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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-11-16 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

COVID-Ready Road Map

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (16:00): Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, South Australians have worked together well. We have been united in terms of facing this pandemic and, as the opposition, we have played our role in being constructive and putting suggestions forward. One of the first suggestions that was put forward was actually by the Leader of the Opposition, and it was to close the state's borders at that time—

Dr Close: Which he didn't want to do, did he?

Mr PICTON: —that's right—which was then taken up by the Premier and the government and we appreciate that. That proposal, which was put forward by the Leader of the Opposition, has proved to be very successful for our state in keeping COVID out of our state for the past 20 months. However, we are about to enter a new stage, where the government has decided to open the borders one week from today.

What we have been encouraging the government to do is to be clear with the people of South Australia, to give people time to understand what the rules are going to be and to provide rules that are going to be comprehensible and can be followed by businesses and the community once that happens. Unfortunately, the government have left it to the last minute—a week before—to start telling people what the situation is going to be, and unfortunately there are a lot of contradictions in what has been put out so far and a lot of information that still has not been put out.

For instance, yesterday at their press conference the government gave a piece of information that outlined who would be a close contact and would have to isolate for seven days. They said this would be a person who has had 'face to face contact with a COVID-19 case' and there is a reasonable risk of transmission. They said this would include somebody who had 15 minutes of contact. That has now been removed from that document that is on the website.

It is very different from what was given to the press conference yesterday because there was another document that was put out, called 'Assessing and managing the risk: COVID exposures in general businesses and venues', which was a very different document and flowchart of information and which did outline that there were a whole range of scenarios in which people could be close contacts and could have to isolate if their contact had been just one minute, not 15 minutes as had been originally said by the government in the document they provided. So, if one person is not wearing a mask and you are within a metre and a half, or you are within a space that is 100 square metres or less, that person would have to isolate even if they are vaccinated.

We also found out that in that document it said, 'A separate guidance document is available for,' and it then outlined a whole series of industries where separate guidance will be available. Unfortunately, none of that guidance is available yet. What seems apparent is that the government are trickling this news out over the course of this week to distract from their other disaster going on, in terms of the conduct of the Attorney-General, rather than giving people as much notice as possible. This includes critical services. This includes community healthcare services—

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Member for Kaurna, there is a point of order.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: The member is imputing improper motive and was making reflections on other members.

The SPEAKER: I am listening carefully. It is a grievance debate.

Mr PICTON: For essential businesses, such as transport and freight, supermarkets, public transport, construction and trade—all these—this document says there is a separate guidance document available, but it is not actually available. No-one can get access to these documents. The government should release these documents now so people have proper guidance for exactly what is going to happen when the borders open.

It has also become apparent to people that there is quite a lot that businesses are going to have to do in terms of completing contact tracing spreadsheets themselves, providing information in terms of members of the public their staff have had interactions with. If that is going to be the requirement for businesses, additional support needs to be provided to people.

Another thing we found out today that the government has had and has not released is that the education minister said that he has had a desktop ventilation review he has apparently had for weeks.

Dr Close: Where's the result?

Mr PICTON: Well, let's see that result. Let's make sure that everybody in South Australia can see the result of that ventilation report.

Dr Close: Something that every parent would want to know.

Mr PICTON: Exactly. There is no reason why that could not be released. We have been calling for weeks, and the member for Wright has been calling for parents to be updated in relation to this information for a number of weeks now. We have not seen that information.

There is no information in terms of if any compensation is going to be available for businesses or for employees who have to be isolated under this new regime that is going to be in place when the borders open. We do not even have a copy of the COVID bill yet to extend the powers which are due to expire in 15 days' time. There is not much sitting time between now and then.

Members interjecting:

Mr PICTON: They may well be. There may well be more. But we do not see a copy of that legislation for the parliament to properly consider and debate.

The cross-border communities, importantly, have no information in terms of what the arrangements are going to be for them. They currently have a border bubble, where they are able to go back and forth. Is that going to be continuation in place, or are people going to have to do testing, as has been suggested, for crossing the border, to go back and forth? Everybody who lives on the border has put up with a lot and they deserve to see that decision, in terms of what the specific directions are going to be, well in advance of time.

We still do not have clarification if the Melbourne LGA and the Sydney LGA, where there is apparently a data issue from 2019 data being incorrect, are going to force people from those areas to quarantine. There is a lot of information that does need to be given to the public of South Australia. We encourage the government to do that as fast as possible and not leave people until the last minute to find out that vital information.

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