HEALTH DEPARTMENT BUDGET

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (15:54): My question again is to the Minister for Health, as the Treasurer is not here. Can the minister confirm that, even after the cuts of 349 jobs across the health department, his department will still be above the Treasury-approved cap for full-time equivalents and, if so, how many positions will the department remain above that cap? Is the minister required to further reduce the number of full-time equivalents within the health system to meet the Treasury-imposed cap?

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Ageing, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts) (15:55): I thank the member for the question. We have a 2012-13 full-time equivalent savings target of 675.96. That is comprised of a full-time equivalent growth target of 339.2, which represents growth in the 2010-11 and 2011-12 budget savings initiatives, and the unachieved component from 2011-12, which was 336.76. The decisions I announced yesterday will go some way to dealing with those matters, but there is still more that we need to do. In fact, yesterday I announced a range of other measures, including the responses to the reports that I presented some time ago. So, we still need to do more work.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I am sorry, I did not hear if the minister was misbehaving.