House of Assembly Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2) 51 2 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Ministerial Statement Ministerial Statement ICT Services ICT SERVICES The Hon. J.D. HILL House of Assembly Kaurna Minister for Health Minister for the Southern Suburbs Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (17:48): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement. Leave granted. The Hon. J.D. HILL House of Assembly The Hon. J.D. HILL: In question time today, the Leader of the Opposition asked the Premier a question (which I answered) about the cost of ICT services in the Department of Health. His claim of a $51.4 million overrun in Microsoft licence costs was totally wrong. In the transition to a centralised ICT system across government, the health department was provided with additional annual Microsoft licences than had been used in the past. The majority of licences are now in use, as new computers have been brought online over the life of the contract. These additional licences came at a cost of about $2 million extra per annum for a three-year period, a contract that ends this financial year. There has been no impact from this contract on either the operation of our hospitals or our patients. In fact, we are spending more than $1 billion more in the health system than under the former government. I am advised that there will be huge savings to government from the creation of this centralised ICT system. I must say that much of those savings, to the chagrin of my colleagues, will go into health. However, as demand for health services has increased, so has the demand for leading-edge technology in our public hospitals, and the figure that the opposition used is an indicator of the extra demand predicted for ICT services as our system grows. Just as we need more ambulances, hospital beds and the like, we also need more ICT.