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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-03-24 Daily Xml
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COUNTRY HOSPITALS

Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:45): My question is to the Minister for Health. Now that the federal Labor government has supported a motion in the federal parliament to directly fund the Keith, Ardrossan and Moonta hospitals and reduce the state's commonwealth health payments by the same amount, is the minister embarrassed by his decision to withdraw state support for those hospitals and will he now review that decision?

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) (14:45): I love the way the honourable member constructs an argument out of a few facts that are placed in a particular way that creates an impression.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Let's deconstruct what he said. He said, 'now that the federal government has supported'. Well, that is not a fact. In fact, the—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Marshall: It's humiliating.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Humiliated? Me?

Mr Marshall: It is humiliating.

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Norwood!

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: Didn't you take your medication?

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Transport!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: As I understand it, the motion that was moved went through on the voices, so it is a bit hard to say who voted for it, because—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: That's different. See, you told an untruth then. You said the federal government supported it. Now you are saying there was no dissent; that is different. That is a difference. That is an example of what I mean. You have constructed an argument based on falsehoods.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Absolutely, Madam Speaker.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: He has admitted it himself. He can't walk away from it.

The SPEAKER: Point of order, member for Bragg.

Ms CHAPMAN: Did I hear the minister accuse you of constructing an argument on falsehoods? He should withdraw that.

The SPEAKER: I am sure the minister did refer to me. He needs to be careful and refer to members by their title.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: If I am to be read explicitly, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition constructed an argument based on falsehoods. If that helps the member for Bragg clarify the situation, I am happy to do it. On his own admission, he agrees with the position I put.

The second point he made was that the parliament voted to fund various hospitals in country South Australia. They did not vote to do that: it was a motion saying the federal government should. So, that is a distinction. That was not what happened but—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: —I would say to the people of Keith, who I think have been put through a very difficult time by a campaign by the Liberal Party, a fear campaign by the Liberal Party, they did not need a motion through the federal parliament to get extra money out of the federal government. All they need do is ask for it. There are hundreds of thousands of dollars that the Keith Hospital is entitled to receive if they ask for it properly. We told them that months ago. They have still to ask for it properly.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for MacKillop!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I have written to the chair of the Keith Hospital only yesterday, once again, to inform—

Mr Williams: About time too.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: No, I have written to him many times. I have written to him again yesterday to say we were happy to support, we would welcome cooperation, we wanted to support them, we would fund somebody to help them get that money out of the federal government, just as we did to the board of the Ardrossan Hospital some months ago, which has now got on with the job.

There is money there from the federal government which they are not getting because they have not properly calculated the acuity level of patients in their aged care beds. It is a complicated thing to do. We know how to do it. We are prepared to help them do it and they will get hundreds of thousands of extra dollars. I have had that confirmed from the federal minister, so they ought to get on with it.

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