MARJORIE JACKSON-NELSON HOSPITAL

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:21): Again my question is to the Minister for Health. Will the minister now answer the question asked previously by the Hon. Caroline Schaefer in another place five months ago, that is—

The Hon. K.O. Foley interjecting:

Ms CHAPMAN: In another place. Are you listening? The question was: were senior hospital staff required to sign a binding document stating that they would not criticise any aspect of the building or the location of the Marjorie Jackson-Nelson Hospital?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Health.

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (15:22): I would love to give the answer that the Minister for Transport gave, but I think it would be unwise for me to do so.

We love all of our doctors and nurses who work in the hospital. We love every single one of them. We value them, respect them and like them; and we want them to be involved in the planning process. When the planning process was put in place, I think at one stage a number of the staff was asked to sign a confidentiality statement so that the information they got through the discussion about what the new hospital should be like could not be divulged in a way that might benefit any of the bidders. They were not required not to criticise or complain, or any of the things that many of them appear quite free to do.

So I apologise to the member in the other place, but I thought I had answered that question. If I have not, I apologise to her. I think I have made a statement here along those lines at some stage. If I have not, I have certainly made it somewhere. There is no attempt to deny the democratic rights of every person in the state to say whatever they think about the government of the day. All I would say to them is: at least base your criticisms on facts and make your analysis as sharp as your medical training would suggest you are capable of.