COVID-19 India

The Hon. G.G. BROCK (Frome) (15:05): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier update the house on any state government type of assistance that may have been offered to the people of India to assist them in combating the pandemic currently happening in that country? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will elaborate further.

Leave granted.

The Hon. G.G. BROCK: Our state is a very multicultural community, and we have seen the media coverage on the plight happening in India with regard to the shortages of oxygen, vaccines and other commodities. My information is that we have roughly 30,000 Indians born in South Australia and a further 34,000 of Indian descent, plus the Indian students.

In my community, we have private people spending their own money to provide equipment and assistance to their fellow countrymen, and they are asking me: what assistance is the state government giving to India?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (15:06): I thank the member for his question. I did provide an extensive ministerial statement on this to the house last week. I am happy to provide the member with a copy of that, and I will also get an update from my department.

As I said last week, we are working with the commonwealth to identify the methodology in terms of sending, in particular, surplus medical supplies to India. Our thoughts are with the Indian community at the moment. They are suffering very significantly at the moment with this very devastating wave of the coronavirus. They have shortages in many areas, but we are working in a coordinated way with the commonwealth to make sure that we can help support the overall coordinated Australian effort.