Public Needs Data in Real-Time
Western Victoria MP Bev McArthur used a Constituency Question in the recent Parliamentary sitting to ask the Health Minister to introduce “real-time publicly released data regarding cases” of COVID-19.
When clusters were linked to abattoirs in Western Victoria, residents of those communities had to wait until the daily update in the late afternoon to learn about such outbreaks.
Mrs McArthur said, “If it were not for leaked information to the media and journalistic scoops or local rumour, they would not have known of an outbreak until the Premier’s daily update.”
“The faster the community knows about cases, the faster they are able to change their behaviour and act accordingly. This is particularly important in rural and regional areas where residents may be under the assumption that their area is unaffected.”
"This Government has been noticeably slack in getting information to where it is needed in a timely fashion and that is not only unhelpful but actually, dangerous. It does nothing to instil confidence in the community who, unlike the Government it seems, desperately want to do ‘the right thing’."
Mrs McArthur said that data should be publicly released in real time “by number and locality, so that communities in Western Victoria and across the State are better equipped to respond to case clusters.”
7 August 2020