Ambulance Ramping

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (14:44): My question is to the Premier. When will the Premier fix ramping? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: The AMA 2025 Ambulance Ramping Report Card revealed that the total hours ramped outside of South Australian hospitals has almost tripled under Labor, rising from 15,329 hours ramped in 2019-20 under the former Liberal government to 45,399 under the Malinauskas Labor government in 2023-24.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:45): I could speak at great length to the challenges that the system is experiencing, but our job in government isn't to sit around and observe the problem. Our challenge in government is to make sure we are actually investing the energy and effort, not just the money, in the policy that will make a material difference not just for the men and women who work with such dedicated enthusiasm and passion to look after their patients but for the sake of the patients themselves.

What we are doing as a government is methodically working through each and every level of our public hospital system to invest in growing its capacity. What we definitively know is that those opposite who seek to admire the problem are also contributors to exacerbating the problem—not just admiring it but exacerbating it—because during the course of a pandemic their solution was to make nurses redundant. Had that not occurred, maybe we would be in a stronger position than we are now.

This government is focusing on solutions, not just admiring the problem. Let's talk about what that looks like beyond the investments in the capacity and the people: innovative ideas that aren't just about relying on government but also partnering with those in the not-for-profit sector—those types of organisations that would seek to provide services in the community, whether it be addressing MND or epilepsy or mental health services that we know can make a difference on the frontline so as to prevent admission.

More than that, we are seeking to partner with the commonwealth in primary health care, which we know in the past has been underinvested in. Rather than freezing the amount that is paid to GPs, we are working with a federal government that is investing in the amount that it is making with GPs. Without a decade of not just inaction but active cuts to investments in primary health care, maybe the country would be in a stronger position today. We continue to make the investments, we continue to make the decisions, and we sit down with our clinicians and seek to work with them rather than against them to try to make sure that we are delivering better outcomes for people coming into care.

The people who appreciate and understand the government's policy, effort and endeavour better than anyone are the men and women working on the frontlines themselves. If you sit and speak to an ambulance officer, as I try to do on a semi-frequent basis, when I ask them what is going on, they don't sit down and say that everything's fantastic. They don't sit around and say that every problem is solved. But what they do know is that there are more ambulance officers in the system today than would otherwise be the case had this government not been elected, they know the difference that hundreds of extra people on the ground responding to 000 callouts makes, and they know that there are more people alive today than would otherwise be the case because there are now ambulances getting to 000 lights-and-sirens, life-or-death emergencies on time that would otherwise not be the case without the policies of this government.

So there are investments being made, there are decisions being enacted, and more people are alive today than would otherwise be the case. But we don't sit around and live in an alternative universe and suggest there aren't problems—of course there are, and that is exactly why we are making the decisions to make a difference for those people who deserve it most.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the leader, I remind members on both sides that interjections are in contravention to the standing orders. Member for Morialta, you are on your final warning. Member for Unley, member for Schubert, member for Hammond and member for Chaffey, you are close as well, as is the education minister.