Ambulance Response, Whyalla

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (14:29): My question is to the Premier. Why was a patient in Whyalla suffering a seizure forced to wait more than an hour for an ambulance? With your leave, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr HUGHES: On Sunday 16 May, a Whyalla patient suffered a seizure and was semi responsive. It took an ambulance coming from Port Augusta, 80 kilometres away, one hour and 20 minutes to arrive for what should have been a 16-minute response time.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:30): I thank the member for Giles for his question. I don't have any details on that specific case, but what I do know is that we are very significantly increasing the capacity of our Ambulance Service in South Australia with a significant number of additional paramedics. I can't tell you the exact number here, but I am happy to get it for the member for Giles. A large number of those are going to be in regional South Australia. We don't ultimately answer the phone. We have to make sure that we've got the right—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Premier might resume his seat for a moment.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It's a very significant issue that we are dealing with, and all we get from those opposite is just carping, whingeing, whining.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier will resume his seat. Members on my left will cease interjecting. The member for Cheltenham is called to order. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We don't answer the phone calls when they come in, but what we do is have an excellent set of public servants in South Australia who do. They listen to those cases, and they have to make decisions. Often they are very difficult decisions around priorities. Emergencies—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my left!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Emergencies don't present themselves in nice, even, balanced flows of patients; there can be surges. I back our hardworking public servants to make those informed clinical decisions.

What I can now update the member for Giles on is the recent commitment from the government for a further 74 paramedics in South Australia; 24 of them, or around a third of those, will be allocated to country stations in Whyalla, Port Augusta and Ceduna. It is very important that we recognise that we do need to provide significantly more health resources, and in particular paramedics, over and above what we inherited from those opposite, and that's what we are doing.

We are investing into that increased capacity with our paramedics, our ambulance officers in South Australia, our doctors and our nurses in South Australia, our physical capability as well as our operating budgets. That's what we have been doing, and we have been doing that exactly and precisely as we have been—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Light!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —responding to a global pandemic. All those opposite can do is whinge and whine and carp and complain. That's all they can do. I have not heard one constructive strategy put forward by those opposite. There is no contribution whatsoever.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader will cease interjecting. The member for Playford is warned for a second time.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: All we get is a series of Meet Pete type corner meetings, trying to promote the Leader of the Opposition. We still haven't had any policies for the next election. We're not doing Meet Pete over here: we are just getting on with implementing an upgrade to the health system that we inherited from Meet Pete, who was of course the health minister when we came to government—the person who presided over the closure of the Repat hospital in South Australia.

When I go down to the Repat hospital, and I was down there recently with the member for Elder, it's fantastic. It is really a transformation. Just take your mind back three or four years—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my left!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —and remind yourself what was happening then. Do you remember what was happening at Oakden? Crickets. I will tell you what was happening over there. It was one of the darkest days in the history of our state.

What we are doing is fixing it, and we are developing that precinct down at the Repat into a globally leading centre for older persons mental health. I invite those opposite to take a trip down there, see what they were selling off—well, actually, they had sold off—that we had to bring back into government hands. We are proud to do that, as we are to deal with the task that is front of us. There's a lot more work to do. We are completely up for the task.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Before I call the member for King, I call to order and warn the member for Light, call to order the member for Hurtle Vale and call to order the member for Wright.