House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-03-16 Daily Xml

Contents

COVID-19 Vaccination Rollout

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (14:49): My question is to the Premier. Premier, what is the difference between the rollout of the vaccine in South Australia and the rollout in six other states and territories that have had a faster per capita rollout of the vaccine over the past three weeks?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:49): I thank the member for his question. I am not concerned with what happens in other jurisdictions, save when it relates directly to keeping the people of South Australia safe.

We've got an excellent working relationship with the chief medical officers and the chief public health officers in other states and territories around Australia, and we appreciate that cooperative arrangement that we have with them in terms of the data flow that comes into South Australia, but we don't benchmark ourselves against every single part of the way that they operate. We have a very differentiated model here in South Australia. There are things we do at a much higher level.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: With regard to the rollout of the vaccine, we have a different state with different geography. We have a different approach to elements of what we are doing. We were the first state to use the AstraZeneca. This is the first in the country. My interest is not so much in what is happening in other states, other territories, other countries around the world, but in the expert advice that we receive from SA Health here in South Australia. They have done an excellent job keeping the people of South Australia safe since day one, and I expect that to continue well into the future.