Question Time

ROYAL ADELAIDE HOSPITAL

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:15): My question is for the Premier. Given the Treasurer's statement in this house last night that 'unless we can find a way to rebalance how we fund this, in 20 years health will consume, if not all, pretty close to all our state budget', will the government now adopt the Liberal opposition plan and rebuild the Royal Adelaide Hospital on its current site, saving the South Australian taxpayers up to $1 billion in construction costs?

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) (14:15): The Liberals have one solution for our hospitals, which is to privatise them. We caught them out, we took one back—Modbury Hospital—to get it back into public ownership and management. But they were planning to sell the QEH. So, do not be fooled, privatisation of our hospitals is back on the Liberals' agenda. But again, let us go through—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —what a difference the Labor government makes. Compared to when you were last in government, nearly 1,100 extra doctors, 3,600 extra nurses. More doctors per capita than the other states, more nurses per capita than the other states, more beds per capita than the other states. Of course, we had seven different plans and models for the hospital and, in the last two weeks, we have had two more. Total confusion, total division, on the Liberal side.