COVID-19 Vaccination Rollout

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (14:24): Supplementary question to the Premier: is the Premier not aware of any issues in the vaccine rollout to date?

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education seeks the call.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Education.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Hurtle Vale, the member for Lee!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The minister might resume his seat for a moment.

Mr Knoll interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert! The Minister for Education has the call.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education) (14:24): The member asks if we are aware of any issues related to the vaccine rollout. I'm aware that the South Australian Labor Party launched their vaccine policy two days before they were briefed by SA Health on the vaccine rollout. I am aware that there are others in the community—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee will cease interjecting. The minister has the call.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Sir, the question was open—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is warned.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: The question was about vaccines. This is a very important issue for the people of South Australia—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: That's not answering.

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is warned for a second time.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: —and for the government. I think that it is important for the people of South Australia too. If anybody chooses to take an opportunity to shout across the chamber during an answer on this, then I think it does draw into question whether it's in fact something they are interested in. I put that out only as a hypothetical, obviously.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: One of the key issues that I am aware of is that the South Australian Labor Party, despite their alleged intention to support the government and to support our public health officers in the public health advice delivery that this government has chosen to deliver, decided to announce a vaccine policy prior to having been briefed by SA Health. One of the issues I am aware of—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: I was asked about a broad range of things.

The SPEAKER: The minister will resume his seat. The member for West Torrens rises on a point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Sir, the minister should not be engaging in debate in his answers and—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my right!

The Hon. S.S. Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Premier is called to order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens will resume his seat. The member for West Torrens has the call. The member for West Torrens rises on a point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The minister is engaging in debate in his answer and, again, sir, standing order 127: he was imputing improper motives to the opposition and making personal reflections on members. I ask that he get back to the substance of the question, and maybe spend a dollar and buy the paper.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: There's no need. There's no point of order. The minister has the call.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: I thank the Speaker for this opportunity. There are of course others in the community who are seeking to undermine confidence in the vaccines themselves and that is an issue which obviously public health officers are working on. Indeed, as the government and our public health officers seek to respond to misinformation that's in the community, I think it's very—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Sorry; to be clear, I am talking about misinformation about whether vaccines are safe. If anyone opposite has a problem with that statement, then I encourage them to reflect very seriously—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: —on what they are saying—

Mr Brown interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Playford is warned.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: —about what is an important public health message. It is important that we reinforce the message that the vaccines on offer have been through all of the TGA processes. They are safe, they are effective, they are free, they are not mandatory. There are those in the community who put out misinformation saying otherwise. It's been in letterboxes. I'm not saying it's the Labor Party. But if anyone in the Labor Party seriously thinks that interjecting on something like this, trying to undermine confidence in the vaccine rollout, is helping, then they need to have a really good hard look at themselves. The state government's approach, by contrast, is to work closely—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for West Torrens is called to order and warned.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Infrastructure and Transport is called to order. The member for West Torrens is called to order and warned. It is contrary to practice to display a prop in the house. That's as I perceive the purpose to which the use of the newspaper was put.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my right! The Minister for Education has the call.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Once again, I was asked if we were aware of any issues. To be clear, the government's approach to the vaccine rollout is to follow the advice of our public health officers, to work hand in glove with the commonwealth government and other jurisdictions, to work with organisations that are rolling it out—funded by the commonwealth—such as the Nganampa Health Council, to provide support to that national public health message—

Ms Cook interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hurtle Vale!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: —bolstered by public health messaging from South Australia with a clear and intentional message to make sure the people of South Australia know that, while they will be notified when their cohort of the population is in the cohort appropriate for vaccines as the rollout continues, it is safe, it is effective, it is free, it is not mandatory. Those who put material in letterboxes undermining confidence in the vaccine are not helping. Those who are undermining messages like the public health messages, like those opposite are, are also not helping.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!