House of Assembly: Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Contents

Coronavirus

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (14:31): My question is to the Premier. Who has advised the Premier that in terms of our curve we are in front?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:31): I could point the member to the Grattan Institute, which has published only earlier this week, that showed that we had a doubling of infection rates every four days. This put us at a very—

Mr Picton: Really?

The SPEAKER: Member for Kaurna, be quiet!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —good position compared to other jurisdictions. It was previously every five days, and this is one of the reasons why we have effectively closed the borders in South Australia because we could see in recent days an increasing spike with regard to the number of infections that were coming from people who had returned from interstate travel, so this is the reason why we have taken that step.

I would point out to the house, though—again, it is acknowledged by every independent person looking at this—that our data is accurate, that we don't have the delays in the system and, because we are testing more, we are finding more infections. This is not a bad thing. What we need to do is maximise our testing so that we do have a clear and accurate picture on which to base all of our decision-making.

Whilst we can have great confidence in the figures that we are publishing, I don't think that's the case in other jurisdictions around the world. I will leave them to worry about the accuracy of their data. But I am very confident about the accuracy of my data, and I point the member to the Grattan Institute publication, which was only made available earlier this week.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader! Member for Kaurna, I apologise, I am trying to give you another question but the leader is interjecting. Member for Kaurna.