Ambulance Ramping

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (14:43): My question is to the Premier. Will the Premier personally meet with representatives of paramedics over the next week to agree to a solution to end the current ramping and ambulance resources crisis?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:44): I thank the member for his question. Ramping is a very important issue. As I stated yesterday in the parliament and I have stated I think almost every day for the last week, there is no simple solution to the issue that exists within the South Australian emergency departments at the moment. In fact, there is a suite of things that need to work together to alleviate the situation and ambulances are certainly and unequivocally a part of that. We have to make sure that we are adequately providing those resources to our ambulances, whether that be personnel, whether it be budget or whether it be of course the ambulances themselves.

Ambulance officers—the paramedics in South Australia—do an outstanding job. We very much appreciate what they do. They are clearly at the moment conducting their enterprise bargaining agreement and we have processes in place for that. But one of the things that will help to alleviate the situation that the member referred to in his question is the opening of the Urgent Mental Health Care Centre—

Mr Picton: Will you meet with the paramedics?

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Kaurna!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —which has just opened in South Australia today. This has been a real issue and one that has significantly exacerbated the situation in our emergency departments in South Australia. We know that we have around 27,000 mental health presentations to our EDs each year. We know that about 12,000 of those do not require the patient who has presented at the ED to be admitted to the hospital. So, in a national first—the first of eight that are going to be rolled out across the country—we have established today the Urgent Mental Health Care Centre right here in the centre of Adelaide.

What we know is that this is a facility which has been co-designed with people who have lived experience in this particular area. We know that this is a facility which will take the pressure off our emergency departments across metropolitan Adelaide. We note that this new facility is located at 215 Grenfell Street, Adelaide. It's open from 12 o'clock in the afternoon right through to 12 o'clock in the morning, seven days per week. Initially, it is open for referrals from the SA Ambulance Service of course, but also South Australia Police and the emergency mental health phone line—

Mr PICTON: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Kaurna rises on a point of order.

Mr PICTON: The Premier was asked a very specific question as to whether he would meet with representatives of paramedics.

An honourable member: What number?

Mr PICTON: It's standing order 98. This is debate and I ask that he be referred back to the question.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I listened carefully to the question. The question contained, as I understood it, two limbs, one of which was a characterisation of the present circumstances. In the context of the question as a whole, the Premier is entitled to provide a response to that aspect of the question as well as the aspect of the question that the member for Kaurna draws attention to. I remind the Premier of the specific aspects of the question. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: As I was saying in my answer, I am happy to reiterate that we very much value the work of South Australian ambulance officers in South Australia. There is an enterprise bargaining agreement that is in place at the moment and we have processes in place for ambulance officers and their union to meet. My understanding is that there have been regular meetings. There has been a meeting this week looking at aspects and we hope to move to a speedy resolution of the situation that currently exists in South Australia. But also, as part of the question, there was a focus on what we are basically doing in terms of—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Such a coward.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Sorry, sir. I take offence to the comments made by the member for West Torrens.

The SPEAKER: The Premier might resume his seat.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Sorry, sir. I apologise for calling the Premier a coward for not meeting ambulance officers.

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens has withdrawn and apologised.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I invite the member for West Torrens to withdraw.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I apologise and withdraw for calling the Premier a coward for not meeting ambulance officers.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for West Torrens has withdrawn.

Ms Cook interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Hurtle Vale!

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey! The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: In fact, it takes courage, it actually takes a lot of courage to fix up the mess that we inherited from the previous government. I don't think there is a person—

Mr Malinauskas: Double ramping: how is that fixing it up?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I hear the former Minister for Health shouting across the chamber. He should hang his head in shame.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We as the incoming government had to inherit the mess that he was presiding over in cabinet at the time of the last election. Watch him reverse out of that situation because he always wants to say, 'I was only there for four or five or six months.' He was in cabinet the entire time!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The reality is that it does take courage to fix the issues associated with ramping in South Australia, and that's exactly and precisely what we are doing.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I remind honourable members of the capacity to extend time where an answer has been interrupted in the circumstances. I am conscious of having occupied a certain amount of time myself in considering and ruling upon a point of order in the course of that answer. The member for Kaurna with a supplementary question.