Royal Adelaide Hospital

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:47): My question is to the Minister for Health. Given that the old Royal Adelaide Hospital will need to operate for up to five months more than planned, due to the delay in the opening of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital, what is the expected cost to government of the ongoing operation of the old Royal Adelaide Hospital?

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (14:47): We had already provided for having to run the two hospitals concurrently for up to 73 days. We gave ourselves that much time to transition from the old to the new, but all these numbers have been crunched, the additional costs in terms of running the project team which is working on the transition, the additional cost of having to run the old Royal Adelaide Hospital for a little longer. All these numbers have been crunched and the total budget impact is $34 million. When you look at the Mid-Year Budget Review, that is the total cost of both the settlement and any extra costs which the government will have to bear because of the delay.