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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-02-04 Daily Xml
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MARJORIE JACKSON-NELSON HOSPITAL

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Leader of the Opposition) (14:49): Sir, I have a supplementary question. Given the Treasurer's response indicating uncertainty about exactly how the government will fund the new hospital—

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: Well, that is what he did.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: Why is the government refusing to provide for public scrutiny evidence which supports its costing claims by releasing independently derived research which compares the financial case for a new hospital in the rail yards compared to the proposal it took to the last state election for a renewed hospital at the existing Royal Adelaide Hospital site?

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Treasurer, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Federal/State Relations) (14:50): Only a Liberal opposition and a few malcontents would complain about a government building a new hospital. I can say this, I can say this—

The Hon. I.F. Evans: You said that.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: How are you going? Are you counting numbers? You're a lot chirpier the last few days.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: He is chirpier.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: He is chirpy. Iain has picked up a bit in the last three or four days. He enjoys the hardship of his leader. The Leader of the—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: —Opposition—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I have called the house to order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: The Leader of the Opposition just made a false claim that there is doubt over the funding of the—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Martin, you are doing it again. You are not correctly quoting what you said. You said that there are doubts about the funding of the Marjorie Jackson-Nelson Hospital. There are no doubts about the funding of it. It will be funded and it will be built as we have promised and as we are working to.

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader will come to order! The Deputy Premier.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: There is no doubt about the funding of the Marjorie Jackson-Nelson Hospital. The procurement model is to be decided when we have gone through proper due diligence, gone through proper tendering processes and gone through proper scrutiny and benchmarking against the public sector comparator; and if it appears that the PPP that has the private sector providing the finance is not the best model the government will do a design and construct with its own finance. There is no doubt about the funding, which is what we have said from day one with the very first project. And, surprise, surprise, it is what Rob Lucas put in as principles when he first formulated PPP policy when we came into office. It is a standard operating procedure for PPPs. Sometimes it might be that—

An honourable member: The desal plant wasn't a PPP.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Yes. We did a public sector comparator. We looked at a whole series of variables with the desal and we decided against a PPP. I do not think that the average citizen will get overly excited about whether it is a PPP or a design and construct—they just want a new hospital. This Labor government will be proud of the legacy that is state-of-the-art and the most modern hospital built.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Well—

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: What was that story on the front page of the Sunday Mail where genius over here wanted to build a sports stadium and they said—I cannot believe the Sunday Mail ran this but maybe I should not be so naive—they had an anonymous consultant. Have we ever seen that report?

Mr Williams: Are you going to answer the question?

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: No; have we ever seen your report?

Mr Williams: Answer the question.

The SPEAKER: The member for MacKillop will come to order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Have we ever seen your report? We will be going through a competitive tender process. Do members really think it is intelligent that we would put all our documentation into the public arena so that people could pour over it when getting into a competitive tendering process? What arrant nonsense. That demonstrates your lack of understanding.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for MacKillop will come to order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: That shows a lack of understanding of the commercial world.

Mr Williams: You can't hide.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for MacKillop is warned.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: The health minister and I have said consistently that the cost of rebuilding on the existing site—and I have seen the documentation, I have seen the work—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Look at him; a barrel of laughs! Why would I, as Treasurer, sit in a room and say, 'Yeah, let's build a brand new hospital because it's dearer than rebuilding on the RAH site'? I do not think I am noted internally in government as saying, 'Yeah, let's build something that is a hell of a lot more expensive if there is a cheaper option.'

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: No, you're not.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: No; and no cabinet would be that dumb. No cabinet would approve a process—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: They might. They probably would.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: You know, it does not make sense. Talk to any building contractor of any note and they will tell you. What would they prefer to do? Would they prefer to rebuild on a brownfield site—an existing site—or build on a greenfield site? Members should ask what it would cost to renovate their home as against the rebuild of their home.

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: I can tell you: 15 years rebuild on the existing site.

Mr Hamilton-Smith: You have made that up. Where are the documents?

The SPEAKER: Order! The leader will come to order.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: If the minister has misled the house take a motion against him.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Deputy Premier will take his seat when the Speaker is on his feet. I should not have to call for order more than once. The Deputy Premier.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: It is a 15-year reconstruction site. We do not want to condemn patients, doctors and nurses to working on a construction site for the next 15 years. That is pretty logical. We do not actually agree with the doctors on the front page of the Sunday Mail who say that all we need to do is build a new accommodation wing. This hospital has been neglected consistently by governments for decades. It was neglected under the former Liberal government and, prior to that, other Labor governments, because it is a large hospital that requires such a large capital spend.

When we did the analysis, I was involved and had a major role in it. We simply asked the question: what is the most cost effective option for government? Without a shadow of a doubt, it is a rebuild on a new site—and that makes sense. If members talk to any developer in Adelaide that is exactly what they will tell you. Only the Liberal Party and people who just want to have a whinge about anything that government does would complain about a brand new hospital—even Dr Katsaros.

A brand new hospital will service our community like nothing else could possibly do when it comes to quality health care in this state. We will proudly campaign on that. Members opposite should go out and campaign on their football stadium and their rebuild of an existing site and when they walk into government—if they were to win—they would be confronted with trying to explain to rating agencies, Treasury and other financiers how in God's name they will end up paying for it.

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