House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-03-03 Daily Xml

Contents

ROYAL ADELAIDE HOSPITAL

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:06): Sir, I have a supplementary question. If the Minister for Health proposes to give a briefing, will it include any more than what was provided 18 months ago—that the costings were estimated at $1.7 billion, because they proposed a 170,000 square metre hospital, and the average cost for a hospital is $10,000 per square metre.

Mr Hamilton-Smith: That was the briefing.

Ms CHAPMAN: Yes, that was the briefing.

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (15:07): I am happy to provide the Deputy Leader of the Opposition with full information—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: —in relation to our costings. I have offered to do that four or five times during question time today. I will give her the most up-to-date information, including the $2 billion it would cost to do the half-brained thing that the opposition wants to do, if she is interested, and I can explain to her why it would cost close to $2 billion to build in and around the hospital, the processes we would have to go through, the number of stages that would be required, the infrastructure needs that would have to be addressed, the temporary facilities that would have to be created and the escalation costs associated with doing that over 16 or 17 years, because that is the reality that you have to come to terms with if you persist in putting to the people of South Australia your policy that you will build a new hospital on that site. It will not be big enough, but if you want to build a new hospital on that site, with all the information that we have, it will cost about $2 billion.