Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on behalf of the many South Australians who were left waiting for months and months without an answer from the state government, the Marshall government, about whether they could come home. Over months I was contacted by hundreds of South Aussies stuck on the other side of the border. These South Australians, who, for many valid reasons, had to go to New South Wales or Victoria before the lockdown, did the right thing by applying for permission to return. They expressed their willingness to comply with all the requirements, yet the South Australian authorities kept them waiting for months with no response to their emails or their phone calls. We tried on their behalf; again, there was no response. They were left waiting for months and months. They didn't even have the decency to reply to the applications that these people had put in.

For example, I was contacted by Daniella, who was seven months pregnant, in Sydney. Together with her husband and two-year-old daughter, she wanted to relocate back to Adelaide, where she was born and had a family. They gave an exemption to the husband and not to his wife. How ridiculous! She was a woman who was expecting a baby. They were a couple. They gave an exemption to the husband to come back but not to the wife. They had rented a house in Adelaide. They'd packed up their belongings.

Many South Australians remained stuck on the other side of the border, in Victoria, for months and months, and now we're hearing of more frustrations. People who came last week were given an exemption before the borders were open. Those people are now self-isolating for 14 days. They're not allowed to leave their home. Yet, if you crossed the border from the 23rd onwards you're free and out in the community. It just does not make sense. It's about time the state government, the Marshall Liberal government, in South Australia and Minister Wade answered some questions.

We had over 7,000 people waiting to get their exemptions, with no response and no communication—absolutely nothing. Danielle is another example. She rushed to the snowfields on 24 July, when her ski-instructor son was hospitalised—he'd had a severe accident—and she could not come back with her son. She could not bring him back home, and she had to wait for months. Again, there was no discussion with SA Health. There was no time frame saying, 'You will be looked at in the next week or so.' There was absolutely nothing. You can imagine the frustration of this woman, who had a severely injured son who was in hospital—he ended up in hospital here in Canberra—and had to come back home to Adelaide. There was just no response at all from SA Health. I think it was a debacle and a shambles. I understand that we need safety in place, and rightly so, but they could at least communicate with the people that are applying for exemptions.