PM, premiers encourage masks but refuse to impose mandate

Premiers across the country are resisting calls for a return of mask mandates, as the latest Covid wave continues to grow.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk following Saturday’s National Cabinet meeting. Picture: David Clark

Premiers across the country are resisting calls for a return of mask mandates, as the latest Covid wave continues to grow.

All states appear to have fallen in line behind Anthony Albanese, who followed Saturday’s snap meeting of the national cabinet by encouraging, rather than mandating, the wearing of masks in public.

While much of the pandemic has been characterised by states enacting different rules based around the advice from their own chief health officers, the Prime Minister said the states had agreed to deliver consistent health messaging to encourage people to follow the recommendations of chief medical officer Paul Kelly.

“These include wearing masks indoors where appropriate, where people are mixing and can’t have social distancing – it makes sense for that to be highly encouraged,” he said.

The two most populous states, NSW and Victoria, had already made their opposition to fresh mask mandates clear before the meeting, and the other states all echoed those sentiments.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who mandated masks earlier this year, was among those who backed Mr Albanese’s call.

“I am urging Queenslanders, let‘s all do the right thing and let’s wear our masks while we’re ­indoors,” she said on Saturday.

“I’m strongly encouraging, when school goes back on Monday, for children to be wearing masks in schools as well as teachers.

“It’s very clear that the best thing that we can do, and it’s not a huge inconvenience to us, is to wear these masks and go and get your booster.”

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan has been under ­pressure from the likes of the WA arm of the Australian Medical Association for a return of compulsory mask-wearing but is continuing to resist the calls, saying only that masks were “strongly encouraged”.

He said those who were close contacts of confirmed cases should work from home where possible and should wear a mask at all times outside the home.

Mr McGowan also urged the public to receive their fourth vaccination booster shots, noting that almost one in three of the people in hospital with Covid are unvaccinated, despite them representing less than 2 per cent of all eligible West Australians.

Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan. Picture: Matt Jelonek/Getty Images

Victoria had flagged its resistance to mask mandates last week, when Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas revealed she had ignored a recommendation for their reintroduction from acting chief health officer Ben Cowie.

“The advice from the chief health officer was to mandate mask wearing in early childhood and school settings, and indeed in retail and in some hospitality settings for workers in those areas,” she said last Tuesday.

“I made a decision based on the advice that I had received that further mandating masks was not the most effective way to get the message out about the importance of mask wearing.

“We need to empower Victorians to make their own decisions.”

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet last week said mask mandates were “a time of the past”, and on Friday said mask rules put in place last year were no longer needed given the much higher vaccination rates of today.

“We need to have a limited role of the state to be mandating,” Mr Perrottet said. “The time of mandates is a time of the past when you had lower vaccination rates. We already have masks in place on public transport, and we highly recommend wearing masks inside where you can’t socially distance.”