SA Health

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (14:35): Thank you, Mr Speaker. My—

The Hon. D.G. Pisoni: Ask him what does page 5 say.

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Industry is warned.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is warned.

Mr PICTON: My question is to the Premier. How many of the budgeted 880 SA Health doctors, nurses and other staff to be let go this financial year have so far been let go?

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Mawson is called to order. The minister has the call.

The Hon. S.S. Marshall: More scaremongering.

The SPEAKER: The Premier is warned.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my left will not interject. The minister has the call.

Mr Picton interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Kaurna is warned for a second and final time. The minister has the call.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart—Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:36): I am happy to take this question on behalf of the Minister for Health in the other place, but let me just put these questions in some context. Let me just put some very specific and necessary context that answers, hopefully, a few of these questions about the tender documents. The Auditor-General's Report into health budget performance in the last financial year—

The Hon. Z.L. Bettison: That has nothing to do with this question.

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

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Mr Speaker, you know that I almost never respond to interjections, but to say that this has nothing to do with the question is plainly wrong. The Auditor-General states—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order: yesterday, the manager of government business moved a motion to have a debate of the Auditor-General's Report, and the minister is now canvassing that report here in question time.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Point of order on the point of order.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: The manager of opposition business would do well to read the standing orders. There is no point of order; it is not a bill before the house.

The SPEAKER: I will listen to the minister's answer.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my right, that is not an excuse for argument or debate. I will listen to the minister's answer.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Mr Speaker, the information I am about to share with you and the house goes directly to cost. You know that we are focused on patient care first and foremost, but budgets are very important, and that's what the opposition is trying to get at. On the very first page of the Auditor-General's Report, it says, and I quote:

The strategies employed in the public health system to consistently achieve [Local Health Network] and [South Australian Ambulance Service] budget targets have not worked over many years.

There are three short points, and No. 2 states:

Based on [Department of Health and Wellbeing] forecasting as at May 2018, [Local Health Networks] and SAAS were estimated to exceed their combined 2017-18 budgets by $467 million.

Lastly:

There was no long-term financial plan that drew together all strategies across the Health portfolio and described how it intended to meet budget forward estimates and savings expectations.

So, as I said, patient care is number one for us—absolutely patient care—but you cannot care for patients if you—

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Mr Clerk, please adjust the clock—about a minute.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Thank you.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: So patient care is first and foremost for us, absolutely, but you cannot care for patients if you don't do your budgeting and your strategy and your policy sensibly. That is what was missing. Don't believe me; believe the Auditor-General. That is why we are doing everything under the guidance of the Minister for Health, the Hon. Mr Stephen Wade in the other place, who is an outstanding health minister. For anybody on the other side to suggest that we should not be pursuing this course of action is disgraceful. They wrecked it and now they don't want us to fix it. That's what it is about.

We await the advice that we receive. We want to get that advice. We are determined to get the health system right for all South Australians. We are determined to make sure that doctors, nurses and other health workers, everybody who works in the health system, have good, strong, stable, rewarding, productive, secure employment. That is our focus so that we can—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee! Member for Kaurna! Members will not interject. The minister has the call.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: That is our focus. We are seeking advice. We are working incredibly hard. People in the health system are doing the best they can. The Minister for Health is doing the best that he can. We are going to fix the mess left behind by the previous government.