Question Time

Transforming Health

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:14): My question is to the Premier. Given the Premier's claim on television yesterday that equal numbers of clinicians support Transforming Health as oppose it, can he name the four professional health bodies which, he says, counter the opposition from the Royal College of Surgeons, the Royal College of Physicians, the AMA, and SASMOA?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:15): Can I say, I probably did ourselves an injustice. I think there is an overwhelming majority of clinicians that support our proposition and, sure, there will be voices—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —there will be voices that are raised in opposition. But change always comes at some political cost, and that's why we are determined to be a reforming government, because we want higher quality—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: We want higher quality—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Well, for one, the clinical ambassadors have looked at the data and have realised that they want to save lives and improve the quality of the service that is provided to the people of South Australia. The people who have looked—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: There are people who have looked at the data and are now embarrassed about the fact that there is a disparity in the quality of service that exists between different hospitals. The people who have looked at the data realised that the people of the northern suburbs are expected to travel an inordinate distance to receive equitable, accessible, high-quality health care—something that people on your side of the town, those that are on the other side of the town, the leafy suburbs, have come to expect.

We stand for a healthcare system that meets the needs of every citizen, not just those fortunate enough to live in the leafy suburbs. I know that those opposite are more than happy to run an inequitable, inaccessible healthcare system. We want a healthcare system that is actually accessible and equitable to all South Australians.

Public health is one of the great Labor projects: we created Medicare, we created the public healthcare system, and we simply are not going to stand by and allow those who want this to turn into a residualised system where the wealthy can get health care because their Bankcard is more important than their Medicare card. This is the system which is coming to us in this country—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: This is the system which is coming to us in this country unless we are prepared to invest in our public healthcare system. This is one of the reasons that it will be very high on my list of priorities to raise with the Prime Minister when I meet with him later today that we want him to reverse his cuts—$5.5 billion cuts in health and education—landing heavily on our healthcare system in this state.

We are basically in South Australia having to do enormous reform just to keep pace with the rapid growth and the demands in our system. What places an unbearable burden on our system is the cuts that have been placed on us by this new federal Liberal government, and we are going to resist them with every element that we can bring to bear. We are joined in our struggle by the Premier of New South Wales, Mike Baird—

Mr Gardner: I thought you said Transforming Health wasn't about cuts.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Well it's not; it's about—

Mr Marshall: You said it was.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: No, it's not. Let me take you through—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Let me take you—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That's right. Let me take you through the logic of Transforming Health. Transforming Health is about quality of care which gives you affordable care. It still requires change—change which is threatening to those people that don't want to cooperate with change. Of course, there are people who are happy with the way they're working at the moment, but our obligation is to confront people with the data and the reality of the situation, which is that we need to change this system if it's to become affordable and a high quality healthcare system.

Mr MARSHALL: Supplementary, sir.

The SPEAKER: Before the supplementary, I call to order the members for Chaffey, Morialta, Schubert, Finniss, Hartley, Morphett, MacKillop, Kavel, Davenport, Goyder, Adelaide, Newland, the leader, and the Premier for consistent argumentation throughout the answer. I warn for the first time the members for Morialta and Schubert, the leader, the member for Hartley and the member for Morphett, and I warn for the second and final time the members for Morialta, Schubert, Morphett—who is right that the government has been in office for 14 years—and the leader.

The Hon. T.R. Kenyon: Statement of fact, sir.

The SPEAKER: The member for Newland is warned.