Question Time

ROYAL ADELAIDE HOSPITAL

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:07): My question is to the Treasurer. Why did the government lie to the South Australian people before the last state election—

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order. The Minister for Transport.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Madam Speaker, you simply cannot put that in a question.

The SPEAKER: Yes, I ask the member to reword the question.

Mrs REDMOND: I will reword it, Madam Speaker. Why did the government deliberately mislead the South Australian people before—

The SPEAKER: Point of order. Minister for Transport.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: You cannot put comment and argument in a question. It is a standing order as old as the house.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Yes, I again uphold that point of order. I ask the leader to be very careful about how she asks the question. She understands the protocols in this place.

Mrs REDMOND: My question, Madam Speaker, is to the Treasurer. Why did the government tell the people of South Australia before the last state election that the cost of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital would be $1.7 billion when he knew full well, and so did the government, that it would be in excess of $1.7 billion?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister for Transport.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Plainly, the question, again, contained argument. Let me phrase it for you. 'When you knew full well' is argument. Can I offer to the Leader of the Opposition 101 lessons in my office about parliamentary debates?

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I think the last half of the leader's question was unfortunate and should not have been asked in that way so I do uphold that point of order. However, we will leave it at 'why did they tell...before the last election?' and leave it at that. The Treasurer.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Treasurer, Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education) (14:09): Madam Speaker, from day one this government has been completely open, frank and honest about—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: —building a new hospital and about the costs involved. The simple fact is that if we had built this hospital in the traditional way, if we had borrowed the money ourselves and built it in the traditional way, and if we had borne all the risks associated with building a hospital of this complexity, then it would have cost us about $1.7 billion. The reason that it is costing—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the Leader of the Opposition and the deputy leader!

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: The design and construction of the hospital under the scenario of a self-build, the design and construction of the hospital as I explained to the media yesterday, would have been about $1.7 billion. Why is the design and construction $1.8 billion? For several reasons, but primarily because of risk. We have got a fixed-price contract, and that makes absolute sense. It makes good sense for South Australian taxpayers. It means that if anything goes wrong—we are talking about the biggest, the most complex infrastructure project in this state's history. There are many, many things that can go wrong that are out of the scope of the control of the government. The great thing about this project and the great thing about having a fixed-price contract with the consortium is that, with respect to any of those things that can possibly go wrong, they will bear the brunt of that. Of course, like in any—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will come to order!

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: Like with any fixed-price contract, of course, you pay a premium. The other reasons are: the hospital is going to be a bit bigger—it had to be a bit bigger for it to do what we wanted it to do; it had to have—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: You always know when the opposition is upset because they interject, they will not hear what you have got to say. They try to shout you down, and it is a good sign. You know that the opposition is in trouble when they try to shout down ministers on their feet. It is a sign of an opposition in dire trouble. The simple fact is—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: You laugh all you want, mate. Fake laughter! I love the strained laughter.

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

Mr PENGILLY: Standing order 98.

The SPEAKER: I think that when you have had three points of order on the question, it is a bit unfair to be bringing points of order here, but I would ask the minister to get back to the question.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: The simple fact is that we have got a fixed-priced contract, so the factors were obviously the risk premium and the size of the hospital; we needed to update some costs for the ICT to make sure that the ICT and the hospital worked exactly the way we wanted it to work; we needed to update the estimates for connecting the utilities; and, finally, because the project is starting a little bit later than we originally wanted it to that has had an effect on the cost as well.

The government has been completely open. Yesterday, we put more information out into the public sphere than would ever have been made in the entire history of this state. Yesterday, the Minister for Health, the Premier and I put out and made more information available to the public—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: —than ever would have been—

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order. The Minister for Transport.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I simply cannot hear the Treasurer making a very good answer.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! You did not name a standing order, but I agree. Members on my left will be quiet. You are asking questions. The minister has the right to be heard in silence. Treasurer.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: Yesterday, ma'am, the government put more information about the financials of this particular infrastructure project, more information into the public sphere, than any government of either persuasion would ever have done before on any infrastructure project. We have been completely open—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: —and completely frank with the South Australian people, and, what is more, the great thing is that South Australian people know up-front exactly what this project is going to cost. We know exactly what we are getting into.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! If you want to quarrel, can you please go outside.

The Hon. K.O. Foley interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Defence Industries, order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader will be quiet. The member for Croydon.