Hibbert Review

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:32): A supplementary question to the Premier: can the Premier clarify who exactly commissioned the inquiry, the Hibbert review? Was it the Premier, was it the health minister, or was it the SA Ambulance Service independently of the minister?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:32): The South Australian Ambulance Service isn't independent of the government: it is the government. So we, the government, commissioned that report. As to who specifically initiated it, I can find out precisely the name of the person who made the suggestion. The clear benefit to the people of South Australia—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The clear—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Nobody is claiming credit. What we are doing—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —is we are taking responsibility, unlike those opposite who had 16 years. Let me tell you a little bit about the system that we inherited, with emergency departments ranked by the Australian health institute—

Mr Malinauskas: It's got worse since you've been in charge.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Well, I'm not here to respond to interjections, but I think it is important to point out that the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare actually publish reports each year on the performance of emergency departments in hospitals right across South Australia. There are hundreds and hundreds of hospitals across Australia, and they are ranked in terms of their clearance for emergency departments. How did South Australia fare last financial year, of which nine of those 12 months were under the previous government? Let me tell you: we finished worst, or last, second to last, third to last and fourth to last. The Royal Adelaide Hospital was the worst in the country, the Modbury was the second worst in the country, the Lyell McEwin was the third worst in the country—

Ms Bedford interjecting:

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

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —and the Flinders Medical Centre was the fourth worst. That's what we inherited from those opposite, yet they come in here and throw accusations around about how we haven't fixed the mess that we inherited from them so promptly.

The issues associated with the emergency departments were caused unequivocally by the failure of Transforming Health—the closure of hospital beds right across the system driving more and more patients to stretched emergency departments. I'm sorry that all those problems can't be fixed overnight, but what I am telling you is that we are working diligently every single day to undo the mess that was created by those opposite.