HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Subject Index
House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-05-06 Daily Xml
Contents
Pdf Xml

O'Neill, Prof. S.

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (14:40): My question is to the Premier. When was the Premier first advised of the decision of Professor Sue O'Neill to resign her position as the SALHN chief executive?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:40): I received a message from the chair of the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network, Mark Butcher, who informed me that she is going to do some research going forward. I think she has done an outstanding job. I very much enjoyed all my interactions with her. The Southern Adelaide Local Health Network is a very busy local health network. It is one which has performed extraordinarily well in a very difficult situation when we have been dealing with the coronavirus but at the same time completely and utterly redesigning and implementing the redesign for the expansion of the services.

As you would be aware, Sue O'Neill has presided over not just the reorientation of the Flinders Medical Centre but the upgrade of the services which are at Noarlunga Hospital, which they themselves take pressure off the Flinders Medical Centre. In addition to that, of course, the Repat site resides completely within the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network. Even though it is providing statewide services, it is SALHN which is basically doing the work on that site.

I have to say, I was down there recently where I caught up with Sue O'Neill and her team. That site is looking extraordinary—quite extraordinary—compared to the very forlorn situation down there when we came into government after the previous government closed that site. They very pig-headedly didn't listen to the people of South Australia. I think more than 100,000 people signed a petition calling upon the previous government to keep that site operational. It's an iconic site that has served both veterans and the broader South Australian population over an extended period of time.

Can I just say that I am very grateful for the input that we have received from the local member there, the member for Elder, and also other members adjacent, and of course the federal member, who have all been arguing the case for a genuine health precinct on that site. That's exactly what we are starting to see now with HammondCare coming onto that site, with the Veteran Wellbeing Centre being on that site and with a range of services there, including the complete refurbishment of wards 1 and 2, which are looking absolutely fantastic. I encourage all members, if they get the opportunity, to drive past and see the changes occurring down there.

One of the areas that I feel most passionately about, which Sue O'Neill has been presiding over, is the establishment of the brain and spinal injury rehabilitation centre on that site. That will ultimately move from the Hampstead site down to the Repat site, and what a change those patients will see. One thing that really impresses me about the way Sue O'Neill has gone about her work is the way that she has engaged with people with lived experience and consumers who have experienced services in the health system, who have been able to benchmark and look towards best practice and then put that into place in almost a co-designed arrangement.

I genuinely encourage people to get down to the Repat site when available to see the fantastic work that is being done down there. The closure of that site was a terrible day for our state. It put massive additional pressure onto the southern system, and we have been unwinding the consequences of that over an extended period of time. I particularly want to thank the men and women who work on that site, together with the leadership of the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I certainly acknowledge and thank Sue O'Neill for her outstanding leadership of the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the member for Kaurna—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my right, members on my left! Before I call the member for Kaurna, I warn for a second time the member for Kavel, I call to order the Minister for Innovation and Skills, I warn the leader and I warn for a second time the member for Playford.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT