Question Time

Ambulance Ramping

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (14:08): My question is to the Premier. Does the Premier stand by his election commitment to fix the ramping crisis? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: The ABC has reported that nearly 100 South Australian patients in need of emergency and urgent care have died while waiting for delayed ambulances to arrive since Labor took office with a promise to fix the ramping crisis.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:09): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question because it's an important subject. As the leader would know, as the rest of the house would know, the state government is investing a lot of resources and policy effort into addressing the stress and the strain that exists within our health system. That includes reducing transfer of care hours (TOC), otherwise known as ramping hours.

We are doing that through a range of investments, the most substantial of which that are coming online this year are the additional beds that are coming into the system. We have over 150 beds coming into the system online this year as a result of decisions that were made right back in the 2022 state budget, which the Treasurer handed down about eight weeks after forming government. It takes time to build hospital beds. We are very grateful—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —for the expeditious work being undertaken by a range of people to get those beds coming online this year. The particularly urgent nature of the ramping crisis is best reflected in ambulance response times to which the Leader of the Opposition refers. The Leader of the Opposition—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: I am seeking to answer the Leader of the Opposition's question. He asked about the report in the ABC regarding the ambulance response time delays—

The Hon. D.G. Pisoni: They also reported that someone died in an ambulance as well.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Unley is warned.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —which the government is so committed to delivering. What I am keen to make sure the house is aware of in some detail is the funding and resources allocated to our Ambulance Service. Since coming to government—

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

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is warned.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —we have been able to substantially increase the investment in the Ambulance Service and I am very pleased that has delivered substantial results. What happened in the four years of the Marshall government was that for three of the four years the Ambulance Service was cut.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Schubert!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Members to my left and right, the Premier will be heard.

Members interjecting:

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

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: They elevate their voice; they interject any time we start to get to a few basic facts that are not beyond dispute.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert and the member for Hartley will permit the Premier to answer.

The Hon. V.A. Tarzia: He said he would fix it, though.

The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley is warned.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: The former government, as reported by the Australian Productivity Commission—so not a state government authority—the federal government independently assessed this and they saw that the only place in the country to cut funding to the Ambulance Service—

Mrs Hurn: What did it show for response times?

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is warned.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —for three out of four years was the former government. What happened to response times—

Mrs Hurn interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —as a consequence is that they went down from turning up 80 per cent of the time—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Ambulance response times on the back of those cuts went from 80 per cent on-time performance down to 36 per cent on-time performance.

The Hon. V.A. Tarzia interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley is warned.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: The member for Hartley interjects about previous governments—yes, that's right, the previous governments were investing in the Ambulance Service while you were cutting it.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Hartley is on a final warning.

The Hon. V.A. Tarzia: Who shut the Repat, sir?

The SPEAKER: Final warning, member for Hartley. The leader has the call.