O'Neill, Prof. S.

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (14:45): My question is to the Premier. Premier, has Professor Sue O'Neill, who has today resigned her position as CEO of SALHN, ever expressed concerns about the budget or the direction of the South Australian health system?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:45): No. She has certainly never raised any of those issues with me. She has done an outstanding job, along with her dedicated team, in managing the budget within the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network. It is fair to say she has had an interest in academic work and research over a long period of time.

She has served as the Chief Executive of the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network for the entire time we have been in government. In fact, she has been in that role for 3½ years. It is a very high-pressure job. She has done an outstanding job in that very important role. She leaves the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network in a very significantly enhanced position from the one that she inherited when she came into that role. As I was outlining in my previous answer, what a shadow of its former self the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network was three years ago when we came to government.

Ms Cook interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hurtle Vale will cease interjecting. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It seems extraordinary to me that those opposite would now be defending their record in terms of downgrading services.

Ms Cook interjecting:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The member for Hurtle Vale is there defending the previous government's diminution of the services for the people of the southern suburbs. She should hang her head in shame. They downgraded services at Noarlunga Hospital, they closed the Repat hospital and they left the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network in a pitiful state.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Since coming to government, we have very proudly reinvested in that local health network.

Ms Cook interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hurtle Vale is warned for a second time.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Screaming abuse across the chamber is no argument. We are putting the people of South Australia first. Where was the member for Hurtle Vale when they were downgrading services at Noarlunga? Where was the member for Hurtle Vale when they closed the Repat? Can the member for Hurtle Vale show us all the correspondence that she actually sent to the Leader of the Opposition when he was the health minister closing the Repat, ignoring the wishes of the vast majority of South Australians?

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It's great that the member for Hurtle Vale wants to shout abuse across the chamber at people who are trying to fix the situation that we inherited from the previous South Australian government—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Chaffey!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —but we are not going to be intimidated by the constant abuse and screaming from the member for Hurtle Vale. What we are going to do—

Ms Cook interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Hurtle Vale will cease interjecting. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The member for Hurtle Vale, in screaming her answer across the chamber saying she's not screaming, should provide the parliament and the people of the southern suburbs with all the petitions that she made to the Leader of the Opposition for services in her local area.

Ms Cook interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Hurtle Vale!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Can she provide information to the people of the southern suburbs where she complained to the previous government when they downgraded services at Noarlunga Hospital? Can she provide any evidence, a shred of evidence, of where she was on the record telling us about the disaster, which was Transforming Health, and the closure of the Repat hospital? The answer is no. There's one answer when she was a member of the government, and there's another answer now.

Well, we won't be perturbed. We will continue to serve the people of the southern suburbs with upgrades in terms of their hospitals, in terms of their roads, in terms of their schools. This is what a good government does: listen to the people, not ignore them like those opposite did and then scream and cry and carp and complain after the event.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Before I call the member for Newland, I call to order the member for Hammond, I warn the member for Chaffey, I warn the Minister for Trade and Investment, I call to order the Minister for Environment and Water, I call to order the member for Elizabeth. The member for Hurtle Vale will leave for the remainder of question time in accordance with standing order 137A.

The honourable member for Hurtle Vale having withdrawn from the chamber: