Grievance Debate

Hammond electorate

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (15:32): On the health issue, I just want to raise an issue that happened with someone from my electorate regarding the ambulance shortage in South Australia, or the lack of ambulances being able to turn up on time. I quote directly from my constituent:

On August 20^th, my 85-year old mother collapsed at home in rural South Australia. Amid a medical emergency, I was shocked to be told that there were no ambulances available to respond promptly. I was advised to drive her myself to Mount Barker Hospital, [thankfully only] 20 km away, which I did. My mother, who had collapsed due to a heart condition, was admitted and well cared for at Mount Barker. However, once it was determined that she required surgery at Flinders Medical in Adelaide, we had to wait over 12 hours for an ambulance to transfer her. When the ambulance finally arrived at 11:30 pm, she was told to sit in the front seat—despite having a hip replacement and being under heart monitoring—because another patient needed the back. This situation highlights the serious issues with ambulance availability in South Australia. No one should face such delays during critical moments, and we must address the shortage to ensure timely access to emergency medical services.

We have a government that promised at the last election they would fix the ramping crisis, yet we have seen over 100,000 hours of ramping since the Labor government have taken office and it just gets worse and worse.

Then I get this heartfelt letter from the daughter of an 85-year-old woman who not only could not get an ambulance on the first pickup to get to Mount Barker hospital where she was cared for very well but then had to wait hours and hours and hours only to be told, 'You need to sit up in the front.' What is going on? This would be happening not just hundreds of times across South Australia but thousands of times and we would not know the half of it. Why are there these hold-ups? Why are people not being picked up appropriately in time and on time? Considering that this patient needed coronary care as well—and Flinders certainly do an excellent job in that regard—the simple fact is that in this state people just cannot access that care on time.

The second issue I want to raise today, and it has been debated today in question time, is Beston Global Food Company going into administration. I really care for the 150 or so jobs that are there and the dozens of dairy farmers who supply the two factories at Jervois and Murray Bridge. Certainly, as the Treasurer said today, the member for Finniss and I have been keeping the government informed on the situation as we have seen it over the last few weeks. It has become dire now that the company has gone into administration and I am concerned about, I think for the third time since I have been in this place since 2006, a crisis at both the Jervois factory and the Murray Bridge factory.

We noticed there was an offer that could have been made by an international company that fell through, with Beston now going into administration. I am doing my utmost as the local member to work with the government and work with potential companies that may see an opportunity come in here, as I have on the previous two occasions in my time as the member for Hammond.

I know there are people who can see an opportunity here, but there is a long, long way for that sort of opportunity to be realised. We have to see how KPMG handles this situation that is under administration. I know the dairy farmers are having a meeting. They are probably meeting as we speak. We need to do all we can, and I have talked to the Treasurer and said, 'I would like to get this fixed in a bipartisan way so we can get people operating these two factories for the benefit of not just the dairy industry but my local community.'