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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-03-24 Daily Xml
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Coronavirus

Dr CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:54): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier explain to South Australia why it is that the medical advice here on keeping schools open is so different from the 138 countries where schools have been closed and different from the countries where schools have been kept open but with a regime of temperature testing and strict hygiene processes?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:54): It is difficult to add any more to the information that I have already provided. Every country is dealing with a different part in the progress of the virus and so it is not useful to compare, for example, what is happening in Italy now with what is happening in Adelaide now. It is just not useful.

What we have relied on is the AHPPC advice and I think this is perfectly reasonable. If the opposition would like to put up another methodology for determining what our position on this should be, then they should do that. I think the Leader of the Opposition was given the opportunity yesterday to state what he would be doing and it wasn't clear to me that he would be doing something different—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Again, this is not the advice of the AHPPC—

Mr Malinauskas: Don't verbal us into something that we are not saying.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I just think people should be calm in this situation.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The reality is that the Leader of the Opposition wasn't suggesting that we move away from the AHPPC advice—maybe he is suggesting now that we do that. That will be up to him to do, but we are very resolute on this side of the house and we have the AHPPC advice coming to us at very regular intervals. As the minister has indicated, this is published and it is available for people to see. People can have a difference of opinion, but we are sticking with the advice that has been provided.

Some countries may be getting different advice. Some countries might have a different situation; they might be in a different season of the year or they may have other reasons for making their decision. We are not in any way having a go at other jurisdictions that make different decisions. We are just outlining to the house how we make our decision here in South Australia and that is in line with the AHPPC advice.

Mr Brown interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Playford is called to order.

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