Today is Doomsday in Western Australia, December 1st the day the 75% workforce vaccine mandate kicks in forcing over 1million people to get vaccinated or go hungry this Christmas.
So, let’s see how that’s working out for the State.
Western Australian Police Force.
49 Police Officers have been stood down for refusing to get vaccinated and 150 officers are being investigated for “refusing to disclose their vaccine status”.
"They'll be visited by our senior officers in their districts and divisions who will then start the process of investigating why they haven't been vaccinated or what their intentions are," - WA Deputy Police Commissioner Gary Driebergs
So that is 200 police officers unable to do their jobs and protect their neighborhoods overnight.
Funnily enough, today the Western Australian Police Force sneakily drastically lowered their fitness requirements. Around a decade ago, the beep test required men to achieve a score of 10.1 and women 7.1.
However, now it is 7.1 for Men and 6.1 for Women.
If you’re wondering just how measly this is, this is the fitness standard for our new Police Officers now.
Candidates need to be able to do one sit-up, 10 push-ups, carry a 35 kilogram bag 20 meters, grip 30 kilograms in each hand, complete an agility test, and record a beep test score of at least 6.1 for women, and 7.1 for men.
The agility tests referred to as the Illinois agility test - which requires candidates to weave through markers - must be completed in 20 seconds (men) or 22 seconds (women). The new benchmark is an increase from 17 seconds and 18.9 seconds in previous years.
For anyone who is unfamiliar with fitness - You’d have to be incredibly unfit to fail this test a Beep test score of 6.1 or 7.1 is almost sedentary, it’s not even a light jog.
My assumption is that the police are strapped short for numbers at the moment and need new members, and will continue to lose members as the “booster mandates” come into play.
Disability Services.
Now, on to our Disability care services who, what do you know…are reporting a loss of between 5 and 10 percent of their staff today.
Carolyn Smith from the United Workers Union said even a small reduction in staff numbers would place significant pressure on the system.
"We are seeing a small group of workers who are either hesitant or completely refusing to have the vaccine, With the National Disability Insurance Scheme, there has been a massive explosion in the number of workers we need in the disability industry.
Providers are already struggling to get enough staff … so losing five to 10 percent is going to have a significant impact on services.
We certainly know of providers who've said they're not taking any more clients at this point in time." she said.
Healthcare System.
The Australian Nursing Federation has said about 500 of its members had already resigned in recent months.
ANF State Secretary Mark Olson said he expects more people to resign.
"Right now, we have nurses who are working 12 and 18 hours shifts … we have nurses having their leave canceled over Christmas and New Year's … there are disasters waiting to happen," he said.
"What I'm saying to the state government is be reasonable, be sensible, and extend the deadline until at least when we open up the border or when we have community cases of COVID-19."
This is exactly what we need over Christmas, a worker shortage of Police, Nurses, and Disability Servies. Totally not a recipe for destruction.
The Western Australian People.
Let’s now see how the people reacted to this.
Over 1000 protestors showed up outside Parliament House today. What else can they do? They’re not allowed to work. As always they were met by a very large number of our remaining Police Force.
Meanwhile, dozens of high-visibility work shirts, hard hats, and work boots have been placed in front of the Karratha office of Labor MP Kevin Michel.
Signs have also been taped to the outside of Mr. Michel's office telling the stories of mining workers who say they were now unemployed because of the mandate.
The “no jab, no job” policy covers an extensive list of occupations, including police, FIFO workers, and community care employees.
Non-compliers face fines of up to $20,000 while for businesses the penalty is five-fold.
On top of this, the W.A Housing market has slowed to a crawl with home values rising just 0.2% compared to the rest of Australia which all rose on average of over 10%, Sydney rising 25.8%. That shouldn’t be a surprise as Sydney’s Premier Dominic Perottet has stuck to his guns and is opening up the State on December 15th.
So, what is Western Australias least favorite clown, Mark McGowan doing?
Well, you see, last night a drunk driver crashed into a light post outside of his Rockingham house.
Police said the woman was the sole occupant of the car and was taken to Rockingham General Hospital where she later returned a blood alcohol reading of more than the legal limit.
There was minor damage to the car and pole. “Investigation into circumstances surrounding the crash is ongoing,” WA Police said.
Police were later forced to confirm the incident was not a threat to the Premier’s safety.
That last statement is very important because you see, Mark McGowan sees it differently. McGowan has gone on record stating that this was an “Anit-Vaxxer” attack, that is what the headlines all read as well, that the Premier was attacked by an “anti-vaxxer” at his home.
But the W.A Police disagree. The incident is still under investigation, the woman was alone in her car late at night driving home after a few too many drinks. Sadly a common scene in the low-socioeconomic suburb that is Rockingham.
So why would Mark McGowan knowingly lie about this? and why would the Media back up his claim?.
I think we all know the answer.