Legalise Cannabis WA MP Sophia Moermond has been suspended from state parliament after refusing to disclose her Covid-19 vaccination status.
MPs failing to provide evidence they were double vaccinated by January 31 already faced suspension in the event of a lockdown or similar restrictions.
However, new rules voted through yesterday in response to the spread of the Omicron variant in the community mean lockdowns are no longer needed to trigger suspension.
As a result, Moermond had to leave the Legislative Council chamber.
Moermond and fellow Legalise Cannabis WA MP Dr Brian Walker were the only two upper house MPs to vote against the change, which was passed by a 26-2 margin.
Moermond refused to disclose her vaccination status during the debate, insisting: “I am not a danger to you. And to think I am because you are unaware of my vaccination status is ignorant.”
Labor’s upper house leader Sue Ellery denied the government was personally targeting rival MPs and said it was simply trying to protect people working in parliament.
“Employers across Western Australia have had to adjust their work arrangements to manage the risk based on having the information of which of their employees and customers are vaccinated or have a valid exemption,” she said.
“Parliament House is a workplace for us as members and for the staff. The presiding officers and their managers need to know the status in order to manage the risk.”
After the debate, Moermond used social media to label the move “medical apartheid” and insist it “was not about protecting people, it was a political stunt that flies in the face of our democratic process”.
Her suspension lasts until parliament’s second sitting day after the winter recess.
