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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-06-16 Daily Xml
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Coronavirus Restrictions

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (14:25): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is continuing to lift COVID-19 restrictions and supporting the recovery of the South Australian economy?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:25): I thank the member for Heysen for his question with regard to the lifting of restrictions in South Australia. A priority of this government is safely lifting restrictions so that we can return the economy as quickly as possible and create as many jobs as quickly as possible in South Australia.

As members would know, back in March this year we put a very strong border policy in place. We did that very quickly, and that has served our state well in terms of reducing the spread of the coronavirus in our state. We have moved very quickly as a nation to put an international border in place, but we put our own state border in place to stop that spread of infection that was coming across the border. It is now time to gradually and carefully remove that border restriction, as other jurisdictions around the country move to much lower levels of infection.

I have stated right from day one that we don't want to have those state borders in place one day longer than we need to. We have needed to have them in place in the past, but we now, as of Friday last week, have made it clear that we will lift all state borders as of 20 July. This gives plenty of notice to people who want to move interstate or invite people from interstate for business needs, for social needs, for family reunification needs. So we are giving people notice that, as of 20 July, all state border restrictions will be lifted.

What we have announced today following the Transition Committee meeting this morning, which considered further legal advice on this matter, is that we are lifting that requirement for 14 days of self-isolation for citizens coming across the border from the Northern Territory, from Western Australia or from Tasmania. We think this is a movement in the right direction. I do emphasise that this does not mean that those other jurisdictions are bound to lift their restrictions on people going from our state into their jurisdiction, but we have all agreed, as part of the national cabinet, that we will move back to removing state and territory borders.

In fact, as part of our three-stage process, we identified that stage 3 would remove those interstate borders. Stage 3 was going to occur in July for all jurisdictions. We originally chose 3 July as the start date for stage 3. You would note that, as of Friday last week, we brought that forward to 29 June. We have shown a lot of flexibility with regard to the restrictions so far, and when we have cause to be able to bring them forward, that's exactly and precisely what we do.

You would note that today is 21 days that we haven't had a new case in South Australia, and that is something we are very proud of. It can only be done with the full cooperation of the people of South Australia, who have assisted our health professionals and SAPOL in this mighty effort to combat the coronavirus here in our state.

The new arrangements will come into effect as of midnight tonight. I do note that for those people who are already part way through a 14-day isolation, they will be relinquished from that obligation to complete that 14-day obligation. So if they have come from Western Australia, the Northern or Tasmania and they are part way through that 14-day isolation, as of midnight tonight they will not be required to complete that full 14 days of self-isolation.

Two other announcements that come from the Transition Committee this morning: first of all, public assemblies up to 300 will be lawful as of Friday this week, and then also some further clarification around indoor classes. This was an issue where there was a differential set of arrangements compared with other gatherings. What we have decided this morning is that, where there is the current restriction of 10 persons per room in an indoor class abiding by the one person per four square metres, which is the current arrangement, that can be extended to one person per seven square metres, up to a maximum of 20 for fitness classes, yoga classes and dance classes. I know this is something that's going to be very much welcomed by those sectors.

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