Emergency Management Act

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:18): My question is, again, to the Premier. Does the Premier consider that his changes to the Emergency Management Act are draconian? With your leave, Mr Speaker, and that of the house I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: FIVEaa presenter David Penberthy this morning said that sources inside the Liberal party room had told him there were tense exchanges about a proposal that was brought forward by the Attorney-General for an extension of emergency powers.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my right! The leader has the call.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: Quoting Mr Penberthy:

…it's been put to me that the extension that has been proposed is more open-ended. One source described it as even being draconian and handing too much power to the state.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:19): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for this question. I was chairing the joint party room yesterday and I was pretty observant as to who was in the room. David Penberthy was not in the room. He has not been elected, and we don't have people—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —who are not elected in that room. So David Penberthy was not in the joint party room yesterday. It is true that we consider making sure that we have the very best legislation and regulation around emergency management, and I think South Australia has done extraordinarily well in terms of managing the global pandemic so far.

It is an interesting situation that we have at the moment because our Emergency Management Act in South Australia generally relates to a very short emergency, usually, for example, something like a bushfire. This has now been an extended period of time. We have had some temporary arrangements in place, and we will continue to consider whether some of those need to be incorporated on a longer term basis.

We will do that in consultation with the joint party room, and ultimately we will bring government policy back to this house for their consideration. Ultimately, for that to prevail, we need to have successful votes in this house and in the Legislative Council. Then, of course, according to the way we govern in South Australia, that ultimately goes to His Excellency the Governor of South Australia, the Hon. Hieu Van Le AC, and he may choose to assent to that bill and bring it into law.