Government Advertising

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee) (14:59): My question again is to the Premier. Can the Premier advise the house how much the 'massive' taxpayer-funded advertising campaign will cost?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:59): I am not aware of the exact amount, but I am happy to make an inquiry, but what we need to do is to get that message out there and we need to do it in an effective way. A lot of times we use—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Premier please be seated. The member for Kaurna and the Attorney are senior members of this place and they have made substantial contributions. As much as I enjoy at times some of their banter, I am going to ask that they both leave for five minutes and return at crossbench questions.

The honourable members for Kaurna and Bragg having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: Premier.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Thank you very much, sir. I don't have the full details of the cost or the content of the campaign, but I have absolutely every faith in SA Health to make sure that the messages that they are getting out, whether it be on vaccination or other aspects to do with providing confidence to the people of South Australia in our health response, are the right messages for our state.

Of course, we will go out and we will seek to get feedback before we go and spend larger sums of money on a campaign. It's very important that we do so, so we make no apology for that. Those opposite, of course, should make an apology for the very obvious waste of taxpayer dollars promoting themselves and their government, whether it be their failed energy policy under the now member for West Torrens—

The SPEAKER: Premier, pardon me, there is a point of order.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Standing order 98: debate. The question was very specific about how much the 'massive' taxpayer-funded campaign would cost.

The SPEAKER: I will allow the Premier some latitude—he is the Premier—and I ask him to come back to the substance of the question.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: As I was saying, sir, we are more than happy to get details of the campaign content and the campaign budget. I don't have that information with me at the moment, but I do have every single confidence in the leadership of SA Health to make sure that the messages that they are getting out are the messages that are crucial, and some of those messages, of course, are around issues like vaccination. Sometimes we promote the use of the QR code check-in, or the testing arrangements, or the overall capacity of our health system in South Australia. We are doing what is necessary in South Australia to make sure we come through this coronavirus.

We have reduced the number of people who contract this. We have reduced the number of people who are hospitalised, go to ICU, go onto ventilators. I think the statistics, the results, speak for themselves when we look at the number of people who have died in South Australia. As tragic as the four deaths we have had in South Australia are, it pales into insignificance compared with many other jurisdictions. I was very saddened yesterday when I read that in Victoria yesterday not only did they have around 1,500 new infections but they had eight deaths. That is double the number we have had.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: Has the Premier concluded his answer?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Yes.

The SPEAKER: I don't see the need for a point of order, member for Lee, now that the answer has been concluded, but are you asking an additional question?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I am, sir.

The SPEAKER: Well, that may be; however, the member for Davenport has been waiting very patiently.