Health Care

Ms HUTCHESSON (Waite) (14:36): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier inform the house how the Malinauskas state government and the Albanese federal government are working together to deliver better health care for South Australians?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:36): I thank the member for Waite for her question. The member for Waite is a committed member of her own community and is well familiar with the demands that an ageing population brings to our health system and the importance of the Flinders Medical Centre in and around her electorate, amongst others who represent people in the southern and south-western suburbs of our city.

Flinders is our second-biggest hospital. It's one of the biggest hospitals in the nation and it's certainly the busiest emergency department in this state. It's an institution that has served our state well for a sustained period, but it has never had the big upgrade. It has never had the big upgrade until now. We have $498 million being expended in Flinders, and I referred to the hive of activity that it is at the moment. That would not be happening if this state government was not elected, and it would not be happening if the Albanese federal Labor government was not elected. That is just the undeniable truth.

Today, importantly, what we saw is recognition of the fact that this isn't just a one-off project in getting Flinders up to the capacity that we know it's capable of and that is required for the demand in services, which is going to require more again. To see a $300 million announcement made today is something that we are very grateful for indeed—a $300 million announcement; $150 million from the commonwealth and $150 million from Flinders University, of which a large number of people in this place are alumni. That combination of investment will see a brand-new facility being built immediately adjacent to the Health and Medical Research Institute at Flinders, which the Prime Minister and I had the privilege of opening last year.

So now we are going to have a world-leading hospital being redeveloped next to a world-leading Health and Medical Research Institute building—next to a world-leading facility that will be able to provide outpatient services for patients coming out of Flinders. Most importantly, it is to train an extra 1,300 staff a year, over and above the training that already happens at Flinders University for all the professions that are necessary to be able to sustain our health system in the context of the growing capacity that only this government can deliver.

I say that emphatically because it is an important point. Notwithstanding the challenges in the health system, which are acute and real, there is only one side of politics that went to the last elections, federal and state, with a plan to do something about it, and we are committed to make sure we keep doing something about it. Today's announcement speaks to that.

More nurses, more midwives, more allied health professionals—of which there are a large number, everything from physios to speech therapists—more doctors and more paramedics are able to be trained as a result of the announcement made today. That health workforce element is particularly important in a labour market as tight as this one. We are not just thinking about the immediate investments to grow our capacity; we are genuinely thinking about the long-term challenges that we see coming in our healthcare system, and of course workforce is central to that. So today was an important announcement at Flinders.

Everyone in and around the south-western suburbs, whether you are in Black, Gibson, Waite, Reynell—they are all electorates—in any of these places, if you are a constituent in one of these locations, you can look at Flinders with confidence that your health care is going to be here for some time to come. The member for Hurtle Vale knows Flinders better than anyone in this place, having worked there, and she has seen the necessity for the transformation. So on this side of the house, we have a committed group of people to make sure this investment is ongoing, and today was an important announcement in that regard.