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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-07-22 Daily Xml
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HEALTH DEPARTMENT

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (14:40): My question is again to the Minister for Health, and I will probably get the same answer. What is the budget blowout in the Department of Health's central office?

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:40): If this were a court of law, the question would be ruled out of order. The question—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: —contains argument within it. The member for Morphett is making an assumption and, on the basis of an assumption that is unproved, he is then asking a question. I have said to the member for Morphett that we will get for him the arrangements for all of the divisions within the health portfolio—they, of course, are presented to the parliament as a matter of course through the budget process—and he can ask questions about them during estimates. The fact is that, as all members would know, all health services in Australia are under enormous pressure because of a range of factors. Those factors include the continuing growth in the number of people—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: The pressures on the health portfolio right across Australia and, indeed, internationally are based on a range of factors, in particular, the ageing of our population and the concurrent burden of disease that is associated with this. There is also, of course, enormous pressure—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Deputy leader, it is not your chance to ask a question.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: All I would say to members opposite is that I am happy to answer your questions, but I can only do them one at a time. The point is that we have an excellent health service in our state, which performs extraordinarily well under very difficult circumstances. It would be nice if it always came in on budget, but it didn't do it when you were in office and I am afraid it doesn't always do it when we are in office. That is the reality of a health service when you provide services to people who walk through the door and you don't limit those services once you have spent the money that has been provided to you. You have to keep spending money when people come in sick: that is the reality of it.

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