House of Assembly Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2) 54 2 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Rural Health Rural Health Mr PICTON House of Assembly Kaurna Rural Health Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (14:58): My question is to the Premier. What action has the Premier taken in response to warnings from rural doctors that rural towns will wither and die because of the government's refusal to offer them support? With your leave, sir, and that the house, I will explain. Leave granted. Mr PICTON House of Assembly Mr PICTON: The Vice President of the Australian Medical Association (SA), Port Lincoln GP, Dr John Williams—who I am sure you know, sir—has said, and I quote: It seems that the South Australian government is willing to let the South Australian towns wither and die as residents lose yet another essential service. The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly Dunstan Premier The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:59): I thank the member for his question. He is quite right: there is a lot of work to be done to make sure that we have a rural GP workforce, the rural medical workforce that we want. What I can say is that since coming to government we have made this a priority. We have put money in place. I only met with Dr Williams very recently with the AMA president and chief executive. This is an issue which we are very focused on at the moment. This is one of the topics of conversation for our most recent meeting. Members interjecting: The Deputy Speaker House of Assembly The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The leader is called to order and the deputy leader is warned for the second time. The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It's hard to take any criticism from those opposite who let medical services right across regional South Australia wither on the vine. When we came to government— Members interjecting: The Deputy Speaker House of Assembly The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —there was an enormous investment required into a range of services, particularly medical services— Members interjecting: The Deputy Speaker House of Assembly The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Premier, just take a seat for a moment. Member for Playford, I seem to hear your voice today. You are warned for the second time. The question has been asked. I can't hear the Premier's answer. He will be heard in silence. The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: As I was saying, an enormous amount of work needs to be done right across regional South Australia, fixing the mess that we inherited from those opposite, particularly as it related to medical services right across the state. Yes, there is a lot of work to be done. I think every single regional member in this house would appreciate the complexity of getting the right rural workforce in place to support the health of people living in country SA. Do you know what? These problems can't be solved in five minutes. What they require is respectful discussion with the people who are involved in the sector, and that is precisely what we have been doing. We have been upgrading facilities. We have been working through the urgent backlog in terms of maintenance across hospitals in South Australia and we have been upgrading facilities. I know that the member for Hammond is very pleased with the very extensive improvement to the emergency department at the Murray Bridge Soldiers' Memorial Hospital, which I was very pleased to be at earlier this year and last year. You are quite right—the member for Kaurna raises a very important question. We don't get a lot of questions from those opposite about what happens in the country; we've got one today and so I am grateful for that question. We are going to be doing everything we can to improve outcomes in terms of workforce. This is an area of great focus for us, and I hope that we have some more positive announcements in the future.