House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-04-02 Daily Xml

Contents

MARJORIE JACKSON-NELSON HOSPITAL

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Leader of the Opposition) (14:51): My question is again to the Premier. Given the inefficiencies—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my right!

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: —cost overruns and fiscal mismanagement revealed in the Paxton report, how can the Premier further weigh down the health budget with unfunded finance costs for a $1.9 billion privatised hospital in City West? It is a private hospital you are building.

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:51): Privatised hospital? This is the big difference—let me go through it again. The only people who privatised—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —the hospital were the Liberals. They had a plan to go ahead with the QEH—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —and they were caught out. Basically, they decided to back off before an election threw them out. That is the difference. If you want to talk about the difference between Labor and Liberal on hospitals, then go out to the Lyell McEwen and see the massive amount of building work. It is basically doubling in size. Go down to the QEH and see a new hospital being built there. And the $1.7 billion central hospital, now you are opposing it. The only people who would try to privatise that is you.