SA Pathology

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (14:45): Supplementary question: the minister hasn't answered the second part of the question, which was: can the minister guarantee there will be no further job losses at SA Pathology?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:45): No, I won't. We have said that we are going to continue to deliver high-quality, value for money services; and we had this hectoring from the Labor Party. The people who failed to deliver reform at SA Pathology have been hectoring from the sidelines for over a year now. They told us that, through the work of Tom Dodd and Mark McNamara last year, it was destroying the organisation and it wouldn't survive and it wouldn't cope. Then, as if to mock them in their face, we have the COVID-19 pandemic, and SA Pathology stepped up. SA Pathology stepped up and delivered a world-class testing regime. Let's remember that from the beginning of February they didn't even have the capacity to test for COVID-19.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: And yet now—

The Hon. E.S. Bourke interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Ms Bourke!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: —we have a pathology service that is leading the world—leading the world. As of today—

The Hon. E.S. Bourke interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: —they have delivered—

The Hon. E.S. Bourke interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Ms Bourke!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: —53,000 COVID-19 tests. As I said earlier, I am very pleased to say that of those 53,000 only 0.8 per cent are positive, but it's the hard work of SA Pathology, the innovative work of SA Pathology, which has put South Australia in a good place, and we put SA Pathology in a good place to do that.