Coronavirus

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (14:48): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. Will the minister provide a further update on the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:48): I thank the honourable member for his question. Yesterday, I welcomed the opportunity to update the council on the support that South Australia has provided to Victoria to assist in getting their outbreak of COVID-19 under control. In what is the nature of the pandemic, in the 24 hours since, there have been a number of developments in Australia in relation to the pandemic.

Queensland has announced that it will require all Victorians to continue in quarantine, even after the Queensland borders are open to other jurisdictions. New South Wales, which up to this point has had no border controls in relation to Victorians, has announced that they will ban people from Victorian hotspots from visiting the state on pain of an $11,000 fine or six months gaol. This rule also applies to New South Wales residents who visit a Victorian hotspot and return.

Also in the last 24 hours, South Australia has received a request from the Victorian government for more support. Again, South Australia has readily agreed. I am proud of the fact that within 24 hours of that request we have already seen volunteers not only respond to the call but oversubscribe the call. We had more volunteers than we needed to fill the call from Victoria.

This morning it was my privilege, on behalf of the government and the people of South Australia, to farewell a group of South Australian reinforcements for the Victorian COVID-19 response. That was a group of 29 nurses and SAS paramedics, who will be assisting with the testing blitz that is underway in Victoria. This group will be backed up by further volunteers. The expectation is that they will be sent on a rotational basis, with a minimum of one week in Victoria followed by a quarantine period in South Australia of 14 days.

Victoria has also announced that it will not be taking anymore international flights at this time, and South Australia had already declared our willingness to take flights to free up Victorian resources for the hotspot response. We are already receiving flights scheduled to fly to Adelaide. The first regular Malaysia Airlines flight starts from this Saturday, with what I understand will be 90 passengers expected, and there is a regular flight from Singapore that has resumed. Additional scheduled flights that may need to be redirected from Victoria are likely to involve thousands of passengers, and at this stage the commonwealth is working through with the airlines the destination of flights.

For our part, South Australia will continue to monitor the situation in Victoria. The outbreak there requires a double response: first and most importantly, the protection of South Australians from any risk associated with their outbreak. That is why the Premier announced yesterday that we will not be lifting our border restrictions to Victoria on 20 July as previously planned. Secondly, a response of assistance working with Victorians to overcome the challenge and get COVID-19 under control is not just in the interests of our state, it is in the interests of our nation.

Again, I would like to thank and congratulate our front-line staff, who have already responded so generously to this call for assistance from Victoria, and assure South Australians that the government is working to keep them safe as the pandemic progresses.