Modbury Hospital

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:44): Supplementary, sir: what was the basis of the objection of the college to having the eye surgery centre based at Modbury?

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (14:44): Well, I think basically because—far be it from me to speak on behalf of the college; they can speak for themselves—I do think that they had reservations about doing high-end eye-type procedures at Modbury. There's no big deal there.

I think the other thing I should just say is they have other proposals about how we can further promote eye surgery in this state. I don't think it's any secret that the college's preference would be to have a dedicated eye hospital, but these are things which the government are working through with the ophthalmologists as we speak.