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

Contents

ROYAL ADELAIDE HOSPITAL

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:35): Can I ask another question of the Minister for Health? Is the Minister for Health seriously suggesting that the Macquarie Bank is misleading potential investors when the government claims that a new Royal Adelaide Hospital won't cost $2.73 billion? Can he advise the house which figure in the Macquarie document is wrong?

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) (14:34): I do not have a copy of the Macquarie document. I am—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Unlike Jim Katsaros, I am not a subscriber to the high wealth group who are provided with this document. I understand it has been alleged—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I understand—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Yes; has David Ridgway got a copy? That will be the interesting thing. I understand that it is alleged that a copy has been sent to my office. I have asked my office; they have not seen it. If it were to arrive, I would do what is appropriate and send it back to Macquarie Bank, because it is illegally transferred to others than the people on the list. They had to sign confidentiality agreements. But I do hope that the media gets to ask Mr Katsaros whether he is responsible for the leaking of this document. I would be interested to hear what he has to say. I was interested to hear what he had to say during the election. I was interested to see that his vote was less than 1 per cent but, be that as it may—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: —the contract will be signed and then all of the information will be put into the public domain, and everybody will have an understanding of what the construction costs are and what all the other costs associated with the hospital are, and we will be able to do some comparisons with other like buildings which are done by normal procurement processes. It is unfair and unreasonable to compare one type of project that is constructed in a particular way with another without taking into account all of the other costs associated with the second way of procuring a hospital. You cannot just compare the construction costs of a hospital in one case with the construction plus operating costs of it in another. That is wrong in principle and wrong in practice.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!