SA Health

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:10): My question is to the Premier. Will the CE of the Department for Health and Wellbeing be a member of the cross-agency task force?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:11): That will be a matter for the Chief Executive of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Kaurna is warned, and the member for Elizabeth is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I am happy to go through it again. We want to have—

Mr Brown interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Playford!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —a timely response to the commissioner's report to the parliament, which was tabled in this place on Tuesday.

Mr Brown interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Playford is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We wanted to set this up as a matter of alacrity, which we did. It is going to report to the government by the end of this year. I can't imagine a more timely response to any report ever. What we know and what we saw over a long period of time from the previous government—

Mr Odenwalder interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Elizabeth is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —whenever there was something that was untoward within the previous government's administration, they commissioned an inquiry. That usually took a couple of years, cost a couple of million dollars, and by the time it finally arrived the ship had sailed. We are not in any way, shape or form interested in the same sort of delay. We have been working on fixing the problematic health system since we came to government 20 months ago and we are going to be working every single day that we are in this place to advance that cause.

We have already put more than $1 billion—more than $1 billion—into the health system since we came to government. We have established five new local health networks in accordance with plans that we took to the last election. On 1 July this year, the new boards, the new governance arrangements, much closer to the action than under the previous administration, came into effect. When we came into government we had the most centralised, bureaucratised health administration in the nation with the highest costs and the worst outcomes. Something had to change.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, leader!

Mr Picton: You've doubled ramping.

The SPEAKER: Member for Kaurna!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Of course, there have been significant problems associated with ramping in South Australia in recent times, and if we go back to the reasons—

Ms Cook interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hurtle Vale is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —exactly and precisely why that has occurred, we don't have to look too much further than straight across the chamber. The last time the capacity was increased—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Patterson: You closed the Repat.

The SPEAKER: Member for Morphett!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: They hate the fact that we are fixing their mess. The previous government, of course, underscoped—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morphett is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —significantly underscoped, the capacity of the Flinders Medical Centre. It was never built to the capacity that was required, and they should have known that when they did the last upgrade in 2010. In 2012, they received—

Ms Cook interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hurtle Vale!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —the Monaghan review into the Flinders Medical Centre and the problems that existed within that emergency department. I didn't see any useful implementation of the recommendations of the Monaghan report thereafter. Since that was released, when they knew they had problems at the Flinders Medical Centre, what did they do? They downgraded services at Noarlunga Hospital and closed the Repat Hospital, which further exacerbated the pressure on the ED at the Flinders Medical Centre. That is why—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —it was with great pride today—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Badcoe!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —that I was down at the Flinders Medical Centre with the member for Davenport, with the member for Elder, with the member for Waite—

The SPEAKER: Could the Premier be seated for one moment. Point of order from the member for West Torrens.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Sir, the Premier spent three minutes debating.

The SPEAKER: I have the point of order. I have allowed the Premier to sometimes roll the arm over. I ask the Premier to come back to the substance of the question.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Those opposite dislike the fact that we are fixing the health system that we inherited. They are constantly suggesting to us that ramping is a problem, and I'm just providing information to the house regarding ramping and what we're doing to address that.

The SPEAKER: Premier, please be seated.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order: the Premier continues to talk about the opposition, sir.

The SPEAKER: Yes, I have the point of order. I ask the Premier to come back to the substance of the question.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: How arrogant are you?

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Back to the substance of the question: I am convinced—100 per cent convinced—that the interagency task force that we have put in place will report to the government by the end of this year and provide us with the information that is required to continue—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: Is Tim on it?

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —with the clean-up that has already started. It started on the first day that we came to government. It's a big task. We're not complaining about it. In fact, we love cleaning up their mess. We're very good at cleaning up their mess. Every single day that we're in here, we're doing more and more of that, and today was a perfect example, down at the Flinders Medical Centre, when the capacity for the adult emergency department was doubled. This is a massive improvement and will see very great benefits for the people of southern Adelaide.