Three weeks after WA Premier Mark McGowan shocked the state by delaying the February 5 border opening, and West Australians are still in the dark on when a semblance of freedom might return.

Which makes Mr McGowan’s decision to grant AFLW teams special exemptions to travel into and out of WA all the more staggering, given the state’s strict restrictions

Gareth Parker told his 6PR Breakfast audience the special rules and exemptions for the AFL made sense in the first and second years of the pandemic, when they were trying to save the jobs of people and vaccination rates were low.

“Now I don’t know about you but I was surprised yesterday to learn footy is again getting a special deal,” he told listeners.

“I love footy as much as anyone. I’ve played it, I’ve umpired it, I’ve coached it, I’m a member of a club, I pay to watch it on TV, I pay to go to games, and I’ve been a football fan my whole life.

“But this has got to stop.

“It is staggering that the WA government are happy to go into a third year of a special deal for footy, when ordinary citizens don’t have the same right to free movement around their own country and our vaccination rates are so high.

“I’m shocked that the government is about to continue with a special arrangement that’s denied to the rest of us, and I cannot accept that for a third year in a row these special rules are reasonable when the rights of so many are curtailed.

“It’s time to apply one rule for all travellers into and out of this state and it should be a rule that allows all businesses to flourish … and for families to reunite.”

Tap PLAY below to hear Parker’s full take on the football decision.