Women's and Children's Hospital

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (15:01): My question is to the Premier. Why did SA Health delete from their website references to the WCH task force delivering to the government the capital cost of the project by the end of 2018?

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order, sir: the question presupposes facts that haven't been established by leave of the house.

The SPEAKER: It does contain a fair bit of argument, arguably, so I will uphold the point of order. The member for Kaurna may wish to rephrase the question.

Mr PICTON: I will rephrase, sir, thank you. My question is to the Premier. Did the WCH task force provide the government with the capital cost of the project by the end of 2018?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (15:01): Well, clearly not. As I have already outlined to the house, the final cost has not been provided to the government yet, and we will update the house when that is available. As I have also outlined to the house, we want the right number, the most accurate number. We know what happens when people rush these announcements. We know what happened under the previous government.

I know that you will allow some 'compare and contrast', as you call it, sir, so if we look at the new Royal Adelaide Hospital the fastest thing the previous government announced was the name—not usually the most important component of a hospital, but they announced the name. They had to then step back from that. Then they announced the cost, which was $1.7 billion.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Waite is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Did it come in at $1.7 billion?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Not a chance. What we are doing is sitting down and talking with clinicians so that we get the very best cost estimate, the very best best-practice hospital, which the people of South Australia deserve. I will make this point, and I think it's an important point to make. We were elected just 15 months ago and we have already put money into our budget for the commencement of the construction of the new Women's and Children's Hospital.

Those opposite promised the people of South Australia that they would have a new co-located Women's and Children's Hospital in 2013. They then had budgets that they brought down in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, and all of them failed to have a single solitary cent allocated to the construction of the Women's and Children's Hospital. The last people we are going to take any advice from, in terms of our costing or our inclusion in the budget, are those opposite.