Ambulance Ramping

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:16): My question is to the Premier. Why were there so many ambulances ramped outside the Flinders Medical Centre last night? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: Video footage released this morning reveals 11 ambulances were ramped outside the Flinders emergency department yesterday evening.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:16): There would have been a surge at that time. I don't have the exact dashboard in front of me at the moment but, as we know, the reason for the situation that is currently occurring in South Australia at the moment is twofold. One is because we are having a very significantly heightened presentation rate in South Australia. Nobody really understands exactly and precisely the reason for that increased presentation rate, although it is—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Although, as I have stated to this house before, and with the media, we are seeing this same phenomenon right around the country at the moment. There is a very significantly increased presentation rate. Whether it be for mental health reasons or for other medical emergencies, it is significantly higher.

The second reason for the situation that we are currently experiencing, and the Leader of the Opposition cited in particular Flinders Medical Centre, is because of the significant downgrading of services in South Australia which occurred under the previous government. In fact, the Leader of the Opposition was the health minister at the time who closed the Repat hospital. Now, you don't think that might have had an effect—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —on our ability to respond to these surges? They downgraded the Noarlunga Hospital, they closed the Repat hospital and, of course, as was evidenced with the presentation I made in the sitting week before last, with reference to former health minister—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader will cease interjecting.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —John Hill's very informative novelette, the Flinders Medical Centre was designed to fail. Of course, let's not go over things that have happened in the past. Mistakes were made in the past; let's not go over that.

The reality is, we've got to fix the mess that we inherited from those opposite, and I'm very proud to lead a government that is massively investing in increasing the ability for our state to respond to these surges. We have put more than $2 billion worth of new money into the health budget. We've got more than a billion dollars worth of new money going into capital upgrades to fix the downgrades that were inflicted upon the health system in South Australia when they were last in government.

The Flinders Medical Centre is the busiest emergency department in the state. After we complete those capacity increases, which will occur around the middle of this year, it will be the largest emergency department in the state. This will have a massively positive effect on the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network, and I met with the chief executive and the chair of the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network this morning.

Mr Picton interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Kaurna!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Those upgrades are on track. So that's absolutely great, and it will be a massive improvement there. It will also have a corresponding improvement in the Central Adelaide Local Health Network. At the moment, because the situation that we inherited from those opposite was a massive undercapacity situation in the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network, too many of our ambulances are diverted into CALHN, the Central Adelaide Local Health Network. We have taken a systems approach to fixing the issue. We don't want to have ramping. Ramping was introduced to South Australia by the former Labor government. They presided over the introduction of that. What we're doing is implementing our plan to fix the mess that we inherited.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the member for Newland, I call to order the Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, I call to order the member for Kaurna, I call to order the leader and I call to order and warn the member for Lee.