strong support from their communities as well as from the Tasmanian Government,” he said.

“The Tasmanian Government representatives invited to the forum are unfortunately unavailable due to being heavily engaged in work to ensure Tasmania is prepared to safely re-open our borders in December.”

“Recognising, however, the importance of the issues raised, we have offered a meeting to be held with senior representatives from the Departments of Health, Communities Tasmania, and State Growth, to discuss our COVID-19 Safe Events and Activities in Tasmania Framework (Events Framework), which we understand Mr Gadd has agreed to.”

Mr Gadd said he hoped to raise the issues of crowd caps, complex Covid-safe plans the timeliness of approvals and consistency across the events spectrum at Friday’s meeting.

“Tomorrow’s talks are a last chance for many Tasmanian events,” he said.

“We are saddened that government ministers are too busy to attend and meet with constituents from all over the state this weekend.”

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Originally published as Labor calls on government to answer Covid questions one month out from reopening