Question Time

Ambulance Ramping

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (14:14): My question is to the Premier. Does the Premier take responsibility for ramping surging to record levels under his watch? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: The last five months are the worst ramping figures on record: 3,412 hours were lost to ramping in May; 3,838 hours were lost to ramping in June, 3,647 hours were lost to ramping in July, 3,763 hours were lost to ramping in August, and 3,567 hours were lost to ramping in September. In comparison, 1,522 hours were lost to ramping in February.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:15): I would like to thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question, because on this side of the house we understand that excessive ramping has very serious consequences for a whole range of people who rely on our health system and the people who work within it. The most severe consequence of—

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner: You said you'd fix it.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —ramping is, of course, ambulance response times not being in line with the standards that South Australians had been accustomed to right up until the point of the 2018 election. The standard that South Australians were accustomed to up until 2018 was that when they called 000 the ambulance would roll up on time. What happened post 2018 was we saw a very gradual but somewhat dedicated effort on behalf of the government to install policies that would undermine ambulance response times, hence what we saw—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier has the call.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —was ambulance response times go from rolling up on time at around about 80 to 85 per cent for priority 2 callouts, going down to approximately 33 per cent for priority 2 callouts by the time of the last election. Clearly, this was a big issue that my party and I campaigned on at the state election.

Mrs Hurn: Worst it's ever been.

The SPEAKER: Member for Schubert!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: That's why we went to the election with a very deliberate, well thought through, considered and prescriptive set of policies that would see a dramatic escalation in health expenditure in this state and a dramatic investment in resources.

Ms Pratt: Worst it's ever been.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Now the Leader of the Opposition cites a suite of statistics that he hasn't put—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —into context—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The leader is called to order. The member for Schubert is called to order.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —the harsh reality. What happened in 2021, when there was zero COVID in South Australia, was we saw a government that seemed to be hell-bent on undermining investments in our health system.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Hammond! Member for Chaffey!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: In fact, to the extent that when we had no COVID and no flu, they seemed to think it was a good idea that we might see a closure of beds. So it's little wonder that when those opposite—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —decided to open the borders, having undermined the system for almost four years—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Schubert!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —that COVID and flu came into the state and, heaven behold, we started to see—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hartley!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —the consequences of their actions.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Badcoe!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Now, of course, what we are doing to remedy those extraordinary decisions to underinvest in health during a period of no COVID is to actually start to implement our policies as quickly as possible. Can you imagine—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Schubert!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —what the world would look like if they had won?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta! Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Could you imagine how much worse ramping would be if this side of the house—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is warned.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —hadn't been responsible for delivering all those extra staff and all those extra beds?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta! Member for Hammond!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: We have now got over 200 extra beds in the system that would not be in the system had those opposite won the election.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Frome!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Now, of course, we continue to roll out our policies.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley is warned.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: We will see a lot more ambulances on our streets, a lot more ambos employed, a lot more nurses employed and a lot more doctors employed as a consequence of our policy rollout. We are recruiting those people as quickly as possible—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —and we look forward to the results that will follow.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Schubert is warned, the member for Hammond is warned and the member for Hartley is warned.