SA Ambulance Service

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:22): Supplementary question to the Premier: has the Premier met with leaders of the union who are concerned about what is going on in the health crisis at the moment? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: In the Premier's most recent answer he said he has met with ambulance officers but didn't explain whether or not he has met with leaders of the union. Leaders of the union are themselves paramedics and I would have thought paramedics, along with former nurses, are the first people who should be making comment on this and the first people the Premier should be listening to.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:23): As part of questions, the Leader of the Opposition can now make speeches. But there we go, he is really struggling at the moment. That's why he's got the Meet Pete program, the campaign that's being rolled out so he can make little speeches like this. They are not appropriate in question time, but we will take this question anyway. It's the same question you asked just a few moments ago and it's the same one you asked a couple of weeks ago.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: And I make the point, two clear points, that I do meet with ambulance officers. They do a great job in South Australia. They are under enormous pressure because of the situation—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —that we inherited from the previous government and we are working to address those issues. We are working to address those issues which do relate to the South Australian Ambulance Service's resources, they do relate to the patient flow within our hospitals and they do relate to other services where people can be diverted from emergency departments—for example, the urgent mental health care facilities or crisis care facilities, which only opened earlier this month and, of course, the expansion of the emergency departments.

With regard to the specific issue about meeting with leadership, it has happened in the past, but we are in the midst of an industrial dispute at the moment. The best way for that to occur is through a single point of contact within the government—which is, within our cabinet arrangement, the Treasurer of South Australia, the Hon. Rob Lucas in the other place—and also continuing the negotiations that are—

Mr Malinauskas: Ice in his veins.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Really classy comments.

The SPEAKER: Order! The leader will cease interjecting. The Premier will not respond to interjections. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Grubby, grubby, grubby. The reality is we hope that all parties can reach an agreement. We have made it very clear that there are things we are seeking. The South Australian ambulance association have made it clear that there are things they are seeking. We have put things on the table. We are pleased that the South Australian ambulance union are at the table. They are at the table at the moment. I hope we can get this resolved because we do value the work that our ambulance officers, our paramedics, in South Australia do.

They do an outstanding job, and that is one of the reasons why we have significantly increased the budget to the South Australian Ambulance Service since we came to government. You cannot deny that. You cannot deny that ambulances have been upgraded, replaced, since we came to government three years ago. You cannot deny that, in our first two years, 187 additional ambulance officers and paramedics were put into the system, and there are 76 in the current budget.

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell: You cannot deny hundreds that were on the front steps today at lunchtime because they're not happy.

The SPEAKER: Member for Mawson!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: You can't deny, when you look at some of those statistics, that per capita we have the second highest level of funding in the country, but we do need to look at some fundamental reforms, not just to the rostering arrangements but to other things that are happening in our hospitals. There is no silver bullet to the situation that we inherited from those opposite, and we are fixing it, but we are being realistic about the reasons why we find ourselves in the current situation.

We are taking action. We are putting dollars behind it, but we are also looking at it from a total systems perspective. If that had been the consideration three, four, five or six years ago when they were designing the new Royal Adelaide Hospital, we wouldn't have the current situation. If they were actually thinking from a total systems perspective, if they were thinking from that perspective when they were designing Transforming Health, they would have run for the hills. How would anybody logically think that closing down metropolitan services was going to improve the situation in South Australia?

We are working diligently. Nothing can be done overnight, but what I will say is that, even in the midst of the coronavirus, where our health professionals have worked so well, we are continuing to move ahead with this very important reform. We will not be taken off course just because people over there shout at us here in this parliament.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the member for West Torrens, I warn the member for Mawson, I warn the member for Elder, I warn for a second time the member for Playford, I warn the member for Lee, I call to order the Deputy Premier and I call to order the leader.