Thread by @SandmanGrant

<thread> Very grateful to @paulscullymp and @RyanPark_Keira for listening and now advocating on this issue. Having received no answer to my specific questions from @BradHazzard, I'd like to suggest some questions Paul and Ryan could direct to the Health Minister at Question Time:

https://twitter.com/paulscullymp/status/1373413803824533508

1. Why is repeated, unmasked cheering and shouting permitted at crowded indoor basketball stadiums, whereas singing inside church buildings is not? (Unless masked & capacity back down to 4m2, leading to turning 50% of worshippers away!)

2. Why are people in Canberra and Queensland allowed to sing in churches without masks or other serious restrictions, but not in NSW?

3. Why are people allowed to sing in schools, without serious restriction, but not in churches?

4. What is the data or peer-reviewed research that shows why community singing is more dangerous than community cheering and shouting indoors, as repeatedly requested?

5. Why can't religious communities could be trusted to use a variety of risk-mitigation measures for indoor singing as recommended by experts?

(See beyond the headline in this research summary at The Conversation theconversation.com/this-video-sho…)

6. Why does NSW Heath seem to rely on the inaccurate and incomplete stereotype that all congregations are made up of predominantly older people?

7. Why are patrons at indoor concerts & pubs singing & cheering along with bands without any serious attempt to stop such activity (for which I am thankful), but churches are told we must severely restrict singing, with masks and vastly reduced capacity?

8. How will you account for the damage to people's mental and spiritual health by prohibiting them from communal singing in places of worship, without clear and compelling risks now that community transmission is negligible? ox.ac.uk/research/choir…

9. How should pastors explain to church members why such differential treatment is not inconsistent and illogical and therefore unjust? How else should it feel to believers than as anti-religious discrimination? (Hopefully inadvertent and not deliberate!)

10. Why could constituents not get direct and straight answers to such questions when repeatedly asked of the NSW Health Minister and his Department? </thread>

Although I regret the need to make such pointed commentary, and continue to pray often for our MPs and public health officials, nevertheless I draw attention this again, @kelfuller, @doctormcdougall, and friends at #973ABC, and also @SydAnglicans!