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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-03-09 Daily Xml
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Premier's Excellence Awards

The Hon. T.T. NGO (14:56): My question is to the Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector. Can the minister update the council on the Premier's Excellence Awards for the Public Sector in the emergency response category?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:56): I thank the honourable member for his question. I will be most happy to update the chamber on the Premier's Excellence Awards for the Public Sector in relation to the emergency response category. I am very pleased to let the council know the finalists and winners in this very important category that certainly has had increased importance in recent years with the emergency response needed to keep South Australia safe from what was a global pandemic.

It is a relatively new category that has been awarded for the past three years for work keeping the South Australian community safe. This award is given in both individual and group categories. I am advised that the finalists in the category were:

Nan Vasilunas from COVIDKids, a service that uses video technology to provide specialist paediatric care to children in their own homes, avoiding the need to come into hospital;

Mr Andrew Bull from the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, who played a critical role in updating, maintaining and overseeing the state's crucial COVID-19 website while it was active; and

the final nominee and winner of the individual category was Marie Sindarusiba, from the Department of Human Services, who saved the life of one of her clients, who had collapsed with COVID-19, by administering CPR.

In the group category there were a record number of finalists, which only serves to emphasise the scope and impact of the work undertaken by the public sector to keep the South Australian community safe. I am advised that the finalists in the group category were:

the Biosecurity Response Team from PIRSA, which managed and prepared more than 20 varied and complex responses posed by disease risks interstate and overseas;

the State Emergency Service for its immense and coordinated response to the recent flooding of the River Murray and the now ongoing recovery effort;

the State Emergency Centre over the past three years for its key role in coordinating response and recovery to the Cudlee Creek and Kangaroo Island bushfires, COVID-19 and other preparations; and

the final nominee and winner of the group category was the Aboriginal and Vulnerable Community Response and Contact Tracing team from the Flinders and Upper North Local Health Network, having combined successfully to deal with the COVID outbreak in high-risk communities.

I congratulate both the finalists and the winners for their outstanding work in contributing to keep the South Australian community safe and pay tribute to the thousands of people in our public sector who have gone above and beyond, particularly over the last few years, in keeping us all safe.

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