Health Budget

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:15): My question is to the Premier. Why, in the government's own budget papers revealed yesterday, is there a reduction of over 370 staff within the health system and within LHNs starting next financial year?

The SPEAKER: Just before I call the Premier, we have now had a series of questions in this regard. If the minister is going to take the question, and I will give the minister the call, I will just remind members of the procedure pursuant to standing order 97. The Premier seeks the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:16): This is, of course, an important question and it does give me an opportunity to talk about the massive increase in doctors, nurses and paramedics that has been provided. In fact, in many instances since we have come to government, it is an increase over and above what was budgeted because we do need to be able to flex our workforce in response to any circumstance that exists.

There is no doubt that there are more people working in SA Health now than when we came to government. There is a significantly larger budget than since we came to government and we are always looking at the way we can respond to keep our state safe and our economy strong. The response to date has been excellent and it is a pity that those opposite want to continually undermine public confidence in SA Health. We believe that SA Health has done an excellent job. Those opposite are again cherrypicking individual statistics, looking at budgets versus actions.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: If we look at the budget last year, it was lower than the actual because we will always provide the staff that we are required to provide in order to fully resource the response that we need for COVID. Look at the facts: the current year's budget for Health is $7.4 billion. Last time I looked, $7.4 billion was a much larger number than $6.5 billion, and $6.5 billion was the budget that we were left by those opposite.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: That was what we were left by those opposite. They also left us a broken system and this is the guy who broke the system. This is the guy who was the health minister, who was sitting in cabinet when they introduced Transforming Health. He doesn't want to have any—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: 'I wasn't there. Don't look at me; I wasn't there,' he says. 'Don't look at me'—well, who does he want to point to? He doesn't want to take any responsibility whatsoever. Thank goodness the Labor Party is not in government during this crisis. They wouldn't be looking to take responsibility—

The SPEAKER: The Premier will resume his seat. The leader rises on a point of order.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: Standing order 97, sir: my question was very specific regarding the reduction in the number of staff that the budget—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, Deputy Premier!

Mr MALINAUSKAS: —refers to. The question was around the staffing numbers next financial year within our health system. I was not referring to any questions about actions of the former government, only about the budget papers and the year ahead.

The SPEAKER: I will take that as a point of order pursuant to standing order 98.

The Hon. D.C. van Holst Pellekaan: Standing order 97 has nothing to do with what the leader just said.

The SPEAKER: I will take that, as I was just indicating—I am grateful for the assistance of the Minister for Energy and Mining—as a point of order pursuant to standing order 98. The question, as I think I addressed at the outset before giving the Premier the call, referred to matters that are the subject of the budget and sought to draw from the contents of the budget in asking a question. Nonetheless, it was directed to specific subject matter, so there is some scope in terms of the way the question was couched, in my view, for the Premier to reflect on the contents of the budget more broadly. Nonetheless, I note that the question was directed specifically. The Premier will direct his answer to the question. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Thank you very much, sir. The question was really to do with the workforce across SA Health and more specifically with regard to the Women's and Children's Hospital, which is one of the very important local health—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The leader will cease interjecting. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The last time I looked, 'workforce' was actually the number of people employed. Maybe he's got a different definition. Of course, he was sitting around the table when they developed the Transforming Health document. I'm not allowed to display it here. It's like kryptonite to those opposite. It's like kryptonite. I noticed when I raised it before—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —that it got them all a bit excited. Usually you would have the member for West Torrens or the member for Lee jumping up to defend the leader—no defence of the leader today. Nobody is wanting to jump up and defend him when he gets a little bit agitated. 'Quick, quick, jump up, jump up.' No, they're still not jumping up because they all know that Transforming Health is a broken system which put our health system in South Australia under so much pressure.

An honourable member: Shame!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It was a shame.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Oh, here we go! Here we go!

The SPEAKER: The Premier will resume his seat. When there's silence—

The Hon. S.S. Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the Premier! When there's silence, the member for West Torrens rises on a point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Standing order 98, sir: the Premier is in flagrant disregard of your ruling and he is making a mockery of the parliament.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! For the time being, I don't uphold that point of order, repeating as it did in substance a point of order raised just now by the leader. The Premier will direct his answer to the question in the terms I have already addressed. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Thank you very much, sir. The question is about the workforce, the number of people who are in the South Australian health workforce. I am prepared to provide this information to the house. In the 2017-18 budget, which was of course the last year of the former government, the Auditor-General says that the actual number of people employed there was 32,212.

In the 2019-20 year, we saw that number increase to 33,594, a substantial increase in our first year. The estimated result for the end of this most recent financial year will be 33,740. That is an increase every single year that we have been in place. We now have more than 1,000 additional doctors, nurses and paramedics here in South Australia—more than 1,000 additional doctors, nurses and paramedics—so it's time for Labor to stop the lies. It's time for Labor to stop undermining the confidence that the people of South Australia have in the fantastic work that—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —SA Health do in South Australia. There is a big difference between budget and actual, and as I provided in my previous answers to this parliament, we will provide whatever is necessary to resource our coronavirus response.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: What an endorsement!

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: And that's why the budget has steadily increased each and every year that we have been in government. We have weathered the coronavirus pandemic. Thank goodness Labor weren't in government during this time.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Before I call the member for Newland, I call to order the member for Mawson, the member for Wright, the Minister for Innovation and Skills, the Minister for Education, and the Minister for Energy and Mining. I warn the member for Playford and the member for Kaurna. I call to order and warn the member for Lee and I warn the member for West Torrens.