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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-11-27 Daily Xml
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HEALTH BUDGET

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:03): Thank you very much, Madam Speaker.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Members on my right, order!

Mr MARSHALL: My question is to the Minister for Health. What health services will the government be cutting, given the Treasurer's previous answer where he has just outlined that there will be cuts to the State Hospital Fund of approximately $35 million per year?

The 2011-12 annual report for SA Lotteries clearly outlines four major areas of dividend, essentially, to the government. There are the gambling taxes (which are preserved, thank you very much), but there are also dividends of $24 million last financial year, unclaimed prizes of $1.599 million, and the very large $9.788 million distribution to the hospital funds for income tax equivalent reimbursement—adding up to $35 million per year.

The SPEAKER: Order! Thank you, deputy leader. I am not sure that I have heard the minister announce he was cutting; however, minister.

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Ageing, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts) (15:05): Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I thank the member for his question. The answer is: there won't be, because the way the health budget has been worked out over many years, of course, is Treasury allocates—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: It's the forked tongue which I find so appalling in here. On the one hand, they worry about what services might be cut, and then when we talk about budgets they say I overspend; so they need to work out what their line is.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Look, thumper—thumper over there should just calm down. He should just calm down and let's relax about this. This is an interesting question and I am happy to provide an answer. The answer is that Treasury allocates funds to health, just under $5 million in the last year. Those funds come from a range of sources, and one of them is the lotteries fund. As members know, the only way that this state has a lottery industry is because Tom Playford was persuaded that if the money went into the hospitals fund it was okay to have gambling.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: No, no; he was against it.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: He was against it?

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson interjecting:

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Okay, whatever the reason—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: —the argument at the time was that you could justify an immoral act, that is, gambling, if there was a moral good that came from it—putting the funds into the hospital fund, and historically that has been one of the sources of funding that comes into health. However, I can assure the house that Treasury will allocate the funds that health needs. We are always looking at ways of improving the way we deliver services to make sure that we reduce the cost structure of our provision of services. We will continue to do that, but there will be no extra burden on health services as a result of the lotteries sale.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Croydon, order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Taylor.

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