Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-03-03 Daily Xml

Contents

Coronavirus

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (14:37): Supplementary.

The PRESIDENT: I will be interested to hear your supplementary. I thought that was a reasonably comprehensive answer.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: Sorry, I wasn't sure if you were being humorous, Mr President. I should have known that you weren't, Mr President, given this is a very serious topic. Will the South Australian government stockpiles of necessary medicines, supplies and equipment, which the minister has assured are sufficient in the event of a pandemic, be available for general practice and aged-care sectors?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:38): The fact of the matter is that the government works across domains: federal, state and local government, to protect public health, particularly at times like these. We have certainly had discussions with the GP community about responding to the coronavirus. We will continue to work with them. Let me stress—and, in fact, I believe the member misquoted me in reading back—I made it clear: we will have challenges meeting some supply issues, depending on the scenarios, but it serves no purpose with members opposite trying to spread the politics of fear in the face of a very serious public health challenge.