Question Time

Flinders Medical Centre

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:03): My question is to the Premier. Did the Premier call a press conference this morning about an $8 million expansion to the Flinders emergency department and not know the answer to the most obvious question: what is the net increase in beds? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: When he was asked by a journalist what the net increase in the number of beds is, the Premier replied, 'I don't have that detail.'

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:03): I thought the Leader of the Opposition would be very happy because the government is actually fixing up the mess that he himself created when he closed the Repat hospital and broke the hearts of the veterans in South Australia and of course broke the hearts of the people of the southern suburbs. What we have been doing ever since we have been elected is putting money back into the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Premier, there is a point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Standing order 98, sir: the Premier embarked on debate almost immediately.

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Members! Standing order 98 is often raised as a point of order. For the benefit of all, I am going to read it. It applies to rules to answers and states:

In answering a question, a Minister or other Member replies to the substance of the question and may not debate the matter to which the question refers.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Thank you very much, sir, and I look forward to this opportunity. I presume there are going to be quite a number of questions along this line, and I am very, very keen to convey as much information as possible to this question.

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The Leader of the Opposition started his question saying, 'Did you call a press conference today?' and then went on to explain what he thought the motivation was. Well, actually, I will tell you why we called a meeting today, because that is the substance of the question.

We called a press conference today to say that we had actually been cleaning up the mess that had been left by the previous government. That is not debate; that was our motivation. The question was very clearly: what was our motivation in calling the press conference? I am telling you honestly what our motivation was. What we know is that the previous government downgraded hospitals and they closed the Repat hospital. Who was the minister at the time? None other than the Leader of the Opposition. That's not debate, sir: that's a fact.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: There is a point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Spot the hysterics, sir. It is debate.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hysterics from both sides. Member for West Torrens, hysterics from—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: We haven't asked any bad questions. Standing order 98, sir: the Premier is now obviously debating the answer rather than trying to give us an answer.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The Premier may have finished his answer?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: No, I've got plenty, sir.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Just bear in mind standing order 98, Premier.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Thank you, sir, because I am answering the substance of the question, which was about the motivation for calling a press conference. That's what the question asked. I fully appreciate that those opposite are not happy with my motivation for calling a press conference, but they actually asked about it. They asked the question about my motivation: did you actually call a press conference? Well, I am explaining to them exactly why I did call a press conference, so that is completely pertinent to the question.

If those opposite in the dream factory can't write questions to narrow it down a little bit, well, that's not my business. I am just working to answer the question as truthfully and as fully as I possibly can. My motivation for calling that press conference was to point out—and I went into some detail at the press conference—the shameful downgrading of hospitals right across South Australia. That was the substance of my press conference. You can see it all. It's all there.

I talked about who was responsible for closing and downgrading those facilities. Who was responsible? Who was the Minister for Health at the time that the Repat was closed?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: There is another point of order, Premier.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Standing order 98, sir: the question read this way, 'Did the Premier call a press conference—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —this morning about an $8 million expansion to the Flinders emergency department and not know the answer to the most obvious question: what is the net number increase in beds?' I don't understand why the minister is not answering it.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Members would be well aware that, regardless of standing order 98, a minister or the Premier can interpret the question and answer in a way that he sees fit. To my mind at least, the Premier hasn't deviated from the substance of the press conference thus far.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Thank you very much, sir, and I appreciate that interpretation of the question because that was exactly what the question asked. I am happy for the Leader of the Opposition to ask a range of questions, and I will answer them as fully as I possibly can, but this question is about the motivation for the press conference that was being held.

They hate the fact that we are talking about what they did to the health system in South Australia. But I am going to be telling everybody from Colonel Light Gardens right the way through to Coomandook exactly and precisely what you guys did to the health system in South Australia when you were in government.

The man who stood up as the health minister defending Transforming Health—you don't hear him talking about that at the moment, but that's what he did when he was the minister in South Australia. It was an absolute disgrace for the people of our state.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Premier, take your seat. Standing order 98?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Standing order 98, again, sir. The question did not refer to the opposition in any way.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I uphold the point of order. The Premier is not responsible for what the opposition may or may not have done when they were in office.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I am certainly not responsible for what they did when they were in office, but I am 100 per cent responsible for what we did, and it was a great day for South Australia today when we talked about the improvement not only to the emergency department at the Flinders Medical Centre—the busiest emergency department in South Australia and now the largest emergency department in South Australia—fixing the mess that we inherited, but we also talked about the southern Adelaide health precinct's upgrade to their facilities down there. It's a massive project—$86 million.

But today's press conference was all about the Flinders Medical Centre emergency department capacity. When we came to government there were 56 treatment areas within that emergency department. It's now gone up to 86, a 30 bed increase, a 30 treatment space increase on that side. It is more than a 50 per cent increase. We are happy to be doing that to provide the capacity that the people need.