Editorial: Support for the hard border should not be mistaken for an endorsement of our health system

Today we reveal how two simple questions expose how West Australians really feel about the current state of affairs regarding WA’s closed borders and the McGowan Government’s pandemic preparedness. The latest People’s Voice Poll was conducted by Painted Dog Research after WA’s reopening was pushed back indefinitely. Its findings highlight the conflicting reactions that people have felt since Premier Mark McGowan’s controversial announcement on Thursday evening. The poll, which surveyed 637 WA residents, asked: “To what extent do you agree the McGowan Government could have done more to prepare WA to open up on February 5?” More than half — 51 per cent — of people agreed more could have been done, including 28 per cent who “strongly agreed”. Only 28 per cent of respondents believed the McGowan Government had fully prepared WA to cope with the inevitable surge in cases once the State borders reopened, while 20 per cent were “neutral”. The second question was: “Do you support Mark McGowan’s decision to delay lifting WA’s hard border?” A majority of West Australians supported the decision to indefinitely delay opening the State, with 71 per cent in favour and 29 per cent against. Interestingly, support for the hard border increased with the age of the respondent, with 64 per cent of 18 to 34-year-olds backing the delay, compared to 72 per cent of those aged 35 to 54 and 79 per cent of over 55s. And younger people aged 18 to 29 were the most likely to believe that the McGowan Government could have done more to prepare WA to open up on February 5 (65 per cent), followed by the 30 to 39 cohort (55 per cent), 40 to 49 (53 per cent), 50 to 59 (41 per cent), 60 to 69 (52 per cent) and the over 70s (37 per cent). When you look at the responses to these big questions together, they confirm what our editorial has said in recent days. West Australians may be relieved the hard border is staying up — but that’s only because they don’t believe the McGowan Government has done enough over the past two years to prepare the health system. Support for the hard border should not be mistaken for an endorsement of our health system. The border is an issue that is dividing us; families, friends, colleagues and professions are split over what they believe is the best way forward to get WA through this pandemic as soon and as safely as possible. But one thing is clear. We should be better prepared. Yesterday a major metropolitan hospital was on Code Yellow because it was struggling to deal with patient numbers — and that’s without a major number of COVID cases in the community. The Premier has enjoyed a long period of positive poll numbers. His landslide election win that decimated the Opposition will go down in folklore. But the fact that just 28 per cent of respondents believe he had done enough to prepare WA to reopen on February 5 should not be forgotten any time soon. Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by WAN Editor-in-Chief Anthony De Ceglie