Coronavirus Restrictions

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:24): Thanks, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier advise what restrictions will be the first to be lifted?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:24): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. As members would be aware, this week we are already lifting restrictions in South Australia. There was a ban put in place for all category 3 and non-urgent category 2 elective surgery in South Australia some weeks ago. This has been essentially lifted, and it will be progressively implemented starting yesterday and continuing for the next two weeks when the national cabinet will again have a chance to review our ability to keep that lifted restriction in place.

This, of course, is a restriction being lifted that many South Australians are very excited about—many people who have been waiting for what might be referred to as non-urgent category 3 or category 2 elective surgery. It is, nonetheless, very inconvenient for those people who are on a waiting list. So we are delighted that we are making some progress there. I would like to thank Dr Chris Bagley, who is chairing the group of health professionals in how we manage that increase in our elective surgery by 25 per cent—so our grateful thanks to him for that.

There are other things that the Chief Public Health Officer and the State Coordinator are continuing to consider. I don't expect there will be any significant lifting of the restrictions in the coming weeks until the national cabinet has a chance to look at that detailed modelling. I would, though, just emphasise again that the restrictions that we have in place are significantly lower than many other jurisdictions across the country.

I was inundated with phone calls and texts on Sunday night saying, 'Queensland are lifting their restrictions and Western Australia are lifting their restrictions. When is South Australia going to follow suit?' So I took a look at what they were actually lifting, and they were lifting restrictions that we had never put in place in South Australia. I think that created a lot of expectation that all of a sudden everything in Queensland or Western Australia would be lifted. In fact, in Queensland you are now allowed to go for a picnic outdoors, which was a liberty that had never been taken away from us here in South Australia.

Likewise, we have been encouraging people to visit the beach, get outside, enjoy our national parks and spend time exercising as long as people do this in a socially distanced or a physically distanced way. I've got to say that I am extraordinarily proud of South Australia. I think every South Australian can feel very proud of the contribution they have made to keeping their fellow citizens safe. It says something about the character of South Australians that we have had the lowest level of restrictions but the highest level of compliance. In other states, we have a situation where the government have moved to ease some of the restrictions, only having to put them back on days later when they don't have that level of compliance that we enjoy here in South Australia.

I genuinely thank the police commissioner, in his role as the State Coordinator, and Dr Nicola Spurrier for her wonderful advice to the police commissioner for the restrictions that they have put in place. I think they have also explained very clearly to the people of South Australia why they need to be in place and, because there is this trust relationship, I think there has been wonderful compliance.

I do, though, look forward to the time when we can start to ease some of the restrictions here in South Australia and get back to the way of life that we enjoyed before coronavirus, but we will be doing that in accordance with the very best expert health advice.