Question Time

ROYAL ADELAIDE HOSPITAL

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:10): Can the Premier confirm that the total cost of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital is $2.73 billion?

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:10): As the Treasurer has said, and as I have said before, all of the details of the costs of the Royal Adelaide Hospital will be made public when there is financial closure with the company that is constructing, maintaining and managing the hospital for us. As members would know, and it is a good opportunity to point it out to members and the public, we are beginning to see the beginnings of a new scare campaign to be run by the Liberal Party over this issue.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: So, the logic of the Leader of the Opposition is: if you don't deny something, that means you confirm it. Can the Leader of the Opposition deny that she is going to promote some of her backbenchers over the next few months to replace some of the has-beens on the front bench? Will she deny that?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: No, she won't deny it; therefore she's confirming it. It is good to see the putative leader of the opposition, the member from the Legislative Council, popping his head in the chamber a little while ago—the Hon. Robert Brokenshire. He was obviously seeing where he would fit into this rabble.

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister will get back to the question.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: We will reach financial closure, as I have said before—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: We will reach financial closure and have the contract signed—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for MacKillop!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: —before the state budget. The financial close—all of the details will be available to the public, as far as I am aware, and that is certainly our intention. It will show the cost of the construction. It will show the cost of finance. It will show the cost of risk. It will show the cost of maintenance and the cost of delivering a whole range of services over the whole of life of the project.

What the Liberal Party will do, of course, is bring all these things together and say that it is a blowout of this proportion because we are bringing to the book in advance all of the costs associated with running a hospital over 35 years. That is the fear campaign, that is the scare campaign that they are setting up for here, so just be prepared for it. This will be a good deal for South Australia. The evidence will demonstrate that—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: —and we will get a state-of-the-art hospital for our state. Yesterday in question time, the member for Morphett asked me questions about the Royal Adelaide Hospital—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Norwood!

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Norwood!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: My department leaking like a sieve! It was revealed on radio today that Ken Rollond, who is a visiting medical officer, was the leak behind the allegations—

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order. The minister will sit down. The member for Finniss.

Mr PENGILLY: Standing order 98, ma'am.

The SPEAKER: Have you finished your answer, minister, because I will uphold that point of order.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I normally do not respond to interjections, but that one was so egregious, I feel I must. Yesterday questions were asked about the closure of the gynaecology service. That was the claim made by the Leader of the Opposition: they will close—

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order. The member for MacKillop.

Mr WILLIAMS: The minister is responding to an interjection which is out of order. He just admitted that he was responding to it.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: It is the substance of the question, however.

Mr WILLIAMS: It is not.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Sit down, member for MacKillop! You don't shout into the microphone across the floor. Minister, have you finished your answer?

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I'm almost there, Madam Speaker, I'm almost there.

The SPEAKER: Yes, well, get back to the point of the question.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: The point of the question was: how much will it cost? I said that that amount will be available, and I made the point that there will be extra capacity in this hospital. The services of the current hospital will be put into the new hospital; and Ken Rollond—member of the Liberal Party, appeared in ads with the Liberal Party at the last election, an opponent of the Royal Adelaide—is leaking to the Leader of the Opposition. Unfortunately, they are misinformed leaks; they are based on flaws.

The SPEAKER: The member for Croydon.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!