HEALTH AND BIOMEDICAL PRECINCT

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (14:29): My question is to the Premier. Will the Premier update the house on the recent investment announced to support the development of the biomedical precinct?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:30): I thank the honourable member for her question. Last weekend, it was announced that the commonwealth government would contribute $100 million to two new major health and biomedical facilities in Adelaide to be co-located with the new Royal Adelaide Hospital and the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute.

This agreement was reached after extensive negotiations between the commonwealth and the South Australian government, and these significant new developments will further transform Adelaide's West End. The combined result will be the largest health and biomedical precinct in the Southern Hemisphere. The commonwealth's new investment includes $60 million towards a medical school and nursing school for the University of Adelaide which will support more than 1,550 students and 1,000 clinicians and researchers.

The facility will focus on serious health concerns such as cancer, and the other investment is an investment by the University of South Australia which concerns its Centre for Cancer Biology. The investment by the University of Adelaide will focus on serious health concerns, such as cancer, heart disease and obesity. The new clinical health building will bring the university's medical and nursing schools together, maintaining the essential connection between the medical school and the hospital and will allow teaching, research and patient services to be offered from the same location.

The commonwealth funding, as I said: $40 million has also gone to the University of South Australia for a new cancer research facility backed by a strong partnership between the University of South Australia and the Centre for Cancer Biology. Also, 250 researchers investigating blood cancers, such as leukaemia and lymphoma, will be involved in the new centre. The Centre for Cancer Biology is one of Australia's top research centres, and this new investment will support growth in their expertise and the scope of their research outcomes.

Importantly, this new investment leverages the $2.1 billion investment made for the new Royal Adelaide Hospital. For those opposite who talk about false economies, this is what happens when you have high quality public investment; it causes other parties, in this case, the tertiary sectors and the commonwealth, to invest. So we are seeing two buildings which will be in excess of $200 million each being leveraged by the state government's $2.1 billion investment.

It does a number of other wonderful things: it attracts the best and brightest to come here to South Australia. We know that many of our clinicians are attracted by the quality of the research and teaching opportunities that they can have. They are not just interested in the high quality work in the hospitals in a treating sense. They are also interested in what research they can do because they see their careers as a much broader thing than just the clinical aspects.

It will fundamentally change the way healthcare services are delivered and it will provide jobs, investment and commercial opportunities in this bioscience precinct. It will also provide a crucial extension of the construction activity. The $10.1 billion build that is going on across South Australia by virtue of the public investments that we have made is now beginning to see a private sector response, just as we are seeing a bit further down the Riverbank. It is a very exciting time for the health sector and this vibrant bioscience precinct which is part of a very exciting Riverbank area.