McGowan, Dr C.

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (14:50): My question is to the Premier. Have any concerns been raised about the performance of Dr Chris McGowan as part of any performance review undertaken for the chief executive?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:50): I undertake the performance reviews for the chief executive, and can I just say that we have been very pleased with the work that Dr McGowan has done since taking up this role. It is a very—

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell: Not as pleased as the shareholders.

The SPEAKER: The member for Mawson is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —difficult role as you can imagine. It's a very significant business for South Australia. He has many challenges to deal with, a reform process that is underway at the moment—the expansion—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is on two warnings.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I would have thought that the Leader of the Opposition might have liked to have heard about somebody who is working diligently, virtually 18 hours a day, to try to clean up the mess that he inherited from the Leader of the Opposition.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: What an absolutely disgraceful mess the health system was left in by those opposite. They should hang their heads in shame, and the number one person who should hang his head in shame is the incompetent, unworthy Leader of the Opposition, who was the minister for health—

Mr PICTON: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: Premier, there's a point of order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —who hid things from the people of South Australia regarding the true position of the Central Adelaide Local Health Network.

The SPEAKER: There is a point of order by the member for Kaurna. The point of order is for debate?

Mr PICTON: Debate.

The SPEAKER: It was a question about performance. The Premier is giving his opinion on performance. He is probably starting to deviate, so I'm going to pull him back to the substance of the question.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The substance of the question was all about the performance of the current chief executive, who is dealing with very difficult and trying conditions that we inherited from those opposite.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: What he is doing is setting about fixing the health system.

Ms Bedford interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Florey!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We are seeing very significant—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens can leave for the remainder of question time for interjecting after being on two warnings. Premier, and then the member for Florey.

The honourable member for West Torrens having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We are very satisfied with the work of Dr McGowan as the Chief Executive of SA Health. There is a huge amount of work to be done in this area. Can I say that the reform work, in terms of expanding the local health network, especially in country SA, is a significant amount of work. The rebuilding of our hospitals in South Australia and undoing the damage of Transforming Health is well underway, making sure that we can open new beds in South Australia—exactly and precisely what we are doing, especially on the Repat site, which was a hospital closed by those opposite, sold by those opposite and now is being reactivated as a genuine health precinct for the people in the south. This is the work—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It's almost impossible to believe that the minister can't think back 18 months ago.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morphett is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Now they didn't close the hospital.

Mr Duluk interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Waite can leave for the remainder of question time.

The honourable member for Waite having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I know that he likes to see himself as a fantastic footballer. I know what his key skill would be: it would be the handball. It would be the handball: 'It wasn't me. It wasn't me.' What a hopeless, weak, lily-livered opposition leader we have in South Australia. He only ever wants to say, 'I had nothing to do with the health catastrophe that we handed over to the Liberal Party.'

The SPEAKER: Premier!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We don't care. We'll fix it up. We love fixing up your mess—

The SPEAKER: Premier, this is not a debate.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —and your mess, and your mess.

The SPEAKER: The Premier will be seated. The member for Kaurna.