Parliamentary Committees

Public Works Committee: Rebuilt Mount Barker Ambulance Station

Mr BROWN (Florey) (11:02): I move:

That the 48^th report of the committee, entitled Rebuilt Mount Barker Ambulance Station, be noted.

The Department for Health and Wellbeing (SA Health) proposes to rebuild the Mount Barker Ambulance Station at a new location in Mount Barker to provide modern accommodation for the South Australian Ambulance Service (SAAS). This project will support a significant expansion of service capabilities and capacity to manage emergency responses, including for accidents on the South Eastern Freeway between Mount Barker and Murray Bridge—particularly pertinent today.

The current Mount Barker Ambulance Station is reaching the end of its asset life and is unable to be expanded to meet the increased service demand due to significant population growth in Mount Barker and the surrounding communities. Once complete, this ambulance station will complement the surrounding stations in Strathalbyn, Meadows, Woodside and Stirling and form part of an important government infrastructure commitment to expand and improve health services, including supporting the SAAS workforce.

SAAS is the state's provider of emergency ambulance transport, clinical care and patient transport services. It operates 119 ambulance stations across South Australia and the MedSTAR emergency medical retrieval service at Adelaide Airport. SAAS has a mixture of career and volunteer ambulance officers and operates a variety of vehicles including, but not limited to, regular ambulances, so-called 'troop carrier' ambulances, light fleet vehicles, twin carriers, trucks and bicycles.

The new station forms part of the state government's 2022 election commitment to improve infrastructure, increase staffing and provide additional resources for SAAS. It will give alignment to the SA Health strategic plan by strengthening primary health care and enhancing hospital care by providing more services close to where people live. This initiative will allow SAAS to improve ambulance coverage and response in metropolitan Adelaide and key regional centres in South Australia, and will ensure the SAAS emergency preparedness and response capacity is commensurate with state and national emergency management arrangements.

This project is one project within a $70 million capital works program for the department, and the allocated budget to rebuild the Mount Barker Ambulance Station is $9.1 million. Construction is expected to commence shortly, in March this year, with practical completion expected in March 2025.

Following a detailed investigation process in consultation with SAAS and Renewal SA, the rebuilt ambulance station will be located on Bald Hills Road, Mount Barker, and lies between a new land division and existing residential areas. The station will house three crews and a new 12-hour regional transfer crew, providing for a total of 38 staff, with the plans submitted by SA Health detailing the station will comprise key functional areas including:

garage space for six ambulance vehicles and two light fleet vehicles;

a training room for up to 40 people;

a meeting room to accommodate up to 10 people;

office space, workstations and a study room;

a kitchen with dining room;

a crew rest room and personal work-rest break rooms;

a communal outdoor area;

31 car parking spaces, including one accessible space; and

bicycle parking and charge stations.

SA Health considered three options for the project. Option 1 was to construct and rebuild a new Mount Barker ambulance station. Option 2 was to do nothing and maintain the status quo. Option 3 was to expand and refurbish the existing station.

Maintaining the current service status will not address the increased service demand in the area, and expansion of the existing station does not provide the same benefits as a newly built station. Additionally, the ability to maintain emergency services during upgrades of existing infrastructure also poses challenges. Therefore, option 1 was preferred, as the rebuild provides a modern fit-for-purpose facility for the additional workforce to meet operational needs and enables appropriate emergency service provisions to the surrounding communities. SA Health further noted that the demand response is likely to be improved through the provision of both new crewing and station for this high-demand area.

The Department for Infrastructure and Transport has confirmed a general building contractor will be appointed under a design and construct contract. The elected contractor will provide input into detailed design of the facilities as stage 1, with progression to stage 2 to construct the main works. Sustainable development strategies have been incorporated into the design, construction and operation of the rebuilt ambulance station and will be included in all phases of the project. SA Health notes the facility will have environmental qualities that enable a positive environment and workplace for staff, users and occupants, supporting better healthcare outcomes and assisting in managing behaviours.

After consultation with the Attorney-General's Department's Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation Unit, it was determined that there are no registered or reported Aboriginal sites, objects or ancestral remains within the project area. There are no state, local or contributory non-Aboriginal heritage listed places on site. The adjacent Laratinga Wetlands have been identified as a local heritage place and as a result significant trees falling within the development zone will be protected under legislative requirements—something I know you are very passionate about, Mr Acting Speaker.

SA Health states that engagement and clinical consultation has been a key theme throughout the concept planning and will continue with various stakeholders during the design and construction phases. Stakeholders include operational and support staff, consumer reference groups and industrial bodies. Consultation with the local community has occurred through targeted letter drops and a community engagement session held in October last year.

The committee examined written and oral evidence in relation to the rebuilt Mount Barker ambulance station project. Witnesses who appeared before the committee were Tim Packer, Executive Director Infrastructure, Department for Health and Wellbeing; James Macdonald, Manager, Project Management, Building Projects, Department for Infrastructure and Transport; Robert Tolson, Executive Director Country Operations, South Australian Ambulance Service; and Rob Elliott, Chief Executive Officer, South Australian Ambulance Service. I thank the witnesses for their time.

I would also like to thank the Speaker for the correspondence received in support of this project in his electorate. Based upon the evidence considered, and pursuant to section 12C of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991, the Public Works Committee reports to parliament that it recommends the proposed public work.

The Hon. D.R. CREGAN (Kavel) (11:09): My thanks to the committee for carefully considering a project which has been desperately needed in my community for many years. As I have earlier remarked in this house, since 1992, there has been a single ambulance operating in Mount Barker, a single ambulance for a community that is experiencing substantial growth. Despite my many representations to the former government, this was not an issue that could be resolved. It followed, naturally, that it became a substantial election issue in my community.

Many people signed a petition, many people were moved to approach our office and many people were deeply concerned that this issue had been left at large. This new ambulance station will of course serve the Mount Barker community, but it operates together with a series of other ambulance stations along a spine through the central Hills: an ambulance station at Birdwood, which has recently opened and an ambulance station at Woodside that has been carrying a substantial load to support growth not only in Mount Barker but also in Nairne, in Littlehampton, further south in Strathalbyn, and slightly further north in Lobethal and in housing communities developing just south of Woodside. There is, of course, also an ambulance station at Meadows.

So now we have Mount Barker, Meadows, Woodside and Birdwood along that spine, and further west, of course, a station operating at Stirling. We have been particularly grateful to the ambulance officers who have served our community out of the Stirling station. What we saw from 1992 onwards was a whole series of ambulance crews that were being dispatched from metropolitan Adelaide to cover the Adelaide Hills. I have related, in evidence to another committee, some of the difficulties that developed there.

There were circumstances that no local member could rightly accept as being safe for his or her community and I outlined those circumstances. I also, it must be said, outlined those circumstances to the former minister without resolution. It was a matter that made me angry. It was a matter that rightly made me angry and made my community angry. It was not safe and it needed to be addressed.

I would receive text messages sometimes late at night from ambulance officers saying, 'Are you aware that your community is uncovered this evening?' I would have to sit there and read that message and know that for the long hours of that evening, despite the representations that had been made, there was no plan to deal with that issue, and yet thousands of houses continued to be built in Mount Barker, in Nairne, in Littlehampton, in the housing development south of Woodside, in Strathalbyn—and nothing, nothing came from the then minister.

It was outrageous and it informed, in part, my decision to become an Independent so that I could speak out beyond the restrictions of a political party to explain to my community what I had done and what was required to make this situation safe. So, on a piece of land adjoining the new aquatic centre, which the state government is also making an investment in, a new ambulance station will be built.

I am very pleased that practical completion is anticipated for 2025. Can I say this, too, to the new ambulance officers who have arrived in the Hills, career ambulance officers who will serve my community for many years to come: we are very, very grateful to have you. I have had the opportunity to meet some of those very young ambulance officers, including Harry, who grew up in the Hills, Maddison and others. Their service is exceptionally important.

It is important to me, it is important to my community and it is important to the entire Adelaide Hills because, whilst this particular piece of infrastructure will continue to serve us, it is the skill and expertise, the dedication and the willingness to contribute a life's work that is at the heart of the service that is being offered to our community, but that service cannot be offered without this station and the operations that are being run out of the other stations that I mentioned.

This investment, importantly, is complemented by a very substantial investment in the Mount Barker hospital. You will know, Mr Acting Speaker, that the Mount Barker hospital currently has beds numbered in the early thirties and there will be over 100 beds once that project comes to completion. I understand that very substantial funds are being invested by the state to see that project through. So I am grateful but it is the investment that my community deserves and requires to ensure that adequate health services are available for the Adelaide Hills.

Mr BROWN (Florey) (11:14): I want to thank the member for Kavel for his contribution and, of course, his well-known and passionate advocacy and support for enhanced ambulance services in his area, which I am sure was well known to all members of the Public Works Committee.

Motion carried.