House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-12-03 Daily Xml

Contents

Coronavirus, Parafield Cluster

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (11:43): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier explain why he was able to reveal at a press conference Health advice from a contact tracing interview about the 36-year-old man, but that same Health advice is not able to be provided to the South Australian police?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:43): I think I have answered that. I didn't provide at the press conference any specific details.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: You called him a liar.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Well—I did not provide any specific details, but I was certainly very clear that I had received reports that this person had provided false and misleading information to contact tracers, specifically with regard to how they contracted this illness and their interaction with the Woodville Pizza Bar. I think this was material information that helped frame our response to the Parafield cluster, and I think the people of South Australia deserve to know exactly and precisely what I knew that informed our decision to actually move from a six-day pause or circuit-breaker down to a three-day pause or circuit-breaker.

You might recall that when we received information originally regarding how this person contracted the disease, they provided information that suggested they received it by casual interface with the Woodville Pizza Bar when they came in as a customer. It turned out that in fact this person was a casual employee right alongside other employees, one of whom actually had the coronavirus infection.

This was a material piece of information in framing the response, so I think it was appropriate that I conveyed that information. But, for the reasons I outlined in my previous answer, public health will not be providing specific transcripts of those discussions. The investigation, which is now being concluded by South Australia Police subsequent to them getting the legal advice, shows that they do meet the threshold of evidence which would sustain a successful criminal prosecution.