Elder Electorate

Mrs POWER (Elder) (15:34): I rise today to talk about an initiative my team and I have undertaken of late—namely, 5,000 calls to local residents and businesses in just five weeks. I set this challenge for my team and I at the height of the COVID-19 restrictions because it was a significantly challenging time for many people. It was a priority for me as a local member to touch base and speak with as many residents as possible in the face of the global pandemic.

As we have all experienced, the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted our everyday and day-to-day life, so I thought it was important to reach out to people in our local community to ensure that they had the opportunity to voice their questions and have the necessary support and information in an environment that was changing by the day. The 5,000 calls in five weeks challenge, which we not only reached but surpassed, wrapped up earlier this month.

As a member of parliament, I am very fortunate to be able to speak with so many people in our community and so many business owners day in, day out about our community and our state. Obviously, during the five weeks, and in light of the COVID-19 restrictions, that looked a little bit different and so it was done over the phone. It was an intense period of connection. From Hawthorn to Cumberland Park, from Mitchell Park to Clapham and everywhere in between, my team and I heard people's thoughts, their feedback, their questions and their praise, during a time when many people were unable to connect with their loved ones as they normally would.

One thing that was abundantly clear from the many conversations is just how lucky people have felt, how lucky South Australians have felt to live in South Australia. Of course, we know that SA is one of the great states at any time of the century, but certainly in terms of the COVID-19 pandemic we are in one of the safest states in one of the safest countries in the world. I had countless calls with residents who wanted me to pass on their thanks to the government, the Premier and the health authorities for their handling of the crisis.

In the first two weeks of the challenge, we prioritised reaching out to local businesses and the elderly, two groups in our community who were hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions that were put in place to save the lives of many South Australians. Overwhelmingly, many of our senior citizens found the call reassuring, with many grateful for the opportunity to have a chat, given the isolation they found themselves in. They also appreciated our care for their welfare, and many said that they now felt that they could reach out to my office in a different way just because they had already had a chance to chat with us.

For businesses, the calls provided an opportunity for them to raise their concerns about the COVID-19 restrictions and the impact they were having on their businesses and, of course, for them to be able to ask questions around the stimulus packages, which both the state and the federal governments released very quickly in the pandemic to bolster our economy and to support people who were doing it tough.

The final three weeks of the challenge included speaking with people of all ages and professions and people from all suburbs throughout the electorate. It was really a random selection of people in our community, and this melting pot of voices and opinions was a wonderful opportunity to hear about the issues that were most affecting people during this challenging time. For many in our community, our calls provided them with the chance to raise local issues. Some of them talked about the footpaths needing repair or trees they had issues with and, of course, they asked specific questions about the restrictions.

I was really heartened by the number of people who wanted to do the right thing in our community and just needed some of the restrictions explained to them and some clarity so that they could abide by them and do the right thing as a neighbour. Without a doubt, the majority of people were appreciative of the work the government did and continues to do. I was very grateful for their positive feedback, and I would really like to take this opportunity to extend my heartfelt thanks to everybody in our community for doing their part in stopping the spread of the coronavirus. We could not have done this as a government without South Australians coming together.

Obviously, there is still more work to be done. We are doing extremely well in South Australia, but the virus is still out there. We have the challenges of the economic crisis and, no doubt, together we will continue to rise to those challenges. I look forward to continuing to work with and for my community as we progress from here.