House of Assembly: Thursday, February 19, 2009

Contents

ROYAL ADELAIDE HOSPITAL

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Leader of the Opposition) (14:18): In light of the Premier's answer that it was his idea to build this hospital, did he have this idea before the 2006 election? If so, why didn't he put it to the people of South Australia so that they could have their say?

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:18): What I put to the people in the 2002 election and in the 2006 election was a clear choice between a Liberal Party that, in office, cut hospital beds and the Labor Party that builds new hospitals and refurbishes old hospitals; between a Liberal Party that cut nurse and doctor numbers and a Labor Party that has delivered 902 extra doctors and 2,800 extra nurses, and, wait for it, the clearest difference of them all: a Labor Party that believes in investing record expenditure in a public hospital system and Martin Hamilton-Smith who wants to privatise our hospitals, and they were their policies.