House of Assembly Fifty-Fifth Parliament Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Hospitals, Car Parking Hospitals, Car Parking Mrs HURN House of Assembly Schubert Hospitals, Car Parking Mrs HURN (Schubert) (15:05): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. Will the minister advise the house whether free hospital car parking for health workers will remain now that the emergency declaration has ended? With your leave, and that of the house, I will explain. Leave granted. Mrs HURN House of Assembly Mrs HURN: In April 2020, the Marshall Liberal government announced that hospital workers would be provided with free car parking and free public transport to work for the COVID major emergency declaration. The Hon. C.J. PICTON House of Assembly Kaurna Minister for Health and Wellbeing The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:06): This is another question that again highlights something that was put in place under the previous government. This was put in place to tie it to the emergency declaration, which has ended, so those arrangements connected to the previous decision by the previous government also then end. This government is making no secret of the fact that we are investing in frontline health services. In last week's state budget, there was an additional $2.4 billion investment in our health services to make sure that people can get the care they need but, most importantly, that we can hire more doctors, more nurses and more paramedics to ease the load on our current healthcare workers, who are under strain because there simply are not enough healthcare workers or hospital beds in the system. We are prioritising making sure that we invest in those services to make sure that people can get the care that they need, but also that we can reduce the pressure— Mrs Hurn interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Member for Schubert! The Hon. C.J. PICTON House of Assembly The Hon. C.J. PICTON: —off our hardworking— The Hon. S.C. Mullighan House of Assembly The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: You increased hospital car parking fees. You increased the fees in 2019. You increased the fees. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The Treasurer is called to order. Mrs Hurn interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is called to order. The minister has the call. The Hon. C.J. PICTON House of Assembly The Hon. C.J. PICTON: As the Treasurer reminds me, this is pretty incredible given that it was the previous government that dramatically increased the cost of hospital car parking, not by 1 per cent or 2 per cent— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. C.J. PICTON House of Assembly The Hon. C.J. PICTON: Check the guy up the back there who is waltzing in late. Mrs Hurn interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Member for Schubert! The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER House of Assembly The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta on a point of order. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! I will hear the point of order under 134. The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER House of Assembly The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Two points of order: debate, firstly, and, secondly, referring to members by their titles. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: I will certainly uphold the second point of order, but I also remind the chamber that, under standing order 131, interruptions are not permitted except in three circumstances: to call attention to a point of order or to call attention to a lack of quorum or to move a motion that is permitted under the standing orders. There is a good deal of interjection that falls well outside standing order 131. The Hon. C.J. PICTON House of Assembly The Hon. C.J. PICTON: The government is continuing with the policy of the previous government in this regard and in addition to that we are investing in frontline healthcare services to make sure that we open more beds and we hire more doctors and nurses to ease the pressure on our hardworking staff.