PREMIER Steven Marshall declined to comment on what penalties should be applied for people breaching Covid-19 restrictions.
Earlier this month, South Australia Police said that it was not investigating a Mount Gambier woman, who allegedly contracted the disease well beyond the 70km ‘border bubble’ and returned to the city.
As a result, harsh restrictions on individuals and businesses in the Lower South East were declared by Police Commissioner Grant Stevens.
“That’s a matter for South Australia Police but it is a fine line – a balancing act,” said Mr Marshall when he was visiting Mount Gambier last Saturday.
“We need to get accurate information, we don’t want people lying, so if they think there are massive penalties, in some ways it can be a deterrent and in other ways it can be a deterrent from telling us the truth.
“Our primary goal, with regard to managing a public health emergency is getting accurate information as quickly as possible so that we can reduce risk – in this case we were very fortunate…”
Mr Mashall also directly congratulated the community on its response to the positive case and said the South East was an area of the state which experienced a number of ‘highs and lows’ within recent times.
“I think the Covid positive case created quite a bit of stress within this local area but I have to say thank you to every single person in this area who took that threat seriously and went and had themselves tested,” he said.
