Former Covid state co-ordinator Grant Stevens speaks in depth as SA’s Emergency Declaration ends

Grant Stevens has explained why he allowed the Black Lives Matter protest to go ahead – and revealed details of his relationship with Nicola Spurrier.

The former leader of the South Australia’s Covid response Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said he is relieved to share the burden of decision-making in the tail end of the pandemic.

Mr Stevens revoked the state’s Emergency Declaration on Tuesday afternoon after 793 days, meaning decisions regarding the pandemic will now be in the hands of the Premier. Mandatory education mask rules were also scrapped.

Speaking in depth on Wednesday morning, Mr Stevens said he did not regret any decisions he made regarding Covid since 2020.

Police Commissioner Grant Stevens revokes the major Covid-19 Emergency Declaration after 793 days at Government House. Picture: Chris Picton

“Some of those more difficult decisions did weigh heavily on me, and it’s more of a shared responsibility now I suppose that decision-making process sits with the Emergency Management Council (EMC),” Mr Stevens told ABC Radio Adelaide.

“And as much as I'm in a position to provide advice and assist, I don’t have to carry the burden of those really difficult decisions which … had such a massive impact on people, small businesses, families, individuals, none of those decisions were taken lightly.”

Mr Stevens said it was particularly hard enforcing new rules in 2021, when people were experiencing Covid fatigue.

Premier Peter Malinauskas at a press conference in Old Parliament House. Picture : NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

“Standing up and having to tell people that these sorts of changes were necessary and knowing the impact of those changes, things like restricting the number of people who can go to a funeral,” he said.

“Some of these decisions have been difficult but I've had the confidence in knowing that we’ve been acting on the best health advice available.”

He said a key difficult decision was allowing the Black Lives Matter protest to occur in 2020.

“There was a lot of conflict in relation to that decision to allow a protest to occur when people couldn’t go to weddings and funerals and have gatherings and restaurants were heavily restricted,” he said.

“But in hindsight, I think that was the right recision to make because we didn't see the violent protest activity that we saw in other states of Australia and overseas.”

Former Premier Steven Marshall speaking to the media during a press conference at the State Administration building. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

Despite not always agreeing with SA’s chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier, Mr Stevens maintained they had a respectful relationship.

“I probably won’t be having as much contact with Nicola but we’ll still have an ongoing relationship because of the ongoing management of Covid-19,” he said.

“And I think she’s done a fantastic job, people have views about Nicola and there have only been a few occasions when I really haven’t adopted all of her advice in its entirety but it’s been a respectful and positive relationship over the last couple of years.”

Despite scrapping the Emergency Declaration, Mr Stevens said the government could not add more restrictions to law, and if the pandemic escalated, he would step back up as State Co-ordinator.

Grant Stevens at a press conference in Old Parliament House for the scrapping of the Emergency Declaration. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

“The changes that have been made that saw the ending of the declaration, the changes to the Public Health Act are quite restrictive in what decisions can be made, they can really only lighten the restrictions now, they can’t as an EMC impose more restrictions on South Australians, so people should take comfort in that,” he said.

He was looking forward to spending time with family having less responsibility going forward.

“One thing I’m pretty clear of is the need to take my wife on a holiday, she's reminded me a couple of times recently that it’s been a fair while since we’ve had a break from work.”