Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, there is real anger in the community that thousands of people were allowed to breach restrictions against mass gatherings over the weekend and anger at the double standard that seems to have been applied to these protests by some state authorities when compared to the onerous restrictions which all Australians have been following for the past three months. I've seen many small business owners and employees across the country express their frustration and disbelief that mass gatherings of thousands of people were held in breach of all the advice of public health authorities.

Australians over the past few months haven't been able to visit unwell relatives in hospital or aged-care facilities. People have missed out on attending the funerals of their family members. Weddings have been cancelled. Businesses have been forced to close, and their employees in many cases have lost their jobs. This is all because the Australian community as a whole has understood the need to make a collective sacrifice to ensure we get the coronavirus pandemic under control.

So many Australians and businesses have respected and followed the physical-distancing measures endorsed by national cabinet and implemented by the states and territories. This was a matter of civic duty. These physical-distancing measures have slowed the spread of the virus and saved lives.

Our medical expert panel had previously outlined that the coming together of people in mass gatherings has the real potential to undo the amazing work of Australians in flattening the curve over the past few months. That's why I was deeply concerned by the clear lack of physical distancing evident in some of these gatherings that we saw over the weekend, particularly when I know so many Australians have just been trying to do right thing.

Whilst expressing concern for important causes is a critical part of our democracy, now is not the time for mass gatherings and it could potentially risk the lives of our most vulnerable Australians. The sacrifice and the effort that has been asked of Australians has been extraordinary and, with very few exceptions until last weekend, Australians have been united in following the rules and helping each other to keep this virus under control. And the reason we followed the rules isn't because we don't think it's important to go to a loved one's funeral, that businesses stay open or to march on Anzac Day to pay our respects to those Australians of every race and background who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Of course those things are incredibly important, but Australians understood that it was our turn to make a sacrifice because the top priority at this time was to avoid spreading coronavirus so more Australians didn't die.

That's why it was so galling and so unfair for Australians to witness some people ignore the advice not to attend mass gatherings and break the public health directives against mass gatherings, and yet receive no fine or consequence. Of course we support the democratic right to legal protest. Of course we were all appalled and horrified at the killing of George Floyd in the United States. And of course we all want better outcomes for Indigenous people in this country. We also support the right to operate your business, the right to work, the right to visit your family and the right to move freely around your community and your state, but we've accepted that the coronavirus health threat was serious enough to restrict our ability to do those things for a limited time. But if the vast majority of Australians have avoided mass gatherings, even to the extent of missing a family funeral or not seeing their own parents or grandparents, why does one group have a right, or feel entitled, to break the rules?

We know that the ongoing restrictions are having a huge impact on businesses and the economy. That means that there's also a huge impact on Australians and the amount of work they're getting—the amount of money they're earning to look after their family. We know that when the economy suffers people suffer. So it's hardly surprising that Australians who are getting less work because of restrictions or who are seeing their small family business struggle to stay afloat will ask the legitimate question, 'Why am I following the rules that only a small number of people can attend my business and I have to actively enforce social distancing at a risk of being fined or shut down, when there is apparently no other consequence for those groups who don't follow the rules?'

We have community groups who have been given pages of instructions about the need to wipe down surfaces regularly and keep volunteers 1½ metres apart if they want to access their facilities and resume meetings. What are they supposed to think when they see thousands of fellow Australians not being required to follow the same rules? Worst of all, state and federal public health authorities are now suggesting that, specifically because of the protests held over the weekend, we may have to wait an additional two to three weeks before easing restrictions further, because we don't know whether people attending these protests have contracted coronavirus and taken it back to their community. Just when we've done so well collectively to follow the rules, this large-scale breach has many Australians rightly asking the question, 'Do the rules still apply, or don't they?'

As a younger Australian, I know that the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis will be felt for years to come. We are most likely about to embark upon a recession that many people my age haven't experienced in living memory. I have friends who haven't been able to work during this period and certainly can't see when they might be able to work in the future. I have friends who haven't been able to travel to see their family, particularly over Easter, which, as we all know, is a time when families traditionally like to come together and spend time with each other. I have friends who have struggled with their mental health during a time of great uncertainty about their work, their lives and their social connectedness.

We'd all like our lives to go back to normal. We'd all have liked to be able to visit our mum on Mother's Day and give her a hug. We all would have liked to be able to commemorate Anzac Day in the usual way. But for most of us, particularly those who live further away from our families and friends, that hasn't been possible over the past few months. We accepted those limitations on our personal freedoms because we knew that doing so would ensure that we kept our loved ones safe from this awful virus. And we followed the rules consistently, even when we struggled with the reality of the unprecedented situation we found ourselves in.

That is what made it all the more appalling for me to see these protests over the weekend and see so many people clearly flouting social restrictions, because what was the point of following these rules if they weren't going to be followed consistently? I thought of the Tasmanians I know who haven't been able to go to the funerals of the people they love. I thought of the Tasmanians I know who haven't been able to go to work. I thought of the Tasmanians I know who have had their livelihoods almost lost because their businesses haven't been able to operate. I thought of the local festivals and the markets that we all love that haven't been able to go ahead, just because people are trying to follow the rules and do the right thing, because we understand how important it is to do so for the safety of everyone.

In my opinion we're at a crucial stage in the easing of restrictions now, where we need state governments to apply consistency and have a real focus on getting us back to business. We can't sustain a situation where some businesses can have 20 people attend, some 50 and some even more than that or where some footy games can have 2,000 people show up and others can't have any or where a blind eye is turned to a mass gathering of tens of thousands of people with no social distancing while other restrictions remain in place for everybody else.

Governments around the country have done a great job suppressing coronavirus. We've all supported the efforts of governments at every level to encourage Australians to do the right thing and follow the rules, but we always knew from the start that this was a dual crisis—an economic crisis as much as a health crisis. Mixed messaging and being slower to ease restrictions than public health advice dictates are not going to help us through the economic challenges and get people back to work. Again I say that, as a young Australian who has experienced a recession in my lifetime but certainly not at a time I remember, this is a great concern for me.

I believe in the right to protest peacefully and legally, but I also believe in the right of free movement, the right to conduct a business and the right to worship. All of these rights and more have had to be curtailed in recent months, and this hasn't been easy. In fact, for many it has been absolutely heartbreaking. But we accepted it as our civic duty to stay home and save lives. What we didn't accept is for some Australians to pick and choose which rules they get to follow and when they get to follow them, and that is what we saw this weekend.