Motions

State Government Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Debate resumed.

The Hon. S.J.R. PATTERSON (Morphett—Minister for Trade and Investment) (11:58): I rise to speak on this important topic. If I cast my mind back to the early days of the pandemic in March, I remember that my kids were at a football training session for the under 13s at Glenelg Football Club. The under 13s of course draw students from many of the local schools and Sacred Heart was amongst those schools.

Unfortunately, just that very week, as we watched COVID make its way through the world, it finally arrived in Australia and in South Australia. Unfortunately, one of the parents at that school contracted COVID, which of course caused their children and that year level to be immediately quarantined. Some of those students were due to conduct that training session, so the training session was called off. That really brought it home.

I remember talking to parents at the time. There was the realisation that this was going to affect South Australia. At that stage, everyone had very real fears. We had seen what had happened in China, we had seen what had happened in Italy, we had seen what was happening in New York. There was a great deal of fear right from the outset.

As a government, we took the advice of the health experts and have continued to do so the whole way through. All of us here who have spoken to this motion have expressed our genuine thanks not only to all those frontline health professionals here in South Australia but also to all other people on the frontline. In the case of the school I spoke of, the teachers themselves were also uncertain at the time. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.