Bills

Appropriation Bill 2018

Second Reading

Debate resumed.

Mr BROWN (Playford) (17:22): There is no other way to put it: this is a terrible budget for the people of South Australia. It is terrible in that it delivers cuts, closures and privatisation for essential government services, while simultaneously increasing debt and deficit. It is a rare feat to accomplish both, yet this government now holds that dubious honour.

The Treasurer has brought forward spending in order to deliberately balloon out the deficit of the previous government's last year in office by hundreds of millions of dollars. We hear about the need to 'balance the books' and 'fix up Labor's mess', yet this is a budget that leaves the state with more debt than the last time the Treasurer inflicted his radical economic agenda on South Australia and sold ETSA.

The Treasurer has spent decades on the red benches yelling about fiscal responsibility and prudent financial management, yet he insists on sending our state into an unsustainable cycle of debt and budget disrepair. As the Treasurer once said himself, 'The deficit is up, the debt is up and it's not testimony to good financial management at all.'

This is also a terrible budget for jobs. We already knew that the government had adopted a heartless approach to South Australian workers when they refused to provide assistance packages for workers impacted by closures at York Civil and New Castalloy, despite rhetoric to the contrary prior to the election. However, now the government has chosen to cut a raft of job-creating grants and agencies that have delivered real results for South Australian workers. Many of these jobs have been delivered in my electorate.

Before the election, I was lucky enough to accompany the member for Ramsay as she delivered a grant to a local firm in Mawson Lakes, which was planning to expand in the defence sector, commercialising locally produced technology and building export potential. This was as a direct result of a program developed in consultation with industry by the previous government. This was an example of how government and industry can work together to deliver better outcomes for South Australia. This is something that we on this side of the house believe should be built on. We would even be happy to have the government attempt to improve on it. Instead, what has happened? These programs have been cut.

The Treasurer has come into this place and proudly boasted about all the programs that he was cutting that had the audacity to try to create jobs in this state. One by one, he mentioned them in his speech as members opposite looked on approvingly. They include: the Economic Development Board, the Investment Attraction Advisory Board, the Unlocking Capital For Jobs fund, the Economic Investment Fund, the Small Business Development Fund, the Automotive Supplier Diversification Program, northern and southern connections, the SA Early Commercialisation Fund, the Future Jobs Fund and the Jobs First Employment Projects fund. These programs were all victims of the Treasurer's brand of economic purity, where you cut back and hope that something else grows in its place.

We have heard from members opposite how this budget is supposed to grow jobs in our state, yet the budget economic outlook shows that the forecast for employment growth is just 1.5 per cent in 2018-19 and 1 per cent annually in the following years. Similar figures in the past have led the Liberal Party to declare at the time that a dangerous jobs crisis existed in South Australia, yet the now Liberal government has chosen to cut thousands of jobs across the public sector, which will increase pressure on the unemployment rate whilst simultaneously reducing services for those who need it most.

What is more, exporters will be impacted as funding to the new SA Export Accelerator is half that of the previous Export Partnership Program. For all the rhetoric of the then Liberal opposition on the need to increase our exports, the now Liberal government has walked away from South Australian businesses. The cuts in this budget come on top of the worrying trend of the government refusing to assist workers when businesses in South Australia face financial difficulty. With challenges to our manufacturing industries, South Australia is experiencing a period of transition when both businesses and employees need our full support.

This is also a terrible budget for people in the north. When Holden closed, the Labor government stepped in and provided numerous forms of assistance to reskill workers and transition our manufacturing base into other opportunities and markets. Despite the challenges, northern Adelaide remains a growing, vibrant area that will require leadership and vision to continue to provide opportunities for its residents yet, bizarrely, this government has walked away from South Australians living in the northern suburbs. The closure of the Small Business Development Fund and Northern Connections has ripped the heart out of the Northern Economic Plan. Development in the northern suburbs is now a rudderless shambles under this government.

TAFE cuts will result in the closure of the Parafield, Tea Tree Gully, Port Adelaide, Urrbrae, Wudinna, Roxby Downs and Coober Pedy campuses. The Parafield TAFE, in my electorate, specialises in aviation courses, including practical skills such as aircraft engineering. At a time when South Australia has established itself as the defence capital of Australia, the Liberals are ripping out vital skills training from our state.

Members have heard me speak in this place about the importance of South Australia being the home to our new national Space Agency. Indeed, I am proud that we on this side of the house not only support the agency being based in our state but that the industry hub of the agency should be in the northern suburbs where we have decades of the experienced industry and technical expertise required.

The Premier has spoken about how he would like the support of Labor in our state putting forward a compelling case for the hosting of the new agency—support we have been happy to give. That is why it is so disappointing that there is no new money allocated to bring the Space Agency to South Australia. Building a space industry in South Australia is a massive opportunity, and any failure to bring the agency to SA will fall squarely on the Liberal government.

In June 2018, in relation to the upcoming budget, the Premier said, 'You won't be seeing any nasty surprises from us,' yet Housing Trust tenants are set to suffer, with people in single-bedroom cottages and bedsits set to suffer up to $50 per week in increased rents. It is no wonder that a number of people have already contacted me to say that they will have difficulty in buying groceries or spending money on transport because of the decisions of this government. This can only be characterised as a nasty surprise. It is a nasty surprise that no-one asked for and does little for the budget bottom line.

South Australians living in those properties tend to be pensioners and other vulnerable people, so this cruel rent increase impacts those who can least afford it. In addition, over 100 FTEs will be slashed from the Housing Trust, which can only lengthen waiting times, slow maintenance and cause more angst for those already doing it tough. Ultimately, these cuts will only serve to increase pressure upon social services in the north, and so in the long term will do nothing to improve the government's finances. They are a false economy.

Bus and train services are set to be slashed in the north, in a region that will only require increased transport services in the future. Within my own electorate, it can already take more than an hour to walk from one suburb to another, and public transport is a necessity for those who do not have access to a car. To reduce public transport services is to make it difficult for people to attend schools, go to work, volunteer or care for others.

For people in my electorate, education is one of the most essential services that the state government can deliver. With more and more families moving into the electorate, South Australians want to know how the state government will provide opportunities and deliver learning outcomes for our children. Yet, alarmingly, the state government has chosen to cut the laptop in secondary schools program, denying opportunities for students in the north to learn and thrive in an electronic age. The program was set to provide every year 10 student with a laptop they could use during their high school years and then keep with them as they continued on to higher education.

This cut is completely unjustified. I have also been contacted by a number of parents in local schools who are very concerned that the funds allocated to their schools by the previous government will now be used for different purposes by the new government. There is talk of halls being cancelled and money instead being spent on classrooms to cater for the government's promise to take year 7 into high school. This is also unjustified.

Health care for people in the north is also set to take a hit in the budget, with the government apparently planning to privatise essential healthcare services, including pathology and radiology services. Prior to the election, the Liberal Party made no mention of privatising these key health services. The government has ambushed South Australians with privatisations that will only increase costs and waiting times for patients.

The Liberal Party has always talked tough on crime, but this budget turns a blind eye to community safety. Funding for Crime Stoppers has been slashed, putting South Australians at risk and leaving the future of Crime Stoppers on shaky ground. Funding for CCTV cameras has been cut—a critical program that allowed councils to identify the key areas of crime in the neighbourhood and install cameras for the purposes of deterring, recording and responding to violent crime, theft and vandalism on our streets. My constituents know that CCTV helps to keep us safe. It not only assists in responding to crime but is also invaluable in investigations and targeting crime hotspots, yet somehow this government feels that installing extra CCTV is some sort of Labor extravagance that needs to be curtailed.

Further, the crime prevention and community safety grants programs have been cut. These grants provided vital funding to community groups that run programs to deter youths from crime, particularly those at risk of offending. The program also provided a number of grants towards combating the spread of graffiti in our neighbourhoods. It is for the government to explain why it feels that putting our communities at risk, by reducing funding for crime prevention, is an economy worth pursuing. This government has failed people in the north, and South Australians in my own electorate are rightly appalled by the decisions of this government.

The Premier promised fiscal responsibility, jobs creation and economic growth, but this budget will deliver none of those. The Premier has instead imposed savage and cruel cuts on those who can least afford it. The Premier, under the guidance of a treasurer whose economic policies belong to the last century, has chosen to implement a traditional Liberal budget that simply cuts, closes and privatises essential services and programs right across government.

Last month, the Deputy Premier said that South Australians would say thank you for this budget. No-one is going to be saying thank you for this budget—not the community and, in the end, not even those opposite. This budget stands condemned as a cruel budget that takes South Australia backwards at a time when we need to look forward, transition our economy and continue to provide economic prosperity for all South Australians.

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (17:34): I rise today to speak in emphatic support of the Appropriation Bill and the state budget handed down by Premier Marshall oh-so recently, the Marshall Liberal government's first state government—and what a success it was.

I described it in the local media of the Narungga electorate as a 'gale of fresh air' after 16 years of city-centric Labor governments—and that it is, with plenty in it for the regions, which makes being a regional MP a particularly enjoyable task at this very moment. Importantly, too, it is a budget that makes the tough decisions that are necessary to ensure we return to living within our means, which is a concept that those opposite would appreciate only in some parallel universe.

Similarly, it is a budget that delivers the promises made during the election, which is also very important to the state and its constituents and gives them the feeling of living in a parallel universe of their own because finally they have a government that delivers and does what it said it was going to. It is not a moment too soon, either, and a welcome sight for those living in South Australia.

I was immensely pleased with the investments which were announced for the seat of Narungga during the budget and throughout the election campaign and which were delivered, including the $88.5 million for the Port Wakefield Road overpass and four-lane highway duplication, which is over and above what was promised during the campaign and an example of the Marshall Liberal government underpromising and overdelivering, providing the people of Port Wakefield and the people of the state at large exactly what they were asking for—that is, a safer crash corner and a more easy traffic flow through Port Wakefield to ensure that tourists get to their destination quicker and that those visiting the wonderful Yorke Peninsula can get there quicker and safer and enjoy more time and spend more tourism dollars where they intended to, rather than spending too much time in their car or en route.

That was a wonderful announcement, an announcement that has been 30 years in the making, and I was pleased to be in Port Wakefield with the Deputy Prime Minister, the Premier and the member for Gray, Rowan Ramsey, to make that announcement relatively recently, much to the delight of local residents of Port Wakefield.

Similarly, I was pleased to announce two special hospital funding initiatives that the Marshall Liberal government has provided: $720,000 for the Ardrossan hospital to ensure continuance of vital accident and emergency services and palliative care and subacute care services and $605,000 for the Yorketown hospital to upgrade surgical facilities and to employ more skilled staff.

Other highlights are the $12 million for additional chemotherapy services in regional areas, the $150 million for a Regional Growth Fund and $10 million to address the terrible situation we find ourselves in with blackspots in regional South Australia and for mobile phone towers to go up and to leverage more federal money to make sure we fix some of the proliferation of blackspots around regional South Australia.

We had a $315 million Regional Roads and Infrastructure Fund, a $20 million Rural Health Workforce Strategy and $10 million for grassroots community sports clubs. Finally, in addition, there was $613 million in tax relief over four years, being reductions in the emergency services levy, payroll tax and land tax, which is money back in the pockets of normal South Australians, who so desperately need it after 16 years of skyrocketing prices and costs.

Having now been the member for Narungga for six months, I can confirm that the overriding concerns of the constituents who have come through my office in Maitland are regarding health services, cost of living and roads, so the investments in the Narungga electorate and the policies actioned to deliver reductions in taxes and levies have been very well received indeed. They have gone over overwhelmingly well with the people I have had the pleasure of interacting with since the budget was handed down on 5 September.

I have spoken in this place before about the importance of the Port Wakefield traffic solution, which has waited for 30 years and was finally delivered in the 2018-19 budget, a genuine state-building project which was not of any interest to members opposite, due to the electoral imperatives of the previous premier, who only prioritised projects in marginal seats and pork-barrelling situations and thus had no interest in investing in the seat of Narungga. So we were well pleased to make sure that that announcement of almost $90 million was sent our way, and I thank the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government for being agreeable to that request.

The Premier, Mr Marshall, visited Port Wakefield and crash corner last week, on 9 September, and heard firsthand from residents how well plans have been received and about the general optimism around securing the future of Port Wakefield as a town and ensuring it continues to offer great services for people travelling through that town on their way to Yorke Peninsula, Eyre Peninsula or farther west or north—a wonderful project indeed. Meeting with RAA representatives last week also cemented the overpass project as a welcome inclusion in the budget and one that will offer increased safety and traffic flow going forward.

Aside from the significant investment in Yorketown and Ardrossan hospitals, measures in the budget to re-establish regional health boards are equally as important. There will be $6.8 million over four years allocated to establish local health network governing boards, including six boards in country South Australia, that will put decision-making closer to the people who deliver and receive health care.

At a recent meeting, the Friends of Yorketown Hospital expressed particular upset about not knowing where their hard-earned fundraising moneys had gone under the previous government. They had raised approximately $20,000 or so by hard work, making sauces, and holding barbecues, accepting huge donations from the town's op shop knowing full well what specific resources hospital staff were lacking but having no ability to request funds to be used for those specific needs. By re-establishing the regional health boards, this decision-making will be returned to the local communities affected by those decisions.

As if operating in some sort of parallel universe, the previous government thought that the centralisation of health would achieve better outcomes but, predictably, Transforming Health just managed to transform health into a disaster. Yorketown and Ardrossan are great examples of the negligence shown by the previous government, and those opposite have no credibility to question this government as we get to work fixing their mess in the health sector. Yorketown and Ardrossan are also good examples of this new government beginning to fix that mess.

I also particularly welcome the $20 million for the Rural Health Workforce Strategy, which aims to address a shortage of health practitioners in country areas. We can have all the services in the world placed in country areas, but we cannot deliver anything without the staff who are trained for the job. They are in dire need and drastic shortage, so it is pleasing to see that being addressed in this budget. It is being addressed by increasing rural interns in support of pathways for rural generalists and GPs and is just one measure in the pipeline to address the drastic shortage of doctors and nursing staff in country towns.

I am lucky to be involved in the Wallaroo Health Services Planning Steering Group, looking at the framework for identifying and evaluating potential future service options, and staff retention and recruitment is a huge issue as we work together to ensure that Wallaroo Hospital can meet projected demand on its services. There is current significant concern around the Wallaroo Hospital, with the Moonta Medical Centre and Wallaroo Owen Terrace practice already withdrawing its doctors from the hospital roster, which in the last two years has placed considerable individual stress on doctors at the Kadina Medical Associates. They cannot possibly be expected to continue to run 24/7. It costs a lot of money to secure locums in regional areas.

Other valuable and vital health initiatives in the budget include $45 million to reduce elective surgery and colonoscopy waiting lists in public hospitals, $16 million to increase palliative care support and $2.5 million for additional suicide prevention services. I would like to take this opportunity to note the wonderful contribution of the local Stamp Out Suicide (SOS) networks that we have operating in Narungga. I have talked previously about their contribution.

I was lucky recently to attend a viewing of The Ripple Effect with the Hon. John Dawkins from the other place. It was put on by the SOS Yorkes group, which is a wonderful initiative, and it certainly educated me and approximately 100 or so people in the room about the troubles faced by people who suffer from this terrible ailment. I look forward to continuing to support them as they continue to offer that vital volunteer service in our electorate.

There was $4 million allocated for more domestic violence accommodation beds and $1 million for the Healthy Towns initiative to encourage rural and remote communities to come up with creative ways to improve local health, which is another good scheme implemented by this new government.

Finally, there is the provision of $140 million over 10 years to address backlog maintenance in country hospitals. That $140 million will go a long way to restoring the backlog that has built up over the past 16 years by a government that did not have the electoral imperatives to invest in regional hospitals and ensure that they would continue to be up to a satisfactory standard for surgical services and the like. I look forward to seeing that money being spent where it is most needed. I will be advocating strongly for some of it to make its way to Wallaroo.

I heard so much about cuts in rural public health services under the previous Labor government, including from local doctors lamenting the role of country hospitals, having been diminished by stealth, threatening the economic liability of rural doctors and, by extension, service delivery to patients. So many public forums filled town halls, and petitions with thousands of signatures fell on deaf ears. The loss of surgical services at Yorketown in 2017 was a huge blow to the residents of the southern Yorke Peninsula community. The reasoning was that too few procedures were being done to ensure safety standards were met.

And why were they not being done? Because the operating theatre was not being properly maintained and money was not being spent to ensure that it had the proper facilities and equipment. Air conditioning maintenance was cut, no sterilisers were replaced, and money locally raised and held in Adelaide was not allowed to be used on staff. Health advisory boards were silenced so it would not get out that the decisions being made at places such as at Yorketown were not about reduced demand or not having the skilled and willing staff to provide the services but about the unwillingness of the city to not allocate money they needed to properly maintain facilities. It is a shame that that was the decision made by the previous government.

How absurd was it to stop 300 surgery procedures at Yorketown and transfer them to the already overstretched, bursting at the seams Wallaroo Hospital, a two-hour drive away along one of the worst roads in the state? At a Quorn town meeting, attended by hundreds of people and eight HAC regions, seven council regions and reps from some 40 country hospitals around the state, so much was spoken about the erosion of services, the sustainability of health services and GP practices, consistent and constant battles for communities by HACs and GPs, with the hierarchy wasting everyone's time and resources.

The Kingston community was mentioned as having to use a $900,000 donation from a community member to replace its hospital roof, such was the reluctance of Country Health SA and other bureaucracies to front the money to fund its replacement. One would have thought that having a roof on your hospital would be considered a vital need, but, no, they had to rely on the donation of a private community member to replace it. Waikerie resorted to using bequests to keep its operating theatre open because the state government failed to pay $140,000 for a new air conditioner and doors. Cummins, as you would well know, Mr Deputy Speaker, could not replace its blood fridge. Booleroo Centre was without essential anaesthetist machinery, and Wudinna's closest X-ray machine was 250 kilometres away.

This budget puts respect for country areas back into the equation, and not a moment too soon. How disingenuous it is to insist services will be continued only where it is safe to do so and then deny essential maintenance required to keep facilities up to standard. Thankfully, Premier Marshall visited Ardrossan hospital with me on 9 September and felt firsthand the great relief of director of nursing, Jodie Luke, with the delivery of $720,000 over four years in this budget to cover its accident and emergency services, to deliver additional palliative and hospice care and to provide more staff training.

The Ardrossan hospital, which is a wonderful community-owned hospital run exclusively on private contributions and donations from the public, lost its state government funding in 2011 and has been under constant financial strain ever since, with the public accident and emergency service costing the local community about $200,000 per year to run. It is wonderful to see that funding returned, and I look forward to continuing to work with the Ardrossan hospital going forward to make sure they have a continued stream of funding.

With regard to sports funding, I must mention the $10 million over two years for grassroots community sports clubs, with a focus on female and family-friendly infrastructure, to build on the success of recent sport and rec funding within the Narungga electorate. We were lucky enough to receive, through the Active Club grants, $20,000 for the Arthurton Basketball Club; $25,000 for the Coobowie Tennis Club for the Save the Tennis Club program, which was in response to the savaging of its finances by hurricane Kathy; $5,000 for Curramulka bowls equipment; $20,000 for the Curramulka Community Club to upgrade its courts and another $5,000 for equipment; $3,500 for the Kadina Basketball Club; $3,000 for the Port Wakefield bowls club; $20,000 to upgrade lighting at the Wallaroo oval, with the aim to make it suitable for night games in the future; and $3,500 for equipment for the Wallaroo Golf Club.

We were able to double the value of sports vouchers to assist families to pay their subs, to make sure that their kids can have an active and healthy lifestyle, so that they can pay their registration fees and buy uniforms for their kids to play sport, which is another important feature of this wonderful success of a budget. Playing sport in rural areas is important for health and social benefits, providing participants with a connection to the town they represent. Hopefully, we get a few good footballers come through Kadina as a result of this initiative.

I also welcome the $30 million allocated for the $100 sports vouchers, which under the previous government were $50 vouchers, which did not go far given that subs for junior sport can be as much as $200 per child. In support of the volunteers who do so much in rural communities providing services that would otherwise be out of reach for many, I welcome the $5 million in the budget to make free of charge volunteer screening checks. From 1 January next year, community service volunteers—and rightly so—will not have to pay the $59.40 fee for the screening checks that they need to serve their community. The government will cover this cost. This will be very welcome to many who should not be left out of pocket to perform the good deeds that they do without payment.

There is much to be done, but this budget is a good start for Narungga and, importantly, we have delivered on every one of our pre-election commitments. It is with great pride that I commend this bill to the house and look forward to continuing the great work that this Marshall Liberal government has started and set with this platform going forward.

Mr BOYER (Wright) (17:51): I, too, rise to speak to this Appropriation Bill. There is a peculiar phenomenon in politics that everyone in this chamber will be very familiar with and that is the 'it's time' factor. Once it takes hold, surely it is one of the most difficult mindsets to combat. It is impervious to rational debate. It is immune to facts and, once it takes hold, it is nigh on impossible to stop.

There is no doubt that the 'it's time' factor was at play during the most recent state election. After 16 years, it is true that some South Australians had decided that it was time to change government. One of the reasons that this mood was so difficult to shift was that the performance of the alternative government when last in power was such a distant memory. There were people voting at this election who were just two years old when the Hon. Rob Lucas was last treasurer. Indeed, I was just one year old when he first entered this parliament.

Mr Duluk: I wasn't even born.

Mr BOYER: The member for Waite was not born. There was no context for explanations about the performance of the last Liberal government. Nonetheless, my comment to those voters who told me that they believed it was time for a change of government was that they will soon see what it is like having a Liberal government and that a leopard does not change its spots.

I think I speak for all on this side of the chamber when I say that even we have been shocked by the speed with which this Liberal government has reverted to its old ways and reminded people just what it is like to have a Liberal government in South Australia. We were shocked at how quickly they were provided with a very potent and, I think it is fair to say, devastating reminder of what South Australian Liberal governments do, and that is to cut, close and privatise.

Even more surprising to me was where these cuts, closures and privatisations have been delivered, and that is the north-eastern suburbs, the very suburbs where this government made the biggest gains at the March election. In fact, earlier this year, the Premier crowed in this place that there were no Labor-held seats in the north-east anymore. Notwithstanding the fact that he completely forgot about the residents of Wright, it perhaps shows a willingness on this government's behalf to take advantage of the two new Liberal members of parliament in that area who quite simply have not yet had the intestinal fortitude to stand up and fight these cuts.

If a Labor government had put these cuts on the previous members for Wright and Newland, they would have stopped right there. Indeed, such were the reputations—

Dr Harvey: Like Transforming Health.

Mr BOYER: The member for Newland has found his tongue about these cuts for the first time. Excellent. You should have a bit more to say, member for Newland.

Dr Harvey: I have lots to say, don't you worry.

Mr BOYER: Good, excellent. I am looking forward to it because no-one has seen you for weeks out there. Indeed, such were the reputations of Tom Kenyon and Jennifer Rankine that a Labor treasurer would not have been so reckless as to their own welfare even to raise such a prospect.

Clearly, this Treasurer and this Premier think that the stars have aligned: a South Australian voting public for whom the wreckage of the previous Liberal government is a distant memory; the first budget early in the political cycle, and an opportunity to cut deep in the hope that people will again forget; two inexperienced members of parliament without the knowhow or the desire to stand up for their area against these cuts; and a Treasurer who prefaced this budget by announcing that he would retire at the next state election, no doubt offering himself up as a human shield behind which this cabinet can slash and burn until a new face fills the role before the next state election—perhaps a face in this chamber now.

I must say it is cold comfort for South Australians that the Treasurer announced before the budget that this would be his final term in parliament. I think it is akin to the hangman walking out onto the gallows, patting the condemned on the back and saying, 'Don't worry, mate. This is my last one.' What did this alignment of the stars deliver us in the budget? It delivered the closure of Service SA at Modbury.

Anyone who has used that Service SA branch—and I am one of those people—knows that it is always busy. Indeed, I have spent many hours outside that Service SA since this announcement was made, and there is almost always a queue. The anger of residents, many of them elderly people who have no inclination or desire to use the internet, is palpable. They will now be forced to travel to Elizabeth or Tranmere to use a Service SA branch.

We also saw the closure of the Tea Tree Gully TAFE. Most jarring about this announcement, I think, was the rhetoric of the government in the lead-up to the election. The then opposition's policy document—I think it is 'A strong plan for real change' or, 'A real plan for strong change'; it is easy to get them confused—pontificated about skills shortages and the need for government to invest more in training. The first thing they do is close seven TAFE campuses.

So, too, did this government, when in opposition, reinvent itself as the champion of Modbury Hospital. At any hint or mere suggestion that a Liberal government might again privatise that hospital, those opposite were very quick to denounce such claims as scandalous. But here we are, 185 days after the election, and this budget has revealed plans to privatise patient transfers from Modbury Hospital to the Lyell McEwin Hospital.

Dr Harvey: Why are there so many transfers?

Mr BOYER: Is that justification for privatising it, is it?

Dr Harvey: Why are there so many transfers?

Mr BOYER: It is amazing how you have found your voice in here. If only you had the courage to find your voice outside, where it really matters.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Continue on, member for Wright—in silence, thank you, from the government benches.

Mr BOYER: Very little detail has been provided as to why this is even needed, as the information I have seen shows that current arrangements are working effectively. At present, around 80 to 90 per cent of patient transfers between Modbury and Lyell McEwin are priority 2 to priority 5 and therefore require medical observation. Only 10 to 15 per cent of patients are classified as priority 8. It looks very much like patient safety will be put at risk in order to make a very small saving.

There was, however, $5 million provided for capital works in the budget under the government's plan to return a four-bed high dependency unit to Modbury Hospital. Operating expenses for the HDU are set at around $5 million per year over the forward estimates, with $2.5 million budgeted for this year. I think it is safe to say that the government plans to have the HDU operational by the end of this year.

On the face of it, this might sound like good news for the residents of the north-east, who I know all support more services into their local hospital. However, it is somewhat concerning, given that the clinical advice is still that a standalone HDU is not safe and that a high-observation unit would be more appropriate.

The reintroduction of a stand-alone HDU will mean that patients with higher acuity will be treated at Modbury; however, with no ICU, when a patient deteriorates to the point that they need access to a bed in an ICU, the patient will need to be transferred to Lyell McEwin Hospital. Under this government's plan, not only will patients be forced to transfer at a critical time in their care but they may no longer be transferred in an ambulance by a paramedic and an ambulance officer, as is currently the arrangement.

Instead, we could see very unwell patients who attended the Modbury Hospital in good faith for treatment, under the impression that it would provide the health care they needed, transferred to a different hospital in the back of a private vehicle with crew who may not have the skills needed to treat them should their condition deteriorate during that transfer.

The other notable cut in this budget insofar as the north-eastern suburbs are concerned is the indefinite postponement of the expansion of the Tea Tree Plaza park-and-ride. It is good news that the government has kept its promise to match Labor's commitment to expand the Golden Grove park-and-ride. This is certainly needed and will be welcomed by commuters who use the O-Bahn every day to get into the city. But to indefinitely postpone the expansion of the biggest park-and-ride along the O-Bahn busway—a park-and-ride that is full before 9am every weekday—defies all logic.

There was some good news, however, in the electorate of Wright, with $679,000 over the next four years to establish new bus stops and to provide a new bus service for the residents of Gulfview Heights.

Sitting suspended from 18:00 to 19:30.

Mr BOYER: I will continue where I left off before the dinner break. There was some good news, however, for the residents of Wright in the most recent budget. As I was saying earlier, $679,000 spent over the next four years will be spent to establish a new bus route in Gulfview Heights. As a resident of Gulfview Heights, I am very familiar with the issues around access to public transport at the moment, particularly for those residents of Gulfview Heights who live halfway up Wynn Vale Drive and who have no choice at the moment but to walk down the hill to Salisbury East or walk up the hill to Wynn Vale to catch a bus.

There is, in fact, quite a good backstory to this election commitment. An announcement was made by the then opposition and the candidate for the seat of Wright for a bus stop, I believe, on Wynn Vale Drive in Gulfview Heights. On the face of it, it sounded like a very good idea, but I think the new minister, when he took on the role of Minister for Transport, realised that there were, in fact, no buses servicing that part of Wynn Vale Drive. I commend him for making good on that commitment and providing funding in this budget not just for a bus stop but also for a bus route to service that area, which will be welcomed by all residents of Gulfview Heights, including me.

I also intend to provide feedback to the minister about the opportunities that this announcement presents to provide public transport to other residents in the area who currently are not as well serviced by public transport as they could be. I think those opportunities include, but are not limited to, connecting the Golden Grove Village with Mawson Lakes. This could be done by establishing a bus route along the Golden Way on to Wynn Vale Drive, along Bridge Road via Maxwell Road, on to Elder Smith Road and then on to Main Street in Mawson Lakes.

This service would allow students of the north-east to access the University of South Australia campus and the defence industries that have been established within Mawson Lakes. It would also provide a direct service from Salisbury East to the Golden Grove Village, whilst meeting the government's commitment to provide bus access to residents of Gulfview Heights. The government has also kept its promise to match Labor's commitment to upgrade the section of Golden Grove Road between Surrey Downs and Golden Grove. These works are genuinely needed.

The intersection of Hancock and Golden Grove roads has become increasingly dangerous as traffic flows have grown over the years. The proposal, as I understand it, is for a roundabout to be built at this intersection; however, I would offer a small word of warning to the new government. Given that council has purchased the large block of land adjacent to that intersection, with a view to developing it into a major sporting hub, it might be that traffic lights are more suitable than a roundabout, especially given that the flow of traffic on match days will be immense if council gets its wish and is able to build six or seven synthetic pitches at that site.

I must say that the good news in the north-east and the north is very thin on the ground. Last week, a concerned parent and I joined the leader and Deputy Leader of the Opposition at Golden Grove High School to call on this government to stop siphoning money away from Labor's Building Better Schools program to prop up the unfunded election commitment to move year 7 into high school. Golden Grove High School is set to lose as much as 70 per cent of the $10 million grant provided by the Labor government, which it was intending to use to build a performing arts centre.

Where will this money go? It will be spent on building new classrooms for year 7 students who already have classrooms just down the road. I feel that it was somewhat dishonest of this government to say that it was going to honour those Building Better Schools grants in full, only to siphon money off into an election commitment that had not been funded as it should have been. The rhetoric from the government since the budget was handed down has been that it has honoured all its election commitments, but this is actually not true.

There was one very important election commitment made by those opposite when they were in opposition that it is still refusing to honour, and that is matching Labor's election commitment to the Modbury Vista Soccer Club of $1 million for a new synthetic pitch. Still the Minister for Recreation and Sport refuses to acknowledge that this promise was made, even though the then president of the club, the person to whom that promise was made, has now signed a stat dec stating that the commitment was made, when it was made and the terms on which it was made.

It is incredible that after all this time the minister has still not bothered to speak to the club in question to get its side of the story, nor has the minister, at least to my knowledge, spoken to the Liberal candidate who made that commitment. The broad question that must be asked is this: if the electors of Newland and King knew that these cuts, closures and privatisations were coming, would they have still voted for this Liberal government? The answer, of course, is no.

If those opposite think that the anger over this budget will quickly subside, I can tell them that they have greatly misread the mood of the north-east. Today, in question time, we heard the Minister for Transport answer a question about what the savings from the closure of the three Service SA branches would be, and the figure we were given was $2.15 million. What does this say about the government's priorities that it was prepared to rush through a $2.5 million payout to Henry Keogh but not prepared to keep essential services, like Service SA, open?

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Basham.