SA Health, ICAC Report

The Hon. C. BONAROS (15:05): Supplementary: does the minister recall saying, in response the Coroner's recommendations on the chemo bungle, that he was open to a royal commission?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:06): I don't recall that.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.G. WADE: I am more than happy to have a reference, but the royal commission that is being proposed in this context is very broad ranging. I think it would be fair to say that the SA-Best proposal was primarily a royal commission into 16 years of Labor's mismanagement. I am almost tempted—it might give me a bit of political fun to see the mismanagement of Labor unpacked week after week, month after month, but my responsibility is not to enjoy the pain of my political opponents, however much I might enjoy that. My responsibility is to deliver better health care. I cannot, in all honesty, say a year-after-year royal commission, costing tens and tens of millions of dollars will deliver better health care for South Australians. The AMA, before the state election, made exactly the same point.