Ambulance Ramping

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (14:18): My question is to the Premier. Does the government have a priority, a plan or a policy to fix ramping? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Despite promising to fix ramping at the election, it has doubled since the last full month of the former Liberal government. Labor has now delivered the worst 17 months of ramping in our state's history.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:18): The government took to the election a comprehensive policy regarding new health investment in our state over and above existing policies.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: The Leader of the Opposition invites an opportunity to compare and contrast policies. I will take that—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —opportunity because we—

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner: Let's compare your election promises with what you've delivered.

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta! The Premier has the call.

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

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta, you are on a final warning. If you continue to interject, I will have no option. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: It invites an opportunity to compare and contrast policies. We made very clear that Labor in government would increase the number of hospital beds substantially.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Schubert!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: We said we would have no less than an additional 300 hospital beds.

Mrs Hurn interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Schubert!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: We have now delivered over an extra 500. We said that to service those hospital beds we would have more doctors, at least an extra 100. We also said that—

The Hon. V.A. Tarzia interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley is warned.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: We also committed to increasing the number of nurses in the hospital system.

Mrs Hurn interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Schubert!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: I am pleased to report that we now have a lot more beds, we have a lot more nurses, we have a lot more doctors, and we also have a lot more ambulance officers.

Mr Cowdrey interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: What we need to contemplate, if we are having a—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morialta is testing the patience of the house.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: He is treating this with complete contempt. One has to reasonably contemplate, on any objective analysis, about what the world would look like if we didn't have all those extra hospital beds, if we didn't have all those extra nurses, if we didn't have all those extra doctors.

The Hon. V.A. Tarzia interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hartley!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: It would be a situation that would be demonstrably worse. I am pleased to report to the house that the rollout of that plan and that policy continues. We have seen substantial movement in regard to additional beds coming online but we know that there are yet more due to come online throughout the course of next year. We still have more paramedics, nurses and doctors to be employed throughout the course of 2024.

Mrs Hurn interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Schubert!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: And each and every time—

Mr Cowdrey interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —that we roll out those additional resources, we know that they are able to help people who would otherwise not have been helped if those resources were spent on something like a basketball stadium, for instance.

Ms Pratt interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Frome!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: It does take time—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Schubert is warned for a final time. Member for Hartley joining on a final warning, and I see the member for Frome also interjecting.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: It does take time for a lot of those additional resources to be rolled out, but we are glad to see them progressively occurring and we know that will ramp up again throughout the course of next year. Throughout the majority of calendar year 2023, we have seen an improvement on ramping data month on month in comparison with last year. Notwithstanding—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is on a final warning; member for Schubert, you are warned.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Notwithstanding the fact that we know that there is still lots of work to be done, there have been signs of progress, and we are not resting on our laurels for a moment. The other demonstration of improvement goes directly to the ambulance-on-time performance. We are pleased with the progress there. It has been moving at pace. In fact, I received a piece of correspondence just today from the Ambulance Employees Association, and in that letter—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: They laughed at them for four years and they continue to laugh at them now, but we didn't. In that letter, I was very grateful to hear about the fact there are literally people who are alive today as a result of ambulances rolling up on time rather than was the case under the former government.