House of Assembly Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1) 54 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Regional Hospital Car Parking Regional Hospital Car Parking Mr BELL House of Assembly Mount Gambier Regional Hospital Car Parking Mr BELL (Mount Gambier) (15:04): My question is to the minister representing the Minister for Health. More than $70 million has been spent to provide safe and secure car parking and additional spaces at three metropolitan hospitals. What funds are being allocated to provide improved and additional car parking spaces at regional hospitals, in particular in the seat of Mount Gambier? The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN House of Assembly Stuart Minister for Energy and Mining Regional Hospital Car Parking The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart—Minister for Energy and Mining) (15:04): For the member for Mount Gambier, car parking at a hospital is an important issue. It is a challenging issue in metropolitan areas. We have made some significant improvements in that regard. It's complicated for a range of reasons with regard to space, with regard to— The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN House of Assembly The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —some people needing long stay car parks, some people needing to have the capacity to park quite close to where they need to go at the hospital. There is a lot of complexity in this. With regard to what the member asks about regional hospitals, and particularly Mount Gambier, the 10 regional hospitals in my electorate don't have car parking challenges in that way, so I just share that as an example—10 hospitals in the electorate of Stuart. Specifically with regard to hospitals in the electorate of Mount Gambier, I have visited the hospital myself—certainly not in my role as minister representing the Minister for Health and Wellbeing but for other reasons I visited that hospital myself. At that time, there were no apparent challenges with regard to car parking at the hospital, but that certainly might have changed. It might be that the days I was there everything was just okay, or perhaps something has changed since then. For the member for Mount Gambier, I am more than happy to go to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing and find out, I suppose, if it has been deemed that there is a need to change or to upgrade the car parking Mount Gambier and, if so, what the plan to address that issue is.