Grievance Debate

Birdwood Ambulance Station

Mrs HURN (Schubert) (15:15): On Saturday 19 November, something very exciting happened in Birdwood, in my electorate of Schubert. It was a day of enormous pride for my community, and it was a day of enormous pride for so many who had worked so hard for so long.

The community gathered on the outskirts of Birdwood in the Main Street to celebrate the official opening of the South Australian Ambulance Service Birdwood station—Birdwood's first ever purpose-built SA Ambulance station. It is a modern facility that represents a $2.2 million investment injection into our community, into our region, and it delivers a new ambulance base to really support the Adelaide Hills community during their time of need and during those desperate periods when they need to call an ambulance.

Not only is this about supporting our local community when they need urgent care but it is about ensuring that our hardworking and dedicated ambulance crews have the first-class facility that they deserve. That is exactly what this investment is all about. It is a bigger station with capacity to hold over more than 50 volunteer ambulance staff and three vehicles. It has sleeping spaces and training spaces, and the volunteers and our local community could not be more excited.

We know through many of the volunteer ambulance paramedics in our community that demand in the Adelaide Hills for this emergency service has absolutely soared over not only the last couple of years with COVID but the last two decades. So this investment is absolutely critical, and I genuinely believe that this is a positive but small step forward towards really alleviating some of the ramping pressure that we are seeing in metropolitan Adelaide.

This is an initiative of the former Liberal government of course, and an initiative that I was so pleased to be talking about throughout the election campaign and one that I am so pleased can be delivered for my local community. It is not just me who was proud and excited about this investment, Mr Speaker. I note that you, too, were very pleased with this fantastic investment and this initiative of the former Liberal government.

I spoke to local paramedics on the day, including volunteer paramedics Amy and Lyndsey Martin. Not only is Lyndsey the principal at the Gumeracha Primary School but she also spends so much of her time throughout the week volunteering as a paramedic. I think that is absolutely outstanding and what community service is all about. I spoke to people like Chris and Vickie, who is the volunteer team leader in the local area, and they are absolutely ecstatic that this investment has finally come on board.

Of course, it does mean that the Mount Pleasant Ambulance Station, which was small, downgraded and not in good condition, has now closed but they have moved to a much bigger and better facility that I genuinely believe will provide fantastic care for the people of my electorate. The significance of this really cannot be understated.

It is particularly important, given the fact that we have the emergency departments that are closed in two of my local hospitals—not only in Gumeracha but also in Mount Pleasant. I feel that this will be an added level of assurance for my local community that, when they need help, someone will be there, hopefully in a timely manner, to get them where they need to go.

We know, of course, that health care was one of the most critical elements of the state election campaign and we will absolutely keep holding this new government to account for the promises they made to the people of South Australia—their promise to fix ramping in our state and their promise to ensure that South Australians have better access to health services.

What we know though is that, when we look back over the track record of the government so far, unfortunately they are presiding over the worst ramping results in South Australia's history. They are delaying critical health infrastructure right across the board, from the city to the country, for places like the Lyell McEwin Hospital. Their ED expansion has been pushed off into the slow lane. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital stage 3 upgrade has been pushed off into the slow lane and so too has the Flinders Medical Centre upgrade. There are many more that I could name, but I am so pleased that we have seen the Birdwood Ambulance Station delivered.

In closing, it was a fantastic day. I would like to sincerely thank all the volunteers in the South Australian Ambulance Service who were involved in pulling this fantastic day together. I am sure that this will be a wonderful investment for many generations to come.