Coronavirus

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (14:25): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier update the house on South Australia's world-leading response to COVID-19?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:25): I thank the member for Newland for his excellent question. He is interested in the state government's response. To date, it has fallen into two key areas: the immediate health response and then, of course, the immediate and ongoing economic response. South Australia, right from day one, has been extraordinarily well served by the health professionals we have within SA Health, SA Pathology and the Communicable Disease Control Branch. We are also extraordinarily well led by the health department more broadly in Dr Chris McGowan, the chief executive of that department, and of course, the minister the Hon. Stephen Wade.

Right from day one we have shown innovation and unmatched agility in terms of our response to the coronavirus. While many other jurisdictions in the world may have been sitting on their hands or on the back foot trying to recover with the immediate health requirements, we have been thinking in advance of time about the types of things that we would need to put in place as quickly as possible.

One of the areas where we have unequivocally led the world is in the area of pathology. I would like to put on the public record my very grateful thanks to Dr Tom Dodd, the clinical lead for SA Pathology, for the world-leading work that he did making sure that coronavirus tests were done when all respiratory swabs were taken. This put us in an extraordinarily good situation. He then rolled out the drive-through COVID-19 testing facilities. We now have more and more of those coming online and they have been taken up right across the world.

That innovation is occurring right here in South Australia and we should all be extraordinarily grateful for the work that he has done, as well as the great work that Dr Louise Flood, head of the Communicable Disease Control Branch, has done and, of course, Professor Nicola Spurrier and her team of deputy chief public health officers for the great work that they have done keeping the people of South Australia safe and strong. They have worked with the police commissioner, the Transition Committee and, most importantly, with the people of our state. It has been a real partnership.

Somebody eventually will write a paper on why it has been that we have had the lowest level restrictions and the highest level of compliance. I think it is because there has been an amazing partnership with the people of our state. I commend all those health professionals who have worked hand in hand with the police commissioner as the State Coordinator and the government during this major emergency declaration.

In terms of our economic response, we also have been leading the way. We got on the front foot on day one, being the first jurisdiction in the country to put our stimulus package out. In fact, we did that right back in March—$350 million. To remind you, it included key items like bushfire response and recovery expenditure and roads infrastructure, whether it be the $15 million going to the Heysen Tunnels refit, the $12 million to the regional north-south freight route project, the $6 million for capping of the Adventure Way and the Innamincka Airport, which I know is very well regarded.

There was a $52 million package for regional road networks, with works on the Stuart Highway, the Dukes Highway, the Riddoch Highway and the Yorke Highway. There was $59.5 million for road safety improvements, including Long Valley Road between Mount Barker and Strathalbyn, the South Eastern Freeway (I drove through the works being done there on the weekend) and other key regional projects.

We also put another $70 million into the Economic and Business Growth Fund. We invested very significantly and will continue to invest very significantly in projects to do with nature-based tourism which have an economic stimulus component and also a legacy component to drive regional tourism in South Australia.

We've worked with the local government for projects through the Planning and Development Fund—country health facilities have had significant upgrades, social housing and grassroots sporting facilities—then, of course on top of that, a $650 million package which included a massive $190 million worth of $10,000 grants to small business in South Australia plus many other opportunities to stimulate and support the businesses that are doing it tough.

There is still a long way to go. There is still an extraordinarily long way to go. We are not going to be out of this pandemic in the next month, in the next three months. We are not going to be out of it by the end of the year. It is going to be with us for some time, but we will always be supporting those businesses that are finding themselves in a difficult situation in South Australia.