Health System

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright) (15:29): Today, I am going to continue my remarks about our local hospitals that service the north and north-eastern communities and what they experienced under a Liberal government.

On 28 September, in grievances I spoke about the operations and conditions of Modbury Hospital under the former Liberal government, their bungled attempt at privatising it, the trauma suffered by patients and their families (my own father being one of them), heart-wrenching cases of neglect and incompetence, staff abandoning the hospital not wanting to be part of such a shambles because they knew it was costing lives, and patients pleading not to be taken there. I also spoke of the state of the emergency departments.

Under the Liberal government, there were not just long waiting lists in emergency departments or long waits before beds in wards were made available, often after 24 hours: emergency departments had to actually close because they did not have enough doctors to treat people. Noarlunga Hospital closed its emergency department three times in two years because their one qualified emergency doctor was sick. Again, I repeat that it was the Labor government that built Modbury Hospital. It was the Liberal government that sold it off and put the lives of local people in the hands of private operators who were responsible to shareholders for profits not the health outcomes of local people. It was the Labor government that brought Modbury Hospital back.

It has been the Labor government that has invested in upgrading Modbury while the Liberal opposition have been desperately peddling lies, trying to make people believe the hospital is about to close. They try to make people believe that they cannot get emergency care at Modbury Hospital—a complete deception. Everything they put out is designed to try to make people think the very existence of Modbury Hospital is at risk. They are now promising an investment of $20 million for Modbury. I would have choked on my Wheaties if I still had them for breakfast, and that is what they did for the Lyell McEwin five times. Five times they made promises they did not deliver on, and I will speak on that in a moment.

The killer in this policy announcement is that it is a promise for 2036. Do not take my word for it: here is the document, bold as brass, front page 'Modbury Hospital—Restoring Services 2036'. In order to know whether or not they will keep this promise of $20 million over 18 years, you would have to vote for them in 2018, 2022, 2026, 2030 and 2034. It is an investment of just over $2 million a year for 18 years. The truth of their commitment to Modbury Hospital is that it is likely to fund the necessary wheelchairs. It is an absolute con.

Liberals do not like public health, they do not support public health and they sure as hell do not keep their promises. The Lyell McEwin health service is a perfect example of exactly that. In 1996, Liberal premier Dean Brown announced a $28.5 million redevelopment of the Lyell McEwin Hospital. This was to occur over the next five years, with completion in 2001. In 1997, Liberal health minister Michael Armitage announced it again. This time, it was $48 million, an increase of $20.5 million—not so bad, you might say. However, by mid-1998 a strategic reassessment had been made and the spend would now be $40 million over four years, so $8 million less than the previous year but still $11.5 million more than announced two years earlier—two years on, more money promised but one sod of dirt turned.

In 1999, the budget reported that work would commence in December, that is, three years on from the original announcement. It would take three years to complete—but still not one sod of dirt turned. Come February 2000, 12 months out from the original completion date, Dean Brown announced that a $87.4 million upgrade would be undertaken, and now it was going to take four years to complete, but still no works commenced. When challenged about the multiple announcements with no work having been done, the then minister claimed this time it was different because:

This is the first time it has actually gone to cabinet. The previous plans had merely been a statement of intent.

What a nonsense on so many levels! That is the crux of it: five announcements, five promises and not a sod turned, just like John Howard's famous core promises and non-core promises. Compare that shambles, the spin, the deceit of the South Australian public to the investments this Labor has made in the Lyell McEwin alone.

Time expired.