Caleb Bond: SA is currently, by definition, a police state

It’s a handy pandemic catch cry for leaders looking to throw others under a bus but the Premier’s SA Health Christmas crisis this week reveals an obvious weakness, writes Caleb Bond.

We were this week shown a telling insight into how South Australia is being run.

Premier Steven Marshall had already said – quite unequivocally – that SA would be reopened to interstate visitors for Christmas.

No quarantine unless you’ve been to a hotspot.

But then came an extraordinary undermining of that message from SA Health chief executive Dr Chris McGowan, who told a parliamentary committee the exact opposite.

He said he was “not aware of any health advice” that fully vaccinated visitors would be able to avoid quarantine.

Premier Steven Marshall during question time. Picture: Brenton Edwards

SA Health Chief Executive Dr Chris McGowan. Picture: Kelly Barnes

It’s quite a clever way of pouring cold water on the idea – he points to the “health advice” rather than stating an absolute. It’s a tactic political leaders across the country have employed through the pandemic to avoid critical questioning of their decisions.

Always point back to the “health advice” as though all advice comes equal and such advice must be unquestioningly accepted. And in this case, it allowed a public servant to make the Premier look like a fool. Marshall was then forced to reiterate his original announcement and privately give McGowan a deserved kick up the backside.

But how did it come to this?

It is unusual and extraordinary for any public servant, let alone one so senior, to publicly humiliate an elected premier by providing totally different advice in a public forum.

McGowan undoubtedly knew what he was going to say. He knew it would be a headline. And he knew it was out of kilter with what the Premier had previously said because Marshall’s comments were repeated to him. This is, unfortunately, a symptom of how this country – and particularly SA – has come to be run during the pandemic.

Leaders – who we elect to, well, lead – have abrogated vast amounts of responsibility to unelected bureaucrats. Chief health officers, most of whom were completely unknown to the public two years ago, have been given immense power.

SA is still under an emergency declaration which puts Police Commissioner Grant Stevens in charge of the state.

While it may not be operating in the generally accepted sense of the term, SA is currently, by definition, a police state. Marshall has frequently hidden behind that and the all-knowing health advice. Ask anyone who has led the state through the pandemic and you will almost certainly hear chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier mentioned before you hear Marshall. This allows politicians to throw someone else under the bus if things go wrong. Victorian premier Daniel Andrews is fond of doing that to his chief health officer Brett Sutton.

But it also emboldens unelected bureaucrats and public servants to feel as though they have real control of the place.

And to some degree, they do. They certainly have more power than they ever have before. McGowan’s comments sent the state into a flap.

Police commissioner Grant Stevens, chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier and Premier Steven Marshall. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

As Marshall pushes further towards reopening SA to the rest of the country, he will likely encounter more of this kind of pushback.

His challenge is to finally stand up and be a leader. Grow a spine and do what he was elected to do. Politicians are elected to make decisions for the people, on behalf of the people. They are surrounded by public servants and experts who are there to give advice – nothing more, nothing less.

They’re meant to provide advice, not directions. And they are certainly not meant to publicly undermine elected leaders. The Premier’s job is to weigh up that advice against what they think is morally right for the state.

Public servants may have been allowed to take centre stage and call the shots. But without elected officials running the show, you simply have a benevolent dictatorship. Take a hint from new NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, who no longer wheels out CHO Kerry Chant every five minutes.

The growing power and cheek of the public service must be stemmed now. Control of the state must be taken back by the premier – otherwise you may as well do away with parliament altogether.