Country Health

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (15:14): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Health some questions about Country Health SA.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: I am very happy to place on the public record that I have little to no faith in Country Health SA and the appalling job they have done in representing rural and regional South Australians when it comes to providing adequate services, adequate budgets for infrastructure and the general decline of country health in much of South Australia. I appreciate the minister will paint the gloss about the new hospital at Berri and upgrades at Mount Gambier and Port Lincoln, but—

The PRESIDENT: Can the honourable member not pre-empt the minister's answer and just get straight to the question.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: I know what he is going to say, sir. Out there, when we get away from fantasy land and we get into the real land, the fact is that the health department is failing country South Australians. I will just highlight to the minister that you only have to pick up the latest edition of the Yorke Peninsula Country Times to see that there is much damage being done in Country Health SA. In particular, I highlight—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Brokenshire is on his feet asking a question.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: In particular, I highlight the decision of this government to deliberately downgrade the Yorketown Hospital. When I was there at a public meeting with the Hon. Stephen Wade and others, the answer from Country Health SA was that they could actually shift these services to Wallaroo. We now have a headline in the Yorke Peninsula Country Times called 'Pulling the plug' and comments from the medical fraternity, those people trying to be service providers to that hospital, saying that the hospital is in crisis and that there are significant staffing concerns.

We have seen some of the medical practices at Moonta and Wallaroo say that they will no longer contract to the government for providing medical services at Wallaroo. We are therefore now seeing enormous pressure on the medical services of Kadina. My questions to the minister therefore are:

1. Does the minister acknowledge that Country Health SA is not fulfilling its obligations to rural and regional people?

2. Does the minister agree that the doctors—who by the way can't get to see their patients a lot of the time because they are being called away to backfill positions, notwithstanding some locum services—are telling the truth and that there are problems in providing services?

3. What does the minister intend to do to fix the dreadful situation facing the Wallaroo Hospital and many other country hospitals in South Australia?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse) (15:17): Let me thank the honourable member for his dissertation. Whether or not there is much fact in the honourable member's question is, however, a separate point.

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire: Mr President, here are all the facts. Here they are, sir.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Brokenshire, allow the minister to answer.

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire: There they are, sir, and for you, minister.

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: Mr President, I have just received from the honourable member the Yorke Peninsula Country Times—a good publication. Country papers throughout our state do an outstanding job in advocating local issues and do a good job of raising concerns that are specific to country people. Let me acknowledge their important work.

I am very confident, once I get a chance to sit down and read this article, which I most certainly will do, I am sure that somewhere in the paper there will be a disclosure of the familial link that this paper has with a candidate running for parliament at the next state election, if indeed that is the case.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: Let me respond to the honourable member's question by pointing out that this government is indeed very committed to country health throughout the state. We acknowledge that it is very important, as the state government goes about its business of delivering high-quality public health care, that we also do it as best we can in regional environments.

That, of course, is challenging. It is challenging to be able to deliver high-quality services in a state such as South Australia where the population is highly dispersed and the population within our regional areas is relatively low when you take into account the extraordinary geographical distances which we have to deliver those services within.

Nevertheless, we do our best, and that includes in and around Yorke Peninsula. I am more than happy to take on notice the specific nature of the questions that the honourable member has asked, but make no mistake that this government is serious about making sure people in regional areas get access to high-quality public health care.