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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-05-04 Daily Xml
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ROYAL ADELAIDE HOSPITAL

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:08): I have a supplementary question. If the minister wants to argue that the $2.73 billion cost includes non-construction items, why then, when he announced the $201 million Lyell McEwin stage 3 redevelopment, the $128 million Glenside development, or The Queen Elizabeth Hospital stage 2 redevelopment, why, on those occasions—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mrs REDMOND: Why, on those occasions and others, did the minister announce those inclusive of the construction and non-construction costs?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

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) (14:09): Madam Speaker, I think the opposition leader is unaware—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister, sit down until we have some quiet in here.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for MacKillop!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Madam Speaker—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition! Minister, sit down. Members on my right will not heckle the opposition. Members of the opposition will not respond or heckle the government.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: The opposition leader doesn't understand the way these projects are constructed.

Mrs Redmond: I understand how you hide figures.

The SPEAKER: Order, the Leader of the Opposition!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Madam Speaker, that's a reflection on me and I would ask the Leader of the Opposition to withdraw it. We are not hiding figures at all. I am trying to give an honest account to the parliament. I am continually interjected upon and there is just nonsense coming from the other side, Madam Speaker.

The SPEAKER: I didn't hear what the Leader of the Opposition said because of the other noise that was coming from her side. However, I would ask the Leader of the Opposition to withdraw whatever she said.

Mrs Redmond: No, Madam Speaker, I won't.

The SPEAKER: I would ask the Leader of the Opposition to withdraw what she said.

Mrs Redmond: I didn't make any comment that was disparaging to the minister.

The SPEAKER: Then I would ask the Leader of the Opposition what she actually did say.

Mrs Redmond: I said—

The SPEAKER: Stand up.

Mrs REDMOND: I said that he was good at hiding figures, that I understood how he hid figures.

Members interjecting:

Mrs REDMOND: Yes; I understood how he hid figures.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I still haven't heard what the Leader of the Opposition said.

Mrs REDMOND: To the best of my recollection, Madam Speaker, the minister said that the Leader of the Opposition didn't understand and I said, 'I understand how you hide figures' or words to that effect.

The SPEAKER: 'How you hide figures.'

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Madam Speaker, I will take that as a withdrawal because she has changed her position.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister, continue your answer.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: They're crazy people! The question was really: is the RAH figure comparable to the figures for public hospitals that we build ourselves rather than through a PPP arrangement? The figure of 1.78 was the figure that was in the media today—1.8, I think, in the Auditor-General's Report. The initial estimate was 1.7 billion. I briefed the Leader of the Opposition and other members of the opposition on where we got the $1.7 billion figure from. That included design and construction, a whole range of fees. It included—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Madam Speaker, it is very difficult to resist the temptation to retaliate when one is interjected upon with nonsense. I am trying to give an honest account to the parliament of what is happening.

An honourable member: Get on with the answer.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Gutless lot over there, they are, Madam Speaker—absolutely gutless. Absolute cowards. As I said, as soon as the Leader of the Opposition became the Leader of the Opposition, I offered her a briefing. She came into my office with one or two of her staff. I went through the estimates that the government had for the construction of the Royal Adelaide Hospital site, and I said the figure of 1.7 that we were using as the estimate included a whole range of figures, including escalation and, when we build a hospital like the Lyell McEwin or the Flinders and so on, all those things are taken into account. What we don't do when we announce the Lyell McEwin, The QEH or any other major government project which is done by conventional procurement is include the cost of finance—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: It does not include the cost of finance; it does not include the cost of maintenance; it does not include an element for risk; and it does not include all the other issues associated with the running of the project. The amount that was given for the Royal Adelaide Hospital is exactly comparable to the figures, as I understand it, for every other project that we announce. The final figures for the PPP will include a whole range of other factors—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: —that are not normally brought to account in advance by government, but they are still paid by government. The finance costs are paid through Treasury; they are not paid through the health budget. The maintenance costs get paid through Health over a period of time. The delivery of non-clinical services is paid by the health department. In the case of a PPP, all those figures are brought to account at the very beginning and then—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I warn the Leader of the Opposition.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Police will be quiet.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: If the Leader of the Opposition has the Macquarie document, I understand that document shows the design and construction cost of the Royal Adelaide Hospital is about $1.8 billion. There are other figures associated with it which I do not have in front of me because I have not seen the document, but the design and construction costs are pretty much in line with what the government said in the very beginning.

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