Emergency Services Levy

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:13): My supplementary is to the Premier. How can he continue to refer to the federal government cuts as cruel and deep cuts when his own cuts here in South Australia are four times larger? How can he use the federal government cuts as the justification for remission removal?

The SPEAKER: Yes, I think we've got it. Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:14): This furphy does need to be put down. Every single dollar of savings that we make in the sensible running of our healthcare system is reinvested in new and additional services. So, our healthcare funding increases, whereas the commonwealth funding is a cut straight off the top of the funding that was provided to us. Commonwealth funding—

Mr Knoll interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is warned.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The simple truth of the matter is that you cannot rip $655 million out of the state funding system over the next four years, and then an even greater amount into the future, without there being a massive impact on the healthcare system. If the member for Dunstan was, in fact, doing his job, he would be advocating to the Prime Minister that the $4.97 million that's been ripped out of his schools in his electorate should be a matter of concern and grievance by him to the Prime Minister of Australia. So, rather than coming in here and asking—

Mr Marshall: Your cuts are four times higher.

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The South Australian government will run a sensible and prudent healthcare system and reinvest every last dollar that we save in improving services.

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley is warned.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That's just the work that governments and health ministers are obliged to do just to actually meet the present levels of demand. This is a system that has extraordinary demands, and just to meet the demands of an ageing population, the demands of new technology, the demands of ensuring the wonderful technologies that actually exist to treat and deal with disease and disability in our community, just to keep pace with ensuring that we meet all of the needs of people who come through the doors of our hospitals, we need to keep changing the things that we have been doing in the past and reinvesting what we save to meet those needs. That's the daily work.

That savings exercise and the reinvesting of that, that's business as usual. What we had from the commonwealth though was a cut off the top of what we were promised: a signed, solemn agreement between the South Australian government and the commonwealth government.

When we raised concerns about the possibility of these cuts being imposed on us during the state election campaign, and when we said that these are things that would emerge and these were concerns we were raising, we were all told by the commonwealth government that these cuts by the state opposition seeking to be the government wouldn't emerge. Solemn promises were given that they would abide by the agreement. Safely past the state election though, the real measure of these cuts is then revealed—the very things that we warned about.

So, don't come in here complaining about your mates in the federal government cutting deeply into South Australia. Instead of issuing your grievances against us, raise your voice against the perpetrators of these cuts.

Mr PISONI: Point of order: I believe that the Premier was speaking about your mates in the federal government, sir. Do you have mates in the federal government? Who are they? Please share, sir.

The SPEAKER: I have several mates in the federal government, but—

Mr Gardner: Just waiting for that appointment.

The SPEAKER: Yes, I believe Kiev is vacant. The Premier should not refer to the opposition in that way. Is the Premier finished? The member for Little Para.