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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-04-07 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

ROYAL ADELAIDE HOSPITAL

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (15:11): I want to make some comments in response to the extraordinary ministerial statement by the Minister for Health today in relation to the costs of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital, as his ministerial statement is titled. It is extraordinary that the government is trying to beat up on the opposition to release the figures about the government's own project. It may have come as a surprise to the government but I think it has access to Macquarie Bank on a far more regular basis than Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition.

If the government wants to know the figure, just ring up Macquarie Bank and, if I am wrong, why did they not come in today and simply tell the house that the $2.73 billion figure is not in the Macquarie Bank document and is wrong. I did not hear the Premier say that, I did not hear the Minister for Health say that, and, in fact, I did not hear the minister for corrections, who was very vocal during question time, say that. During all the press interviews that have been going on about this, not one minister has said that the $2.73 billion figure that is in the Macquarie Bank document is wrong—it is as simple as that. They have tried to explain it, they have gone around in circles, and they have twisted themselves in knots trying to explain the $2.73 billion figure. The reality is that under parliamentary privilege today, and on radio this morning, the Minister for Health could not bring himself to say that the $2.73 billion figure used by Macquarie Bank in the document used by the opposition is wrong. It is as simple as that, they did not do it.

For the government to stand up and point the finger at the opposition and say, 'This is outrageous, the opposition is not releasing their figure'—this is the government who went to the election and deliberately hid the cost blowout on Adelaide Oval. It deliberately hid it for the whole of the campaign. They also hid the public sector comparative figure on the Royal Adelaide Hospital project, being changed by cabinet in November 2009 prior to the election—they hid that figure—and they hid that $100 million increase in the public sector comparator.

So, excuse me for doing this, but I laugh when the Minister for Health stands up and points the finger at the opposition and says, 'It's outrageous, you're not releasing the figure about a government project,' when the government itself will not release a figure about a government project. Guess what? It is not the opposition's job. If you want to know the figure, ring up Macquarie Bank, they are in the phone book, they are over in Sydney, you will find them, it is under 'M'. Ring them up and if they tell you they can release the document, release it.

The minister for corrections was interjecting that the member for Davenport is a coward because I would not go out in front of the cameras and make some comment on this issue. The member for Davenport might be a lot of things but one thing is that I am usually pretty cautious. When a lawyer tells me that it would be wise not to comment outside the chamber, unlike some members on the government side, I decided that I might take that legal advice. It is very simple for the government. The government has signed a whole range of documents about this particular project. It would have gone to cabinet a number of times. The government can come in any time it wants and say, 'The $2.73 billion figure is wrong.' It can deny it, but it hasn't done it. Today was a bit of theatre for the government, and it was a good try for the government, but the point will not be lost that the Premier did not deny it, the Minister for Health did not deny it, and the Treasurer (who is interstate) has not put out a press release denying it. The reality is they did not lay a glove on the claim. They have access to Macquarie. They can do that any time they want.

The public should be a bit suspicious. The government says it is going to release all the figures—except the ones that are commercially confidential. They will not release those. So, what do you think we are going to get? Do you really think we are going to get all the figures? I suspect not. The government has been caught out. The opposition has done some hard work and got the figures, and good on us, and the government came in today but could not deny it.

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