COVID-19 Vaccine

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (14:24): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier please update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is securing greater community confidence, particularly through the successful rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:24): I thank the member for Newland for his excellent question. As a former research scientist at the University of Adelaide, in fact a postdoctoral research scientist, he knows all about how important it is to have a very successful vaccination program here in South Australia. We thank him for his work prior to coming to this house, and I think it shows the diversity and the strength and the depth of the team on our side of the house.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens will cease interjecting.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The people of South Australia have worked shoulder to shoulder to fight this pandemic, and now—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —we are basically rolling up our sleeves and having the first jabs in what will be a very, very important next 12 months for our state. The COVID recovery efforts are going extraordinarily well. As I reported to this house yesterday, that is now starting to be reflected in business confidence and also consumer confidence. In fact, what we know is that business confidence in South Australia is currently the highest that it's been for 15 years—a 15-year high in terms of business confidence.

Many other parts of the world are struggling with the coronavirus; in fact, their business confidence is the lowest it's been for 15 years, 20 years, or maybe 100 years, but because we have done well with the coronavirus this has essentially got our business confidence high. What we also know is that our consumer confidence is at a high of more than a decade. This is great because as people feel more confident, some of the savings that have been accumulated over the pandemic period so far will be basically pushed back into the economy, creating a further wave of economic activity in our state.

Last week was an historic week for our state with a rollout, the start of the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, which will be, as I have said previously in this house, the biggest peacetime logistical exercise in the history of our nation. In line with the expert medical advice and following approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration, the first doses of the vaccine have already been administered by the Royal Adelaide Hospital and the Flinders Medical Centre clinics which have been set up.

Currently, many thousands of those people who are on the frontline and also those people who are living in our residential aged-care facilities and also for people who are in a disability facility, they have had their first doses, and this is very, very important. The message on this one is very, very clear: it is safe, it's effective and, importantly, we know that it is both free and voluntary. But it is absolutely necessary for us to make sure that this is a very successful rollout of the vaccine.

As the Chief Public Health Officer, Professor Nicola Spurrier, said, the safe and effective vaccines will enable us to take the COVID-19 fight to another level. They will be a game changer in our response and will increase our confidence, and that is exactly and precisely what is going to happen.

What we do know is that yesterday we received another freezer out at the Lyell McEwin Hospital. This will actually be able to host 180,000 doses, which will again be very, very important. We know that the third clinic is now opening its doors at the Women's and Children's Hospital here in South Australia, and today we are expecting into South Australia the arrival of 20,000 doses of the vaccine, strengthening our ability to continue to vaccinate our frontline health and quarantine workers.

We have had questions also about what's happening in regional South Australia. We are setting up vaccination hubs, which we have already announced, at the Riverland General Hospital in Berri, the Mount Gambier hospital, the Whyalla Hospital, the Port Pirie hospital, the Port Augusta Hospital, and they will run clinics out from there. My strong message to all South Australians is: get vaccinated when it's your turn, to help build a fantastic and strong response to the COVID-19 pandemic here in South Australia.