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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-03-23 Daily Xml
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HEALTH SYSTEM

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (15:03): My question is to the Minister for Health. Now that the government has had nine years in power, could he please tell us when the government will meet its very specific promises in relation to the health system in this state?

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) (15:03): I thank the member for her question. We have many specific promises and commitments that we have made and I am happy to go through as many of them as I can with you, but in relation to the one that the—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: In relation to the emergency department target, I have already answered that question in my first answer, which was the middle of 2013. The resources that we are putting in should see us meet that target by 2013.

We are getting good support, I have to say, through the commonwealth, which is also assisting us fund some of the extensions. We have to create extra capacity, which we are doing. That requires physical activity. At the moment, Flinders Medical Centre is being extended as a result of the building works there and that has put a bit of pressure on that hospital. I made a public announcement. I went down to the hospital and said, 'We are going to be expanding this hospital and it will cause some problems over the next few months.' It is not surprising that there are problems when you do that.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.D. HILL: They think they know it all, Madam Speaker. The point is that we have a plan which is being rolled out. One of the key achievements of that plan will be to build a new Royal Adelaide Hospital. That will be completed by the end of 2015. That will give us more capacity. By the middle of 2016 we will have put another 250 beds into our system, that is on top of the 200 beds that we have opened up. Over the course of this government, that will be the equivalent of opening up a hospital about the same size as the Flinders Medical Centre. At the same time, of course, we are increasing capacity in country South Australia so that fewer people have to travel to the city from the country.

If the member wants to ask more specific questions about targets, I am happy to give them. We are not afraid to have targets and to be measured against those targets. They are opposed to targets. The only target they have is a small political target.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Their target is avoiding the hard issues.

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: The member for Chaffey is making a strange droopy signal with his small finger. I do not know what it means, but I do suspect that it is unparliamentary.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I did not see the movements, but I would hope that the member for Chaffey was not doing anything inappropriate.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I am talking.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Deputy Leader of the Opposition.

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