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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-05-19 Daily Xml
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COVID-19

Ms SAVVAS (Newland) (14:48): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier update the house about COVID management in South Australia?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:48): I thank the member for Newland for her question. I know the member for Newland cares deeply about the health of South Australians and it was certainly one of the things she advocated for passionately in the lead-up to the election, which is utterly consistent with her care for people.

In South Australia today, we have achieved an important milestone when it comes to the management of the pandemic, but it is important to remember that the pandemic still brings with it very severe consequences in our community. As of today, 415 people have died in South Australia with COVID—415 people; that's a big number. Of course, the overwhelming majority of those 415 people have passed away since COVID was let in in November last year.

Just yesterday, five people died with COVID in South Australia. That's a lot. If that happened on our roads, if five people died on our roads in a 24-hour period, it would be on the front page of the paper; it would be the lead item on every news story. But because this tragedy continues to unfold day by day, it becomes, in some respects, less newsworthy. But we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that there are real South Australians losing their lives as a result of this insidious virus, which is why last two years have been such a focal point of public policy making.

In that context, it is important to reflect on the role that we play as parliamentarians when it comes to the management of the pandemic and treating it seriously. When we manage the pandemic and we talk about the pandemic, and we talk about—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Chaffey is warned.

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member is warned!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier has the call.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Premier, please be seated. Member for Chaffey, you can leave the chamber for 15 minutes under 137A.

The honourable member for Chaffey having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: The Premier has the call.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: When we talk about the pandemic, the words that we choose as leaders within our communities matter. We do know that there is a cohort of South Australians who have rallied against health advice. We know that there are cohorts of South Australians who have rallied against vaccination and they race towards sources of information that help validate their view, and in a liberal democracy we should welcome the freedom of speech to be expressed. But when leaders start throwing around words like 'dictator' and 'draconian'—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: When major political—

The Hon. N.F. Cook interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Human Services is called to order. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —parties start sharing tweets from people like Andrew Bogut, who has been a high profile Australian sharing information from people, like Malcolm Roberts, and other elements of the community that aren't necessarily science-based, then something is not right. One of the things that—

Members interjecting:

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

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —has underscored the management of the pandemic in South Australia has been bipartisanship and maturity from all leaders being shown. What we have seen in the last 24 hours is rather inflammatory language being thrown around that seeks to try to appeal to a certain cohort of people who may not be as informed as those who are lucky enough to be in this place. I think that when you see language like 'dictator' used one day and then the next day we see commendation of legislation that was apparently draconian, then we start to see inconsistencies—

Mr GARDNER: Point of order, sir: it offends the standing orders for a member to reflect on a vote of the house taken in the same session, let alone that day.

The SPEAKER: I will keep the point of order—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for West Torrens, unless you are addressing me on a point of order, please remain silent. I will keep the point of order in mind. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Consistency matters. Words that leaders use matter. When we race to the bottom on the hyperinflammatory language that seeks to appeal to a minority of people, people need to ask themselves: do they really care—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr GARDNER: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: I think the Premier's time has expired. If the Premier has ceased his answer, then I will move to another question.

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