SA AMBULANCE CALL DIRECT SERVICE

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:53): Will the Minister for Health assure the house that the SA Ambulance Service call direct service, which provides 24-hour advice and emergency monitoring service to the elderly, will continue, and does the government propose to sell all or any part of this service or privatise it?

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:53): The call direct service is a commercial activity that was created by the ambulance service a number of years ago as a way of raising funds. I believe it was created when minister Brown was the minister for health; certainly in a period during the last government. The idea was to see what commercial opportunities might exist and how the ambulance service, by creating this service, could bring an income into the agency. I understand that it actually gives a return of $1.5 million a year to the ambulance service; so that sounds pretty good. Except, when you work it out, it costs $3 million to generate that income. That is the nature of the service that we have that was created by your party when in government. So, it is actually causing a loss to the ambulance service. It is taking money out of ambulance services in order to have this commercial opportunity explored. Quite sensibly, the ambulance—

The Hon. I.F. Evans interjecting:

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I hear a voice from the past. The ambulance board—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: As members would know, under current arrangements, the ambulance service is run by its own board. The ambulance board—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Just calm down, Victoria. The ambulance board is going through the process of analysing what to do with this commercial operation set up by the Liberals, which is losing money. We want to be mindful of the persons who are currently subscribers to it so that today they are not inconvenienced in any way. They are looking at all the options at the moment to see what is the sensible thing to do.