In a parliamentary committee examining the state’s COVID response, Health boss Dr Chris McGowan yesterday was asked when the public would “be given access to the full updated modelling from the University of Adelaide”.
“I think it is the intention of the Government to make, in general terms, the modelling available,” he replied.
He noted that chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier had released a video “describing the modelling”, adding that it was “not necessarily that accessible to people who aren’t really familiar with these modelling instruments”.
“But there’s a lot of it and it can be pretty technical so it’s not my intention to release the entirety of all the models … on a regular basis,” he said.
“It is our intention to provide, from time to time, particularly the modelling that underpins significant decisions… that modelling would be made public so the community can see the basis on which decisions are based in a totally open and transparent way [but] I don’t think it would be a productive use of anyone’s time to release the full gamut of modelling that we get.”
Committee members were unconvinced, but McGowan insisted releasing the data would not be beneficial “just because there’s a lot of it” and “most people can’t understand it”.
“It usually requires a bit of explanation [and] can be taken out of context,” he said, but conceded: “The community have a right to see the modelling on which key decisions are made.”
Labor MP Ian Hunter argued that while the previous modelling data was released as a 20-page document, the Omicron data was released in more rudimentary terms.
“There’s a very big difference between the two [and] some people would think you might be suppressing detail for not very good reasons,” he said.
“Some people are going to be suspicious about your motivation.”
To which McGowan replied: “If they’re suspicious enough they can FOI it” – meaning people could lodge a Freedom of Information request with his department.
“I’ve got a team of people who are pretty flat out doing a lot of things at the moment – if people want to FOI it they’re welcome to,” he said.
Hunter shot back: “That sounds like a very petulant answer to me.”
“Noted,” McGowan replied.
The Health chief said there was “a lot of” data and “to xjmtzywproduce it all and put it into context would take a lot of our work”.
Hunter argued that SA Health already had FOI requests outstanding for more than a year, saying it “doesn’t fill one with hope”.
In a terse exchange, McGowan said: “You might have missed that we’re managing a global pandemic at the moment [so] that’s not a priority.”
Hunter retaliated: “You might have missed you’re in fact in front of the parliamentary committee on COVID with oversight of your actions.”
