Chemotherapy Treatment Error

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:56): My question is to the Minister for Health. Given the Premier's response to the last question, can he please clarify the statement that he made in this house early this week? Earlier this week—in fact, on Tuesday—in question time I asked the following question:

My question is to the Minister for Health. Can the minister advise whether the compensation offers made to victims of the chemotherapy dosing failures come with any conditions, in particular conditions regarding confidentiality?

In response to that question, the Minister for Health responded, 'I can advise, as previously said, they don't.'

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (14:57): That is the case.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Mitchell is warned for the second and final time.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Mitchell will withdraw for an hour under the sessional order.

The honourable member for Mitchell having withdrawn from the chamber:

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley will withdraw for an hour under the sessional order.

The honourable member for Unley having withdrawn from the chamber:

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned for the second and the final time.

The Hon. T.R. Kenyon: Volume and hand waving is not called for.

The SPEAKER: The member for Newland is warned.

An honourable member: Kick him out!

The SPEAKER: Well, he was kicked out in the last sitting week.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: There is absolutely no inconsistency with what the Premier said and what I have said. It is the case—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: I am not going to try to scream over them, Mr Speaker.

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is warned a second and final time. Minister.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: There is no inconsistency with what the Premier said and what I said earlier in the week. It is the case that there was no confidentiality requirement with the offer of compensation that was made, and that was—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Stuart is warned for the second and final time, and the leader is on two warnings.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: I think everyone would acknowledge that, with regard to this matter, it is not a standard matter. That was why we took the exceptional step—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: If the leader and the member for Schubert make any utterance outside standing orders from this moment to the end of question time, I will remove them under the sessional order. Minister.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: Given events, and given the enormous distress that victims of this affair had been put through, we made, I think, the unprecedented decision to intervene in this case and to make sure that SAICORP made an offer of compensation. That offer of compensation was a serious offer of compensation. I think even Mr Knox in the media said that the compensation deserved careful consideration. It was not a frivolous offer. It was a very serious offer consistent with our advice about what would be appropriate in the circumstances. Given the unprecedented nature of the offer, we made clear—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is warned for the second and final time.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: We made quite clear that there would be—

The Hon. J.M. Rankine interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Wright is called to order.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: This offer came without any conditions and certainly did not have a confidentiality requirement in it because of the nature of the matter, which was different from the normal run-of-the-mill type compensation. There is absolutely no inconsistency. Yes, of course it is standard for—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: I won't scream over the opposition because this is an issue I take incredibly seriously. The opposition might want to play politics with it, but I will not. I will not engage with the opposition trying to scream over the top of me while I am giving a serious answer to a serious question.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: There is no inconsistency with this. This was an unusual step—in fact, it may even be an unprecedented step—for an offer to be made, given the special circumstances, given what the victims of this error had already been put through. It certainly was the case that there was no requirement for confidentiality as there would normally be in an offer of compensation in such a matter.

The SPEAKER: My advice to the opposition is that, if the opposition thinks it has a minister on the run—I was a minister for eight years—silence is a lot more intimidating to the minister than a barrage of interjections. The member for Wright.