Flinders Medical Centre

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:17): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier confirm that 30 beds in the Flinders Medical Centre Acute Medical Unit have been closed down by this government?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:17): Well, what I can do is commit to providing that detail to the Leader of the Opposition. What I can do is confirm to this house, also, that we are putting a huge amount of additional beds into the overall system in South Australia, just like we are also investing in more doctors, more nurses and a significantly enhanced budget overall. The budget for Health in South Australia now is at a state record—$7.4 billion—and that doesn't include the capital investment that we are making—

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will cease interjecting. The Premier is answering the question and he will be heard in silence.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Thank you, sir. That would be a decent question for the Leader of the Opposition to ask but he doesn't ask those questions, he just shouts them across the chamber. The question that I have been asked is really about a very specific area of specific beds. I am not the health minister, so I think it's only reasonable that I take that specific question on notice.

But it does give me an opportunity to speak more broadly about the investment that the government is making into more beds, more doctors, more nurses, more South Australian Ambulance Service officers in South Australia to address the situation that we inherited when we came to government. I am very proud to lead a government which has increased the operating expenditure for SA Health to $7.4 billion per year. This is a massive increase in what we inherited from those opposite.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: More doctors—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: There is a point of order. I've just got a feeling there are going to be lots of points of order today.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: It depends whether we get answers, sir. Standing order 98: debate. It was a specific question about whether 30 beds had been closed, not about the level of expenditure broadly within the health system.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I am sure the Premier is getting to resolving that answer.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It was a specific question. I think the member for Lee is quite right—it was a specific question. I am not the health minister, but I am happy to answer the question to the best of my ability, and I have said that I will look into the specific issue raised by the member for Lee.

But I thought it was only helpful to point out to the house the massive increase in expenditure that we are putting into both the operating budget on an annual basis—now at a record of $7.4 billion per year and increasing—and also the capital budget, which is upgrading the facilities, whether they be the urgent upgrades and maintenance in our country hospitals, the upgrades to the emergency departments in the peri-urban and metropolitan hospitals or just those incredibly important projects that are needed to change the model of care and align with what best practice is.

We have been doing this during and in the midst of a global pandemic. This would be hard enough work in the normal course of business, and this is why I wanted to take this opportunity to thank every single person within SA Health who has contributed to this mighty effort of keeping South Australia safe from the coronavirus and at the same time massively improving the overall amenity in our hospitals.

As I was saying in an answer to a previous question, there is a changed situation. I was talking to one of the clinicians at the Flinders Medical Centre today and he was talking to us about the importance of ventilation in emergency departments—not previously a problem, but now we have to—

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: They are not interested, sir.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: The question was not about the Premier's gratuity. The question was about the number of beds closed during the term of this government, whether it was 30 or not. It was a very specific question. We have given him another two minutes and he hasn't got any closer to the answer.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The Premier has about 40 seconds left.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I am very proud of the people who work in SA Health in South Australia. I think they have done an outstanding job and they continue to do an outstanding job with the coronavirus pandemic but also these important upgrades. I am very proud that our government has increased the number of beds in South Australia, the number of doctors, the number of nurses and the number of people who work in our Ambulance Service in South Australia.

Whilst we see a massive increase in presentations, in the complexity and acuity of those presentations and the length of stay, and we see this massive increase in demand around the country, we are well placed in this state because of the work that is underway at the moment in concert, in cooperation, with the fantastic clinicians we have in South Australia.