Question Time

Ambulance Ramping

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (14:06): My question is to the Premier. When will the Premier fix ramping? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: The Malinauskas Labor government has delivered record ramping to South Australians. It has been reported that no beds have been available at any metropolitan hospital on 11 separate occasions alone this month. From 19 June, all our hospitals were Code White for five consecutive days.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:07): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. As the Leader of the Opposition is well aware, and anybody who was paying attention to the state election is well aware, we made it plainly clear, repeatedly, throughout the election campaign that we wanted to fix ramping, and when we were asked 'What does fix ramping mean?' we said, 'We want to reduce ramping—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Hammond!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —to make sure that ambulances start rolling up on time.' I welcome the opportunity—

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —from the Leader of the Opposition to remind South Australians—

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Chaffey!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —that last year—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —at the state election, when people were calling 000, even when it was a lights and sirens emergency only 33 per cent of the time would the ambulance roll up on time.

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: I can't imagine how frustrating—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —it would have been, whether you were an ambulance officer—

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —or a loved one calling 000 on behalf of the patient, how disconcerting and frustrating it would be to call 000—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —in the knowledge that two things were happening at the same time—

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is warned.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —in the first instance that someone called 000 and two-thirds of the time the ambulance wouldn't roll up and at the very same time that the then government wasn't even acknowledging that the problem exists.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: That's why—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Florey!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: That's why we went to the election and said—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Adelaide!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: 'We acknowledge the problem exists and we've got a plan—

The Hon. D.G. Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Unley!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —to do something about it!' That is why progressively, since the election, we have been employing hundreds and hundreds more people to be able to work within our health system to actually be able to make a difference. The question from the leader—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Premier, please be seated.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! There are repeated interjections from a number of members, particularly the member for Morialta, who is on a warning. The member for Chaffey is now on one warning, the member for Hammond is on one warning and the member for Unley is on one warning. I appreciate that interjections have become, regrettably, a feature of parliamentary debate, but it is impossible presently to hear the Premier. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: We have progressively since the election been rolling out a lot more resources within our health system, consistent with our election commitment, and that begs the question: well, how are we going? Let's look at the most recent statistics.

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey is on two warnings.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Last week, when we look at ambulance response times, remembering—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta! Member for Chaffey! Member for Florey!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —that at the election one-third of the time the ambulance would roll up on time, last week for the very same metric, for those particular call-outs to which we are referring, that number has improved—

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —to 62.4 per cent. So we have come close—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —to doubling the likelihood of the ambulance rolling up on time.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: I can't think of a greater contrast between those opposite and this government.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is on a final warning.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: We are employing hundreds more doctors, hundreds more nurses, hundreds more ambulance officers. We've got hundreds more beds opening up in the system—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Yes, hundreds more millions being spent on our health system, and the result in 15 months—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Morialta! Member for Frome!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: The result in 15 months is that we have doubled the improvement when it comes to ambulance response times.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: The counterfactual—

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond is on a final warning.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —is imagine if none of that had occurred.

Mr Brown interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Florey!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: If none of that had occurred, what we would be in today is a situation where we would be stuck on 32 per cent of the time ambulances rolling up on time. We've got it up to 62 per cent.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Elder, order! The member for Morialta is on a final warning, the member for Chaffey is on two warnings and the member for Hammond is on two warnings. The member for Hartley is on one warning. The member for Florey is on a warning.