Michael Ferguson,Leader of the House
Labor Leader Rebecca White has been desperate for relevance during the COVID-19 pandemic, but today her rank opportunism was laid bare.
On the weekend, she moved to sideline Public Health officials by begging Premier Peter Gutwein to set a date to reopen Tasmania’s borders, against expert health advice.
“However here in Tasmania our borders remain closed and our businesses remain constrained with the government still sitting on the fence about when it is going to make a decision about either.” (Rebecca White, media release, 20 June 2020)
Ms White then doubled down on ABC radio this morning, saying: “All we’re calling on the Government to do, is something that they should’ve done already, to set a date for borders to reopen”* but was typically unable to say what date she thinks that should be.
Less than an hour later, Ms White’s Deputy Leader Michelle O’Byrne tried to clean up Ms White’s mess on the TasTalks radio show, but just made it worse.
Ms O’Byrne was found in an embarrassing disagreement when asked about when our borders should reopen, saying “I do think that we need to maintain our border restrictions a little bit longer.”
Then in direct contrast to Ms White, Ms O’Byrne said we should wait for Public Health advice, saying “I think the border should reopen when the health department can tell us that it’s safe to do so.”**
Perhaps perpetual underminer David O’Byrne will have a crack at making this appalling mess even worse later today.
Labor are hopelessly divided and confused on the issue of border restrictions and should stick to supporting the Government’s responsible approach, instead of playing politics with Tasmanian lives, just to get cheap media grabs.
No wonder people are saying they don’t know what Labor stands for.
*Labor Leader Rebecca White on 936 ABC radio Mornings Monday 22 June 2020
** Deputy Leader Michelle O’Byrne on TasTalks LA-FM Monday 22 June 2020
