Repatriation General Hospital

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:32): Supplementary to the Minister for Veterans' Affairs: have any organisations approached the minister in respect of the sale of the Repatriation General Hospital site?

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Minister for Investment and Trade, Minister for Defence Industries, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (14:32): God, I'm in double shock, Mr Speaker: two questions in six months. I'm not sure I'm coping from overwork here, if I keep this up. Let me just start: the quick answer is no associations have approached me from the veterans' community about the sale of the Repat site at all.

Ms Chapman: Not any?

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH: Not to my recollection, no. I don't think I've had any contact from any associations about the sale of anything at the Repat site. As far as I know, the Repat site is not up for sale. Could I just make a simple point, because the thrust of the question is about veterans' health and the Repat site and its future. Let me just say this: I speak not only as the minister for veterans but as someone who was the shadow minister for health for some time and knows full well the immensity and enormity of the problems in managing the health system, with costs rising by 7 per cent to 8 per cent a year, with it consuming a third of the budget. I don't think there would be a member in this chamber who does not understand that there is a need to reform health. If you do not reform health—

Mr PENGILLY: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Point of order, member for Finniss.

Mr PENGILLY: Sir, the question was not to do with the direction of Transforming Health. It was a straightforward question on potential buyers for the Repat.

The SPEAKER: Well, I'll listen carefully to what the minister has to say.

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH: Mr Speaker, on the Repat and veterans' health, my question was simply this, when I was aware that reform was mooted—and must I say it is courageous reform, because reform is always tough and it's been squibbed for years and finally we've got it—and that was: what's best for veterans health? What is going to be better for the health, physical and mental, of our veterans, and what is going to be best for the physical and mental health of the elderly and others? I was convinced when I saw the plan that the system was spread too thinly, covering nine hospitals, and that resources needed to be drawn into six hospitals so that we could provide better health care for veterans and for the community through six consolidated sites. That meant that the Repat, which was built in the 1940s, would need to be relocated.

The second point I asked was: were services being closed or relocated? If you look at the facts, as the Minister for Health has so eloquently explained, the services that are currently at the Repat are going to be relocated, not closed—and they are going to be relocated into brand-new facilities that are first class.

The SPEAKER: Minister, this is terribly cogent but it doesn't really address the question of the proposed sale.

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH: Let me get back to the Repat site, Mr Speaker. Veterans' leadership have generally said to me, 'If this is going to be better for veterans' health, then we are on side.'

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH: I have talked to the RSL. My expectation, and my hope, for the Repat site is not that it will be 'sold' but that, apart from the fact that we might see (and that is up to veterans and clinicians) a renewed Ward 17 there with the $15 million that the minister has provided (and I hope we will see it there but that is up to the experts), I hope we will see the chapel retained, the gardens retained, prosthetics retained and the private health facilities retained. I expect we will see the private health facilities possibly even expanded into some of the more modern spaces there. Personally, I would love to see some retirement homes there for veterans to use so that the character of the site is retained.

I think what we may well finish up with when this process reaches its conclusion is something at the Repat that we can be really proud of, as well as better and renewed facilities at Flinders and the other hospitals. I commend the minister for taking on the tough issue of health reform, including reform at the Repat. I think in our hearts every member in this chamber knows that, whoever was in government, it would be necessary. We have an obligation to spend the taxpayers' money wisely to deliver better health outcomes, and that is what the government is doing.