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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-04-07 Daily Xml
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ROYAL ADELAIDE HOSPITAL

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Leader of the Opposition) (14:31): I was enjoying that; I wish it could have gone on a bit longer. My question—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. Conlon interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Transport will come to order.

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: My question is to the Premier. Why did the Premier tell South Australians yesterday that the full cost of the rail yards hospital project was totally factored into the government's budget forward estimates, and were his claims wrong? When questioned about the costings for his rail yards hospital project, the Premier told ABC Radio, 'It's totally factored into our forward estimates.' The interviewer then asked, 'Your hospital, you can find it in the budget, the $1.7 billion is in the budget?' The Premier replied and again said, 'Totally, absolutely factored it in, in terms of our forward estimates, and Kevin's made that very, very clear.' According to the budget papers, the $1.7 billion is not included in the forward estimates.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. Rann interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Treasurer, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Federal/State Relations) (14:33): Coming from a—

An honourable member: Dishonest.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: —'dishonest', was that the interjection—Leader of the Opposition, who yesterday—and I will have more to say about that—

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: Mr Speaker, I ask the member to withdraw. We do not need that sort of—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I ask the Treasurer to withdraw.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: I withdraw, but I think he was in the question accusing the Premier of being dishonest. That was the nature of the question, I thought. Glass jaw—

The SPEAKER: Order!

Ms CHAPMAN: Sir, on a point of order, it is not acceptable for a qualified apology—

The SPEAKER: Order! I simply asked the Treasurer to withdraw, which he has done.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Oh, I withdraw, Vickie; I withdraw. The member for Hartley is laughing. What would the member for Hartley be laughing about?

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: No chance; trust me.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: God, you are a grumpy lot! Here I am answering a very serious question with a serious answer. Where were we? The hospital.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Yes, it is in the budget. This guy yesterday revealed a path to bankruptcy, a vision that would cost multiple billions of dollars, and there was no scrutiny in the printed media of the fact that the vision was uncosted, unfunded and unaffordable, and we are in the middle of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. But nobody, particularly The Advertiser, seems remotely worried or interested in the fact that it could bankrupt the state.

An honourable member: Yes, what crisis?

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Yes, crisis—what crisis? It reminds me of Lawrence Springborg. Crisis—what crisis? If you looked at the front page of The Advertiser yesterday, it had its stadium there, so their objective was met, but there was no scrutiny of cost, and here we are having to justify where our money is in our budget. We are building a hospital!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: We all understand the sensitivities at 'Tiserland, that they do not like the idea that we in government actually have an opinion that they are somewhat biased on this issue. They get a bit sensitive. I would like to see The Advertiser actually do what a paper should do—which it does regularly with stuff that I announce—and that is scrutinise the bottom line.

If it is $50 million one way or $50 million the other way, it is a blow-out. But, apparently, the lieutenant colonel (retired) can put out his vision and there is not one skerrick of scepticism, analysis or pressure about how he is going to pay for it. So don't bleed crocodile tears to me in editorials that somehow the Premier has been unfair. It is a bloody stitch, and we know it! The Advertiser wants a city stadium. It will not put Hamilton-Smith under any pressure on this at all, and we have got to call it what it is. It is a stitch by The Advertiser and the Leader of the Opposition.

Having said that, I am quite comfortable with it. I read that editorial with great mirth and humour this morning. Let us put aside the stitch by the opposition and today's daily Advertiser on their desire to have a city stadium. The hospital is costed. We have had detailed costing work undertaken.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Yes, how about the government wanting to build a hospital? As I have said, sir—

Mr Hamilton-Smith: What page?

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Well, I do not actually carry my budget papers—but my colleagues do! It is the 2007-08 budget, page 34, $1.677 billion.

Ms Chapman: That is the year before. What about last year's?

Members interjecting:

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

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: You are idiots. That was the year it was announced: it would have to be in that budget! And here it is in Portfolio Statement, Budget Paper 4, Volume 2, page 7.13. Mr Speaker—

Members interjecting:

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

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: I cannot see the point! I cannot give an answer to an important question with this noise.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: The Leader of the Opposition and the so-called deputy, or wannabe leader—I can walk over there, too, if I wasn't answering the question!

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Mr Speaker, is the leader honestly suggesting that we plucked a number out of the air and that we haven't put it in the budget?

Mr Williams: Yep!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Well, you are an idiot!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Sir, I am not answering these questions until I can have an audience that will listen—seriously!

The SPEAKER: Order! The house will come to order. The Treasurer does not assist me in containing them by repeatedly calling members idiots. The member for Norwood.

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