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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-02-10 Daily Xml
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HOSPITAL EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (15:13): My question is to the Minister for Health. Why is the South Australian Labor government retaining a discredited arbitrary target for emergency department waiting times when Prime Minister Gillard has announced the dumping by federal Labor of the four-hour targets in emergency departments; and will the promise of $100 million announced by Premier Rann to enable emergency departments to achieve the four-hour targets still be available to reduce waiting times?

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) (15:13): I was hoping for this question from the shadow minister. He is always predictable in terms of his questions. The first point he made that it is a discredited policy is not true; it is not a discredited policy. It is a very sound policy which the Liberal government in Western Australia has adopted, and the government in Britain has continued. It now has a 95 per cent—

Dr McFetridge: They're not; it's not true.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: The government in Britain has a 95 per cent target that has been put in place, as I understand it, and now the commonwealth—

Ms Fox: It's from The Daily Mail, it's fiction.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: From The Daily Mail, that's right. The government of Australia has got the same policy The member has made the claim that the Prime Minister has dumped the policy. I would ask the member to provide proof to the house that the Gillard government has dropped this policy. A piece of paper that the member holds up in front of him does not seem to me to be demonstrable proof. The member is relying—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: —on The Advertiser. I say to my good friends at The Advertiser that I know they very rarely get it wrong, but I say to the member for Morphett that I would not be relying on that report for my information about what the Gillard government is or is not going to do in relation to the emergency target. Our government has a commitment to that target, whatever anybody else does, and we will resource it appropriately, as we have already announced.

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