Kangaroo Island COVID Vaccinations

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson) (15:02): My question is to the Premier. Are residents on Kangaroo Island forced to catch a ferry, costing more than $200, to get their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine? With your leave, and the leave of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: The Kangaroo Island vaccination clinic was closed several weeks ago, and around 300 people haven't had their second COVID jabs and are now forced to do a 300-kilometre round trip to Victor Harbor.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (15:02): I thank the member for Mawson for his question. I am very happy to follow that up. I think we did have a pop-up clinic there at one point in time. That hasn't been in place for some weeks now, but I am very happy to follow up that question. We are trying to provide as many different options for people, especially those people who are in more remote parts of our state. Kangaroo Island is a specific case where, of course, there is a ferry trip required or an air flight required to get to and from that island, so I expect that we should have arrangements in place to satisfy those people.

It's our intention to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible, so I am happy to follow up that issue. I know that the people within SA Health who are responsible have been doing an outstanding job in many very remote parts of our state, including using the Royal Flying Doctor Service to go in and conduct the vaccinations. We have also been working with the commonwealth with regard to a rollout using both GPs and pharmacies, but not in every location do we have a GP willing to participate in this or have the facilities or the capacity to do it. Similarly, sometimes it's not ideal for the local pharmacy.

It is important that we provide easy access for people right around our state. We are committed to opening up our state borders when we achieve 80 per cent double-vaccinated for our 16 and over population, but we also don't want to have wide variations between LGAs. We have said—although we haven't set a specific threshold for each of those LGAs as a minimum threshold—we don't want to have, for example, a situation where one LGA is at 25 per cent, another one is at 95 per cent and it averages out overall across the state at 80 per cent. There needs to be a base level of equity, and that means that people need to have access to those vaccination doses.

There have been doses available on Kangaroo Island. I know that from people who have told me about it. It worked very well. I don't have any information on the current status, but I am happy to take that question and follow it up.

The SPEAKER: The member for MacKillop has been patiently waiting.