Nick Wakeling, Ferntree Gully MLA

Nick Wakeling, MLA for Ferntree Gully (Lib.), told the Legislative Assembly last Thurs. (Sep. 17) that he is grieving because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Can I just start with the 32-year-old constituent who rang me. She has got a two-year-old child. Her husband is at work.

“Her mother cannot visit her because she is 12 kilometres away,” Mr Wakeling told State Parliament.

“She was in tears, but do not worry, she gets support—because that support is coming from a psychiatrist. She does not want a psychiatrist. She just wants her mother to come and visit her. “But under the rules put in place by this government, her mother cannot visit her.

“To sports: someone from my local sporting organisation was talking to me about an issue and ended up in tears because he found out his 15-year-old son is self-harming because his son is unable to leave the home and play community sport with his friends. That is why I am angry.

“That is why I get angry when I come to this place and I hear laughing and conjecture from those opposite,” Mr Wakeling said.

“ Victorians are angry. Victorians are wanting their government to acknowledge that the failure of hotel quarantine, which led to the second wave, is exactly why we are in this situation today.”