Hospitals, Winter Demand

The Hon. T.T. NGO (15:21): Supplementary question arising from the answer: apart from the vaccination program for children under five that the minister mentioned, does the minister have any plans in terms of opening further beds to deal with winter flu?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:21): I did actually mention that in my answer. I indicated that we are identifying beds that might be available. I see where the honourable member is going: he wants me to talk about the Repat again. One of the options is that now that we have terminated the contract of the Repat—

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Honourable Leader of the Opposition, let the minister answer the question.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Yes, I think that sort of bullying behaviour belongs in the House of Assembly. The fact of the matter is that, with the termination of the Repat contract, one of the other opportunities before the government is to activate some of the wards at the Repat facility. That will be one of a number of options that will be considered in readiness. We want to be ready for winter. Instead, the former Labor government was willing to roll out EPAS, one of the most troubled IT programs in the history of health IT in Australia, on the eve of winter.

This is not risk management; it's lunacy. This is the same government that decided that the best time to open the new Royal Adelaide Hospital was at the peak of winter. On 5 September 2017, the former Labor government opened the new Royal Adelaide Hospital at the west end of North Terrace. On 15 September, 10 days later, the then minister, minister Snelling, surrounded by a group of union and health officials, was having to implement a hospital emergency plan. This is the lunacy of the Labor government; that is exactly why they were voted out on 17 March.