Country Health SA

Mr BROWN (Florey) (15:06): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. Can the minister update the house on the government's health investments in the Fleurieu Peninsula?

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:06): I thank the member for Florey for his question and his interest in all matters of health, in particular this one in relation to the Fleurieu Peninsula.

I can update the member that we have made some significant investments in health in the Fleurieu Peninsula, in particular, the opening of a new emergency department at the Southern Fleurieu Health Service, the hospital at Victor Harbor. This is a $16.8 million investment in expanding health services for people in Victor Harbor and across the south coast. It is being jointly funded by the Albanese and the Malinauskas governments—so I thank our federal colleagues for their support for this project.

It increases the number of spaces fourfold, from five to 20 spaces for patients to be treated at the hospital. It includes a new extended care unit with three beds for clinically stable patients, two new patient consulting rooms, a low-stimulus room for patients experiencing distress, six enclosed treatment spaces, six open treatment bays, and two new emergency resuscitation beds.

I want to thank all the team at south coast for the work that they have done putting this together. It is an absolutely magnificent outcome. It is really going to serve this community—which we know is both growing but also ageing—very well into the future and give our team of doctors, nurses and allied health professionals finally the infrastructure that they need to be able to best serve that local community.

You would have thought that this would have been welcomed by everybody. You would have thought that this would have been received with rapturous support.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: Who could oppose this? There was somebody unhappy with the opening, and unfortunately this did upset the member for Finniss. The member for Finniss was very upset that I went down last week to go and visit the new emergency department and I did not invite him to come along. He thought that I was going to be having a ribbon-cutting ceremony, so he organised his own ribbon-cutting ceremony of the event himself. So the unofficial ribbon-cutting of it was all him.

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: I understand it is—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my right will come to order.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: I understand it is a breach of standing orders to use props.

The SPEAKER: It is a breach of standing orders to use props, and I will ask the Minister for Health to put that picture of the member for Finniss away.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: I apologise, sir. I will put the picture of the unofficial opening by the member for Finniss away, but I hope that he enjoyed visiting what we have delivered for the south coast community, with his ribbon, with his big novelty scissors. We did not do a ribbon cutting but I am glad he was there to provide unofficial support and get some photos of it.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Are you allowed to use scissors, mate?

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: Hopefully he got to see what the Malinauskas government has delivered for his community, which is much in excess of what was delivered by him when he was sitting around the cabinet table and absolutely nothing happened on this project, and nothing was being delivered for the south coast community. We now have a government which is delivering for health and which is making sure that we have the investments that we need.

The SPEAKER: It's very rowdy up that backbench. The member for Morialta is lucky to survive until his valedictory at 5 o'clock.

An honourable member: Another one?

The SPEAKER: The member for Colton has the call.