House of Assembly Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Ambulance Ramping Ambulance Ramping The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS House of Assembly Black Leader of the Opposition Ambulance Ramping The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (14:20): My question is to the Premier. Does the Premier agree with comments made by SASMOA President, Dr David Pope, in December last year? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain. Leave granted. The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS House of Assembly Black Leader of the Opposition The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: In an interview on radio last December, Dr David Pope said that there is 'an emphasis on unloading ambulances to the detriment of other people'. When asked if those orders have left patients to die in waiting rooms, Dr Pope responded: 'I can think personally of two or three cases exactly like that.' The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS House of Assembly Croydon Premier The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:21): Like I said, those allegations were thoroughly examined by the independent review. The independent review went through an extraordinary effort to go to the heart of the specific claims. The independent review— Mrs Hurn House of Assembly Schubert Mrs Hurn: Ten to 15 people. The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS House of Assembly Croydon Premier The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: The member for Schubert interjects. The independent review made itself available to any submission from any clinician who works in the area. Most clinicians chose not to provide a submission—and that's fair enough, they are all pretty busy. But the independent review can only assess the information it has before it, including a detailed examination of any specific cases. Many of those assertions weren't able to be substantiated by the analysis of the evidence; nonetheless, that is why we have an independent review. That has been done and finalised. I appreciate there might be an appetite from the opposition to question the independence of the review; that is to question the independence of the reviewers, and I think that is a pretty fraught proposition. We, on the other hand, just want to make sure we are making our deliberations and decisions about policy on the basis of evidence and facts. That is an approach that we intend to maintain.