Royal Adelaide Hospital Cladding

Mr PISONI (Unley) (15:19): My question is to the Deputy Premier. Were samples of the aluminium composite panelling on the new Royal Adelaide Hospital removed and fire tested as part of the government's audit, as occurred when testing similar cladding at the new Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane?

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Child Protection Reform, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for Consumer and Business Services, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (15:20): I thank the member for Unley for this important question. Back in August of this year (I think it was on the 23^rd or thereabouts, if my memory serves me correctly), the Lord Mayor and I, together with the head of the MFS, went to the State Administration Centre and invited anyone who was interested in the topic to come forward. We made a presentation to those who were assembled, who were mainly people from the media, but not exclusively, about where we were up to with this important issue of the cladding.

Mr Speaker, as you would know—and I know you are quite interested in this—the situation with the cladding is that the cladding is not a prohibited product per se. The cladding is a product that can be safely used in some circumstances, but can equally be used unsafely if it is not appropriately applied in accordance with the building rules, which are national building rules, or if the cladding is used in inappropriate buildings. Of course, as you know, Mr Speaker, we were very concerned about this matter and conducted an audit. The audit—

Mr MARSHALL: Point of order: I ask you to bring the Deputy Premier back to the substance of the question, which is whether he has removed and tested the panels on the new Royal Adelaide Hospital.

The SPEAKER: I was distracted with some conversation with the leader and the deputy leader. I will listen carefully to see how the Deputy Premier circumnavigates the question.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I think it's important for me to provide as much useful information as possible to the house, and of course to you, Mr Speaker, because, unlike some people, who I won't identify because I don't want to be disorderly, I always direct my remarks to you because I know of your abiding interest in this topic.

I think we had got to the point where I was explaining to you, Mr Speaker, that we had been through an audit process, and that audit process had gone to a risk analysis where we had identified a number of buildings, predominantly in the central part of the city, obviously, and we were looking at that as a priority because that's where the multistorey buildings are, predominantly. We have identified a number of buildings, which, it appeared to the MFS, were buildings in which some part of the building—and I emphasise this—some part of the building had been fitted with—

Mr PISONI: Point of order: the question was specific to the new Royal Adelaide Hospital.

The SPEAKER: I suspect, member for Unley, that the media and the public are pretty interested in the question of cladding wherever it may present a risk, so I will give the Deputy Premier some leeway on this.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, because it's important in answering these questions that I am as informative as I possibly can be. What is happening here is that we have identified the buildings at risk. The MFS has assured all of us that as yet they have identified not a single building—and these are the experts, the MFS—in the city, and this includes the new Royal Adelaide Hospital, which they have identified as being buildings that have cladding that would be presented as an obvious risk. They have looked at it from the perspective of the design; they have a look at it from the perspective of the specifications of the material. This is where it gets quite interesting.

The point I made at the beginning about the way in which the cladding is affixed is very important because it depends on whether it is used in an appropriate way and is appropriately installed. My advice is that, in the event of the MFS being concerned about the installation of any material, they will advise the government immediately, and the testing necessary will occur.

The SPEAKER: And that applies to the new Royal Adelaide as well?

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Yes, it does, Mr Speaker.