South Australia's Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier has rejected rumours of tensions with Premier Steven Marshall during the current surge in COVID-19 cases and scoffed at suggestions she threatened to quit.
Fronting a media conference for the first time this week, Professor Spurrier said she continued to have a good relationship with the premier.
"I did hear these rumours. I get on extremely well with the premier, had dinner at his house a couple of weeks ago," she told reporters on Friday.
"We spend a lot of time talking, we need to be on the same wavelength.
"We've worked extremely well here in South Australia as a team."
Asked specifically if she threatened to resign after a late December phone hook-up with other senior SA Health staff she said: "why would I threaten to resign from this sort of job?"
"I'm here to deal with a pandemic, not to mess around.
"I'm here to do a good job, I'm here to lead a pandemic response and I would say absolutely no to that sort of question."
Asked also about her limited appearances at media conferences in recent weeks, Prof Spurrier said she had not been sidelined.
"I'm doing my job, I'm working very hard, there's been lots to do," she said.
"I have been very, very busy. We can't always be here, together in front of the cameras."
While SA reported a record 3707 COVID-19 cases on Friday, Prof Spurrier said the state remained "in a really good place".
"It might not seem it when you see the numbers, but certainly in comparison to some of the other states, I'm very happy with how we're managing to deal with the Omicron outbreak," she said.
