Coronavirus

Mr BOYER (Wright) (15:23): I am appreciative of my first real opportunity to speak of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has affected residents in the area that I represent in this place. Even now, months into this pandemic and our response, I think the enormity of its impact is only just beginning to dawn on us. Its ripple effects are certainly like nothing else that I have seen in my lifetime and possibly nothing that we have seen for generations or ever before.

When trying to characterise the ongoing significance of COVID-19 for this speech, I was contemplating whether or not, in my relatively short 39 years, I had lived through an event that others would consider to be an epoch in time—in layman's terms, a significant, defined period in history that stands apart from others. I guess, in some respects, the changes to how we lived and travelled internationally post September 11 may have been considered an epoch by many, although I think for the most part our lives returned to normal after that event, albeit with some permanent changes to airport security and things like that.

I think COVID-19 may well usher in permanent changes in other areas of our lives that none of us could have reasonably foreseen. The requirement that we will all continue to consider what actions are essential or non-essential on a daily basis will no doubt have consequences for how people work and live well into the future, as no doubt it will influence the way many of those industries and sectors that have been worst affected by this pandemic seek to operate into the future and insulate themselves from a potential second round—hopefully, this does not happen—or another bout of COVID-19 or something similar.

So much about COVID-19 was new to us. It was a challenge that had to be met with unorthodox measures, which have tested the social fabric of all our communities in ways that we could never have anticipated. Ultimately, the way we have stood together to withstand this pandemic really relied on some of the most old-fashioned methods known to us. With the exception of the very heavy reliance that we have had on modern technology to keep in touch with each other through this—things like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, FaceTime or whatever it might be—what I have learned from the many calls I have made to residents in the north and north-eastern suburbs is that people weathered this or are weathering this by retreating to their family unit, whatever that might look like for them.

I lost count of the number of times I was told when making calls that people were doing okay, no doubt much better than other people, and that I should call those people because surely there were others in the community who needed more assistance than they did. Within our microcommunities, our immediate neighbours and our family group, people were looking out for each other. People were regularly checking in with each other to inquire about their health, maybe making sure that their elderly neighbour was getting access to the essentials.

Overwhelmingly, what I feel now as we start to come through at least the immediate first response, as a member of parliament who is fortunate enough to represent those people, is an incredible and overwhelming sense of pride. I am proud of how resilient our community has been in the face of what I know has felt many times like overwhelming adversity and proud of the generosity that has been shown to those who have borne the brunt of the devastating impact of COVID-19.

So often, it is the little unheralded things that really make a difference. Some examples are things like school staff who were asked to remain on the front line and in classrooms when many other professions and workers were asked to work from home who have purchased huge coffee orders from local cafes that were struggling financially due to the restrictions. It is things like people taking on extra volunteering roles to help keep vital organisations and charities operational, even after they lost a lot of their regular volunteering staff to self-isolation.

It is things like chalk art on footpaths and teddy bears in windows, which served a really important purpose to distract kids too young to understand what was happening from the otherwise frightening reality of the situation their parents faced. Before I conclude, I would like to make special mention of the older residents of our community. The older residents, who we have heard time and time again are vulnerable and need looking after, through this crisis have actually reminded us all of how incredibly resilient they are.

Although it is true that we must keep them in our thoughts and do whatever we can to make sure they are not exposed to the virus, we should all acknowledge that our senior citizens have been stoic throughout this pandemic. It was not older South Australians fighting over toilet paper in the supermarket aisles. It was not older South Australians hoarding groceries and other essentials. Older South Australians followed the rules, kept calm and carried on, and for that they deserve our thanks.