SA Ambulance Service

The Hon. T.T. NGO (14:41): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Health and Wellbeing a question about ambulances.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.T. NGO: The Ambulance Employees Association has said in recent days, and I quote:

There have been no additional ambulances deployed under the Marshall Liberal Government.

Despite Government claims, the last additional ambulances were deployed over 3 years ago back in 2018…funded by the previous Labor Government. The only staff hired since have replaced ambos leaving the service and topped up existing rosters.

My question to the minister is: how can the minister stand by claims from the Premier that the Liberal government has boosted the paramedic workforce?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:42): I am not sure how the explanation was linked to the question; perhaps I could assume that you meant to ask another question and answer that. In relation to whether this government stands by its commitment that we are investing in the—

The Hon. E.S. Bourke interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Ms Bourke!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: —Ambulance Service, let me remind you of some facts. In Labor's last budget, Labor budgeted a cut in the Ambulance Service, a cut in the SAAS FTE from 2016-17 and 2017-18: it was going to go down from 1,332 to 1,321. In the dying days of the Labor government a letter was written by the previous CEO of the South Australian Ambulance Service, Mr Jason Killens, dated 29 September 2017. He wrote:

We do not currently have the ability to provide sufficient capacity to meet demand and growing demand, and deliver the specified response times and quality standards.

So what did the former Labor government do? That was September and, a couple of months later, getting closer and closer to the election, they committed to funding 100 FTEs. That is pretty impressive, except that by the time the election came around only five of those positions had been filled. We do not take lectures from the members opposite in terms of resourcing the Ambulance Service.

But what I will admit—I want to be fair to those members opposite—is that the former Labor government did find enough money to fund 12 FTEs for the Ambulance Service so that when they downgraded the Modbury Hospital, under their failed Transforming Health experiment, they were able to have an interhospital transfer service from the Modbury Hospital to the Lyell McEwin Hospital. If you want to brag about your record, go for your life. What I can tell you is that the—

The PRESIDENT: I am not bragging about my record. I am sure you are referring—

The Hon. S.G. WADE: But your record is more braggable than theirs. Let's not take the Hon. Tung Ngo's explanations as any source of authority; let's go to the Auditor-General's Report. The Auditor-General's Report says that from the beginning of July 2018 to June 2020 there was a net increase of 187 FTEs. Unlike the Labor budgets of 2016-17 and 2017-18, in the current financial year this government is budgeting for a 5.1 per cent increase in staffing.

We will continue to invest in the Ambulance Service, including in resources, but, as the Treasurer said, we have a sacred duty to make sure that taxpayers' money is deployed effectively. That means we make sure that every dollar that is currently being spent is being spent as effectively as possible and that every new dollar is also spent as effectively as possible. That is why we insist that all public sector employee organisations representing public sector employees work with us, to make sure that we deliver both quality services and sustainable services.