STATE OF FEAR

Closure keeps ‘anxious’ public safe

PREMIER Peter Gutwein said the border closures are to continue to protect Tasmanians, bolster the health system and serve an “anxious” and ageing community.

Mr Gutwein addressed the media after saying he would consider changing the December 1 border opening date if medical advice recommended it.

He blamed Victoria’s outbreak and “uncontrolled community transmission” for the extended closure.

Director of Public Health Dr Mark Veitch said the priority was protecting Tasmanians and allaying fears.

State Politics Editor

DAVID KILLICK

WIDESPREAD fear of a COVID-19 outbreak is one of the factors which prompted Premier Peter Gutwein to lock down the state’s borders for the next three months.

After originally saying the announcement of a December 1 reopening of state borders had been made to provide certainty, Mr Gutwein said on Wednesday the date could be sooner or later, depending on health advice.

He added community anxiety and economic reasons to the reasons for the extended lockdown.

“It is fair to say that we have an anxious community, a community that is concerned about opening our borders,” he said. “In many cases a lot of our older community are quite distressed at the thought of opening up to even safe jurisdictions.”

And he said the state’s economy could not afford a second wave of infections.

“The initial shutdown in

PUBLIC CONCERN AND FEAR IS A TREMENDOUSLY IMPORTANT THING TO GET UNDER OF CONTROL.

DR MARK VEITCH

March, April and May this year wiped out around $100m a week in economic activity in Tasmania,” Mr Gutwein told parliament.

“Treasury advised that a further shutdown, like that which has occurred in Victoria, would wipe out an additional $500m to $600m in economic activity from our economy.”

And he said the additional lockdown would buy time for the health and aged care systems to improve their readiness.

Opposition Leader Rebecca White said that if Mr Gutwein’s intention was to provide certainty, then he had failed.

“The Premier made a statement yesterday, which was unexpected, that the borders would be closed until the first of December and today he’s indicating that they might open sooner than that.

“I think that causes more concern for people because they’re not really sure what the plan is for this government and its restrictions around borders.”

Director of Public Health Mark Veitch said his advice to government was based on a cautious approach and had changed as a better understanding was gained of how the virus had spread through community transmission in Victoria.

But addressing fear would be one of the priorities for coming months, he said.

“I think, public concern and fear is a tremendously important thing to get under control,” he said.

“I think we actually have to do a bit more work on making sure that the public really understands what the situation currently is, what the actual level of risk is and the measures that we had in place to manage that risk.”