Paramedics

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (14:42): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing regarding paramedics. Given the government's recent announcements about 51 paramedics, can the minister advise if those paramedics are an election promise or are they a government budgeted measure? Secondly, when will the 51 paramedics be brought online and, thirdly, where exactly will they be deployed?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:42): In relation to the honourable member's question, my understanding is that the Marshall Liberal government's investment in 51 additional FTE paramedics is budgeted, therefore it is not subject to the re-election of this government.

It has been long foreshadowed by the Minister for Industrial Relations, who is also the Treasurer. In the last budget, there were 74 additional paramedics who were budgeted for and at that time the Treasurer foreshadowed that he expected to be funding additional paramedics in the future. That $30 million investment will provide an additional 40,000 crewing hours, a significant enhancement of our capacity. I am advised that the paramedics will be on the road within 12 months.

I think it's important to see this in the context of other important human resourcing initiatives of the government in relation to the Ambulance Service. Since the Treasurer announced the 74 additional FTE ambulance officers in the state budget, we doubled the paramedic intake last year and we have committed to maintaining that doubling in this current year. We have hired more 000 call takers and we have significantly engaged paramedic students in the context of the COVID response. So I would ask honourable members to be mindful not only of the 74 plus the 51 but also other investments in the Ambulance Service.