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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-04-08 Daily Xml
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Coronavirus, Kangaroo Island

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson) (14:07): My question is again to the Premier. Why hasn't the Premier acted on the call by Kangaroo Island Council to lock down the island because of the COVID-19 pandemic?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:07): I thank the member for his question, and it's a good question. Their call was not to me, and it would have been inappropriate for it to be made to me because I am not the State Coordinator. We have a major emergency declaration in place at the moment and so these decisions and directions are put in place by the State Coordinator, who is, of course, Grant Stevens, the commissioner. I think that they have directed their request respectfully to the State Coordinator and his decision stands.

It doesn't mean to say that we don't look at the evidence that is presented and from time to time revise those directions. Members would be aware that there have been a significant number of directions here in South Australia since the major emergency declaration was put in place. But, taking all the information and the advice from the Chief Public Health Officer here in South Australia, the State Coordinator has not been moved to change the directions with regard to travel to Kangaroo Island.

However, I would say that he has made it very clear that he doesn't want to see an increase in travel to Kangaroo Island or, in fact, to any other part of regional South Australia over these school holidays or, in fact, Easter. He has made that crystal clear, the Chief Public Health Officer in South Australia has made that crystal clear, I have made that crystal clear. We have spent a large sum of money in South Australia running I think a very well-received public campaign advising people of the necessity to stay at home this Easter, to stay at home these the school holidays.

I have been sending through some of the detailed materials that have been produced to those on Kangaroo Island and I have received almost instantaneous messages back thanking the government for what they are doing. It is not a foolproof plan, and I fully accept that it is not a foolproof plan, but we are making best endeavours to send a very strong message that we don't want to see people travelling this Easter.

I think this Easter is going to be very different from any other Easter that any of us have ever experienced. The churches are closed, holidays are off and people are spending time with their family. It is going to be a very different Easter for many families and individuals in South Australia, but what we know is that by working together we are going to save lives in South Australia.

All anybody needs to do to be motivated in this cause is to take a look at some of the scenarios overseas where they haven't been listening to their public health advice, they have been making it up on the run and they now find themselves, in many jurisdictions and many countries around the world, in a very precarious situation. It is heartbreaking to watch the television news services from around the world, and it is heartbreaking to be in South Australia, where we have recorded two deaths in two days.

We now have two deaths recorded in South Australia related to the coronavirus out of 50 that have been recorded nationally, so we can't take this for granted. We do have a very, very low level of community transmission in South Australia. I haven't looked at the figure updated as of this morning, but as of 9 o'clock yesterday morning there were 540 cases around Australia, of which just three were in South Australia. I think that increased to four yesterday at the 4 o'clock update, but I don't know what the national figure was at that point. We are taking this very seriously but, most importantly, what we are doing in South Australia is following that very clear expert advice.

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