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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-03-16 Daily Xml
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Question Time

COVID-19 Vaccination Rollout

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (14:26): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing regarding vaccinations. In terms of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands, is it the state government or the commonwealth that's in charge of the rollout, and in particular who has operational control on the ground? Can the minister outline for the chamber the plans for COVID-19 vaccinations in Aboriginal communities around South Australia, particularly those communities that were subject to federal biosecurity lockdowns last year?

The Hon. S.G. Wade: Would you mind repeating the last sentence?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: As well as who exactly has operational control of the vaccination program on the APY lands, also—

The Hon. S.G. Wade: Sorry, you said something about lockdowns.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: Yes, what's the plan for the vaccination rollout in Aboriginal communities, particularly those that were subject to federal biosecurity lockdowns last year?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:27): If I could start with the last point first, my understanding is there are no commonwealth biosecurity arrangements in place in relation to any Australian community, whether that be Aboriginal or Torres Strait. In terms of our plan for coronavirus in the APY lands, during the early stages of the COVID pandemic, Nganampa, Tullawon and Maralinga Tjarutja made approaches to me and the Hon. Greg Hunt requesting the Australian Defence Force be called in to provide support on the APY lands during the pandemic.

There was cooperative work done across the different jurisdictions because this is obviously an area that involves South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Planning has continued, particularly in partnership with Nganampa because obviously the APY lands are some of our most vulnerable communities. SA Health is progressing the development of an Aboriginal-specific vaccination campaign, Stay Strong, Get Vaccinated. This builds on the themes of the Stop the Spread, Stay Strong campaign and information gathered through a survey that was undertaken in late 2020.

The planning and scheduling of the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine on the APY lands will be developed in partnership with Nganampa Health Council, as they have registered to deliver the vaccine. The COVID-19 vaccination will be offered to all of the community on the APY lands as part of the vaccination rollout.

In terms of responsibility, I suspect it is shared. First of all, the commonwealth has a national plan for the pandemic in relation to Aboriginal communities. We certainly have been working closely with Nganampa in terms of both the pandemic response and the vaccine response, and the commonwealth has specifically sought to engage Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations in the vaccination program.

Earlier today, I was part of a meeting where we received an update on the engagement of Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations. I seem to recall that we were advised that the Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations received their onboarding kits last week. The GPs, of course, received their onboarding kits a couple of weeks ago. We certainly stand ready to continue the partnership with Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations in the vaccination phase of the pandemic, just as we did in the earlier outbreak phase.

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