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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-06-08 Daily Xml
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COVID-19 Quarantine Facilities

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:15): My question is again to the Premier. Does the Premier believe that Jane Halton, a member of the Prime Minister's National COVID-19 Coordination Commission, is pushing fear and division by supporting the construction of a dedicated quarantine facility? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: Last night on the ABC's 7.30 Report, Ms Halton said, 'Certainly the new announced facility in Victoria is a really good idea.'

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:15): I didn't see the comments by Ms Halton, but I am familiar with her work because she was the one who provided the independent assessment of the hotel quarantine capacity that we had in Australia. I don't think that there is anybody who says we don't welcome additional hotel quarantine capacity in Victoria. What we are not talking about and what the Victorian government is not talking about is closing down the existing capacity and transferring it to a new facility.

I'm not quite sure why the Leader of the Opposition and his office haven't been following this matter. It has been very clear, and it was canvassed—

Members interjecting:

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

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —extensively in the media on Friday morning. It was discussed further in national cabinet Friday morning.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Mawson!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The Prime Minister spoke about it on Friday afternoon and it has been extensively covered in the media ever since. Even somebody with a modest intellectual level, with a cursory glance at all the information, would be able to determine very clearly that what the Prime Minister is offering is for additional capacity. So either the Leader of the Opposition is not following the logic of the conversation so far or he is conflating a couple of issues for his own purposes, but the reality is—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —what he is proposing is not something which is on offer. I personally am of the opinion that the medi-hotel arrangements in Australia have served us well. We have brought back well in excess of—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Deputy Premier!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We have brought back well in excess now of 330,000 Australian citizens through our hotel quarantine arrangements. In that time, with 330,000-plus people coming back through our hotel quarantine arrangements, there have been transmissions within that environment totalling 21. This is by far and away the most robust—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —arrangement that exists anywhere in the world. There are those opposite who think that for some reason this disease knows which postcode it's in at the time. We personally are of the opinion that just transferring the hotel quarantine to—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —a new facility, which may not be in the CBD, doesn't, in and of itself, actually reduce the risk of transmission. What we need to be doing is understanding and constantly looking at the reasons as to why these transmissions occur and then identifying those risks and mitigating against those risks. That's precisely what's happened. We have an excellent focus within SA Health and within SA Police in monitoring our hotel quarantine arrangements. I think we are still the only place in Australia which has a dedicated facility for those people who are COVID positive.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader will cease interjecting.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: And, of course, we are devastated by the recent situation that occurred where we can now see from a genomic linkage that the person who started this current wave in Victoria was linked to a patient who was here in South Australia. We have not been able to determine exactly and precisely how that occurred.

We quarantine people for 14 days, but we know that some people develop symptoms beyond that 14 days. We know that these two people were on the same flight together. There is no conclusive evidence to suggest that it definitely happened in that hotel. It is very likely to have, but we don't have that information. What I can assure this house of is that we have looked very, very carefully at the CCTV footage. There has been no obvious breach but, at the same time, we continuously look for ways to improve the security of the hotel quarantine arrangements here in South Australia.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the leader, I call to order the member for Schubert, the member for Mawson, the member for Wright, the member for Kaurna, the member for Lee and the Deputy Premier. I warn the member for West Torrens and I call to order the leader.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

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