Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-05-14 Daily Xml

Contents

Influenza Vaccinations

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (14:51): A further supplementary arising from the original answer where the minister talked about capped distributions: if the minister is now conceding that distributions were capped, has he been not entirely truthful when he said there has been no shortage?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:52): This is just more misrepresentation by the honourable member and his confrères. For example, I said—this is on 30 April in response to questions from the Hon. Ms Bourke where she was putting forward a very scurrilous suggestion that public health clinicians were stockpiling vaccines and therefore putting public safety at risk. She asked a question in relation to supplies to GPs. I said:

I don't know the detailed circumstances of the order but I can only presume that the order was being fulfilled in a way that public health clinicians believed would provide all service providers access in the early stages…the first two weeks of the distribution.

I am being consistent to this house that I am going to rely on public health clinicians to manage our distributions. I am not going to engage in the shallow assertions of the Hon. Ms Bourke and others that my public health clinicians are stockpiling vaccines and putting the public health of South Australians at risk. I think that is a scurrilous accusation. I could understand it from shallow, youthful members of this council, but to get that sort of twaddle from a former health minister in the other place and a former assistant health minister in the other place I think is shameful.