State Election

The Hon. C. BONAROS (15:00): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Treasurer, as the Leader of Government Business in this house, a question about the impending state election.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C. BONAROS: Last week, my colleague the Hon. Frank Pangallo revealed that tens of thousands of South Australians may not be able to vote at the March election or the federal election due to the COVID pandemic. This followed a briefing from the Electoral Commissioner, Mr Mick Sherry, and despite calls by SA-Best for both houses of parliament to be urgently recalled, not just this chamber, to address this issue.

Mr Sherry revealed that about 30,000 people are currently in self-isolation in South Australia and, if this figure was repeated in the coming days before the election and after postal vote applications close, he estimated up to 20,000 people eligible to vote would be in isolation and prevented from leaving their homes. This figure also includes thousands of people living on the APY lands, as the region remains closed due to the pandemic, preventing ECSA staff from setting up polling booths there.

My questions to the Treasurer are: what is the government doing to ensure that the estimated 3,000 or so people living on the APY lands will be able to cast their vote at the state election, and what is the government doing to ensure that many hundreds of Indigenous people, many of them currently itinerant due to not being able to return to their home on the APY lands as a result of lockdown, will be able to vote?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (15:01): The honourable member will be delighted to know that the government is looking at hopefully constructive, genuine solutions, not political stunts which are not going to have any practical impact, such as the issue we are about to debate sometime later today or this week, I assume, in relation to trying at this very late stage to implement telephone voting.

The Electoral Commission is in active discussion, as it is the responsible agency for managing the election, to look at all options that will maximise the opportunity for all South Australians who want to vote to be able to vote on election day. The COVID-Ready Committee, on which the Minister for Health and I sit, has discussed this issue on a number of occasions, in relation to various options, and they are being actively canvassed as we speak.

As the Premier indicated only as recently as at this morning's press conference, he is hoping that in the not too distant future the Electoral Commission and/or the government—depending on where the responsibility ultimately rests—will make announcements in relation to maximising the opportunities for South Australians, in a practical way and in a workable way, to be able to vote.

I hasten to say that, as Treasurer, I have made it absolutely clear to the Electoral Commission that, should they require even further supplementation, I have already approved a significant increase in the Electoral Commission budget. I think the Electoral Commissioner himself, or his staff, at one of the parliamentary committees outlined some of the proposed expenditure that we have provided in terms of additional expenditure that is going to be used in terms of trying to make voting as COVID safe as possible.

I have also indicated again that if further resources are required then the government is prepared to provide those further resources. Some of the options have been publicly canvassed already in relation to various options that have been suggested, whether it is drive-through clinics, whether it is greater flexibility in terms of earlier voting, the issue of whether or not it's possible to either have separate booths or have special booths—all of those options, together with many others, I am sure, are being considered by the Electoral Commission, as they have responsibility for managing the election.

I hasten to say that what we are talking about is that anybody who in the early stages is identified as either a close contact or who has isolated will be able to make appropriate arrangements in relation to postal voting or pre-poll voting. We are talking about those in the final days of the campaign who might find themselves being isolated. What that particular number is will be known much closer to the time. No-one can predict at the moment. It wasn't that long ago that the peak number of daily cases was around about 5,600 on one particular day. Yesterday, we were at 1,100 and today we are at 1,290 or 1,280. I think the last few days we have averaged around about 1,200 cases from a peak of 5,600. Pleasingly, hospitalisation is down today to 204, I think it is, from a peak that was well over 300 at one particular stage.

As the Premier, the Minister for Health and others with direct responsibility have highlighted, there has been a pleasing going over the top in terms of the peak and emerging from the other side. There are still challenges, and as everyone highlights we need to continue to do the things that we are being urged to do. But within that context I think it is impossible to say with any precision as to how many people might be impacted in those final days. Whatever that number is, we are going to do all we can, together with the Electoral Commission, to maximise the opportunity for everyone to exercise his or her vote should they want to do so.