We, the undersigned Doctors of Western Australia are ready to move forward. In an imperfect world, we have the perfect conditions to open our borders to our country and the world. We are a 90% double vaxxed population, the vulnerable have been boosted with a third dose, it is summer, we are an obedient and compliant population and we have a weaker variant at the moment in Omicron.

Most importantly, the Premier gave his word on the 5th Feb date. We kept our end of the bargain and he is no longer keeping his. Once you betray the people you lose trust, compliance, obedience, and the willingness to follow direction, as you no longer believe future promises. People have reduced their compliance with getting tested, using QR codes and wearing masks because they were betrayed. This will get worse as indefinite delays continue.

An opening closer to or in winter, with a less compliant population, with potentially a new unknown variant will not give us a better outcome. The report of the CHO failed to model this delay, failed to take into account all other factors a delay would create, and failed to respect the shared mission of the people and government.

Our freedoms matter. Emergency powers are not to be used lightly. We have lost proportionality of response and have ignored the Australian way of life. Family, births, deaths, weddings. celebrations are the things we live for and we are now being unnecessarily denied access.

Business and systems have planned for this date for 2 years. We are as ready as we will ever be, dealing with something that you can never be perfectly ready for. Hospitals have been allowed to employ 25% extra staff to manage COVID on the basis of a Feb 5th opening, and now those staff sit with nothing to do on the taxpayers purse. Our Police force has moved to a mandatory shift work roster and cancelled all transfers for a Feb 5th opening. Now they do nothing differently but are forced into a pattern of work they wouldn’t normally want. Qantas adds staff and fights to prepare for a Feb 5th opening, tens of thousands buy tickets and now all that stops, and staff get stood down again. Businesses won’t engage with WA with this uncertainty and rightly so.

We ask the Premier to stand by his original decision to open on February 5th. We believe the benefits of this to the whole health of our society, our people, our way of life are at stake. They should not be compromised by looking at decisions through the narrow lens of COVID and nothing else.