South Australians urged to embrace tracking app to speed recovery

The Premier, Opposition Leader and SA’s top doc have all renewed calls for South Australians to sign up to a controversial app they say will speed up our exit from coronavirus shutdown.

• Concerns raised about coronavirus app
• Coronavirus tracing app: Why Australians need to know more
• More coverage from over the weekend

South Australians are being urged to sign up to a tracking app for their mobile phones in a bid to see businesses opening earlier and coronavirus restrictions relaxed more swiftly.

Premier Steven Marshall, the State’s chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier and Opposition leader Peter Malinauskas have all backed the app that could be launched as early as today after the National Cabinet meets.

They say it will ensure much quicker response times.

This is because it would create an encrypted digital footprint of where people who are infected have been – and who they may have come into contact with.

This will save time and also give authorities confidence they can relax restrictions earlier, because any clusters will be quickly identified, they say.

It is expected to be the subject of fierce debate in national Cabinet today, with significant concerns raised about privacy issues.

Premier Steven Marshall stressed it was the right move.

“Our goal is for South Australia to have the highest uptake of this app in the country” Mr Marshall told The Advertiser.

“High uptake will help kickstart the economy, there is no doubt of that. But it will also help workers on the front line because it is going to safeguard the community.”

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He said the data was fully encrypted and could only be accessed by the Communicable Disease Control Branch.

Professor Spurrier said it would help all health authorities to “very quickly get hold of people if they’ve been in contact with a known case which protects the individual but it also has a wider community protection as well”.

For the app to work properly, “a large number of us to have it”, she said.

Mr Malinauskas said, despite an instinctive reluctance towards the state monitoring its people, he would be signing up.

“Because this isn’t just about the health of individuals, it is also about doing everything we can to keep the economy open safely and is quickly as possible,” he said.