Wednesday, 4 August 2021

COVID-19

Mr M O’BRIEN (Malvern—Leader of the Opposition) (14:14): My question is to the Minister for Sport and Major Events. Yesterday the minister told the house that rapid testing could not be rolled out quickly to large sporting events. Well, the dates for the Spring Racing Carnival are known well in advance. Will the minister now commit to implementing rapid testing at the Spring Racing Carnival in order to allow more Victorians to attend?

Mr PAKULA (Keysborough—Minister for Industry Support and Recovery, Minister for Trade, Minister for Business Precincts, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, Minister for Racing) (14:15): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for the question, which I assume he meant to direct to me in my capacity as Minister for Racing.

A member interjected.

Mr PAKULA: It is. In my view, it is. The fact is whether we are talking about masks, whether we are talking about capacity limits, whether we are talking about PCR testing, rapid antigen testing, potentially one day vaccination passports, saliva testing, all of these things may be part of the suite of measures that event organisers can put forward to the chief health officer and the public health team to try and get their COVID-safe plans approved. That might well be the case at a point where the public health advice tells us that any particular technology, whether it is a vaccination passport or indeed rapid antigen testing, is safe and reliable and useful and efficacious in those circumstances. If we get at any particular point in time, whether it is before the spring carnival, for next year’s AFL season or for the Spring Racing Carnival in 2022, the advice that says that it is reliable, it can be deployed to tens of thousands of people at a short point in time, and if we can be confident—

Mr Walsh interjected.

Mr PAKULA: If we can be confident, I say to the Leader of The Nationals, that it is not going to render false negatives, particularly amongst people who are asymptomatic, and bear in mind it is the asymptomatic people that create the greatest risk because they are the ones who are most likely to be out. If you get that level of comfort, if you get that level of assurance from public health experts, then of course it might well be something that can be deployed. But I would say to the Leader of the Opposition: have a look at some of the experience overseas, in places like Germany, where you have got this rapid testing that has been deployed, where it has been reasonably reliable for very symptomatic people who should not be out, where it has been shown to be very unreliable for asymptomatic people—up to 50 per cent false negatives, where it has created a false sense of security and led to a surge in cases. You would want to be absolutely sure of the efficacy and the reliability of that technology before you rolled it out to tens of thousands of people at a major event and potentially made things worse. So the short answer to the question is: when it is reliable and when the advice is it can be deployed safely and effectively, of course it will be looked at.

Mr M O’BRIEN (Malvern—Leader of the Opposition) (14:17): Minister, rapid testing has already been used this year to enable large crowds at Wimbledon, to enable large crowds at Euro 2020—

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Government Services! The Leader of the Opposition has the call.

Mr M O’BRIEN: I will repeat the question. Rapid testing has already been used—already been rolled out—to enable large crowds at Wimbledon this year and at Euro 2020. Now, it has been reported that the AFL has proposed a plan for rapid testing to allow significant crowds at this year’s finals series. Will the government adopt rapid COVID testing for this year’s AFL finals series to allow more Victorians to enjoy this event?

Mr PAKULA (Keysborough—Minister for Industry Support and Recovery, Minister for Trade, Minister for Business Precincts, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, Minister for Racing) (14:18): The Leader of the Opposition talks about jurisdictions where COVID is rampant. Now, how he believes that that is analogous to the situation we find ourselves in here in Victoria frankly beggars belief. In regard to the AFL finals series—

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr PAKULA: In relation to his question in regard to the AFL finals series, my answer is no different to what it was in answer to his question about the spring carnival. When we have public health advice from experts that says that level of testing can make things better, not worse, when we have advice that it is reliable, that it does not render false negatives and it can be deployed in large numbers quickly at an event of that nature, then of course it will be considered as one of the suite of options to reduce risk and to increase our capacity to have good crowds.