Hospital Beds

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (14:41): Thank you, Mr President. Can the minister please guarantee to the chamber that he will not rule out—that he will rule out—

The Hon. R.I. Lucas: Which one is it?

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE: That he will rule out, rule out, that he will rule it out—

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: When you know what you want, come back to us.

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE: Thank you, honourable member—rule out closing any further or putting any further beds on stand-by?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:41): I'm going to continue to back my board, back my managers, to let them make the right decisions that they need to make to make sure their health facilities operate. I can assure you that I have a lot more confidence in Lesley Dwyer and her team, consistent with the views of academics, industrial leaders and health ministers past and present that our hospitals need surge capacity. They are making a very sensible decision to make sure that the hospitals have that capacity. I'm backing them.