COVID-19 Quarantine Facilities

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (14:55): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing regarding health.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: SA Health opened tenders last week on Monday, and then closed them on Friday, for regional quarantine facilities that could support Aboriginal communities in which members may struggle to isolate due to COVID-19. When the media questioned the short time frame, it was reported that SA Health had already been in conversations with quarantine providers and scoped out where facilities should be. My questions to the minister are:

1. What is the point of a tender process when the government may have already determined who to provide the contracts to?

2. If a provider had not already been briefed by the government and given a heads up that a tender was coming, can the minister understand that they would feel that procurement processes had been abused because they would not have enough time to submit a formal proposal?

3. Exactly how many tender applications were received?

The PRESIDENT: Before I call the minister, the middle question was getting close to seeking an opinion from the minister, but I am sure the minister will respond to the remainder of the questions.

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:56): I would think it was somewhat bizarre if the opposition felt that after almost two years of a pandemic, considering that we considered more than 100 potential sites for medi-hotels and other quarantine facilities, significant discussions had not taken place with a range of stakeholders in relation to a range of processes.

If the honourable member is suggesting that that process is corrupt, then he is welcome to provide information to the relevant authorities or to me as Minister for Health and I will certainly pursue that matter, but to suggest that somehow, because SA Health has spoken to providers at some indeterminate period, the procurement process is corrupt, I completely reject.

The PRESIDENT: Supplementary, the Hon. Mr Wortley.