Ambus

Mr DULUK (Davenport) (14:58): My question is again to the Minister for Health. Given the constraints of the ambus, particularly in terms of the need to unload patients in the order in which they were loaded, is it feasible to use the bus in an emergency situation?

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (14:59): The idea is that the ambus and what it is to be used for, as I said previously, is to ferry large numbers of patients where there is a mass casualty-type event, so, for example, the Sampson Flat bushfires where we had to take a large number of ambulances off the road because they were ferrying patients in relatively large numbers from the Mid North or Lower Mid North into metropolitan Adelaide.

They can ridicule it all they want, but the fact is that it will be of enormous assistance in these types of events. There is lots of emergency equipment that most of the time, thankfully, we don't need to use because we don't have frequent natural disasters. But when there is a natural disaster, when there is a mass casualty event, the next time we have an incident with a bus rollover or anything like that, where there are large numbers of casualties—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: The opposition laugh, but I take my portfolio incredibly seriously, and I know, and our paramedics know, that this particular piece of equipment will be particularly useful.