Peter Gutwein must stop
using the State Controller as a human shield and take responsibility for the
essential worker process.
Shadow Minister for Building
and Construction Jen Butler said the Premier’s comments this afternoon show a
man trying to distance himself from a scandal.
“Peter Gutwein can’t on one
hand be the Premier and front man of the COVID-19 crisis and on the other
pretend the essential worker process is nothing to do with him.
“It’s laughable for him to
say that a consultant needed to be physically present in Tasmania to ‘sign off
on the opening of a hotel’, at a time when stringent border requirements are
supposed to be in place.
“The entire essential worker
process needs to be reviewed, and recalibrated to put Tasmanians first.
“Peter Gutwein handballs
responsibility to the State Controller, who has made it very clear he and his
department are not responsible for workforce capacity testing.
“The Premier of Tasmania should be standing up for Tasmanian jobs, and standing up for public health. That means overseeing a process that means nobody enters the state on a quarantine exemption unless they are genuinely an essential worker.”
Jen Butler
Shadow Minister for Building and Construction
