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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-05-19 Daily Xml
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Royal Adelaide Hospital

Mrs HURN (Schubert) (14:39): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. Given the Labor Party said that the privacy screen at the Royal Adelaide Hospital ambulance bays was an antimedia screen to hide ambulance ramping, when will the screen be removed?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: There is a point of order from the member for West Torrens. I will hear the point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Standing order 97, sir: the member has inserted facts into her question and I ask her to rephrase it and re-ask the question.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Schubert, there is some force in the point of order. I will give you an opportunity to rephrase or seek leave.

Mrs HURN: -My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. Will the privacy screen at the Royal Adelaide Hospital ambulance bays be removed?

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:39): I do welcome this line of questioning because essentially it seems to be: when will you fix all the things that the previous government did wrong, and how quickly can you do it.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: Let's look at the history of this matter, which was noted very early on in the short time of the Marshall government in its existence, which was that the government did put up screens outside the Royal Adelaide Hospital. I don't know—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for West Torrens!

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: —who was involved in that decision. I don't know—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Schubert! Member for West Torrens!

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: —whether that was the Premier's decision or the then health minister's or whether this went to cabinet and the environment minister and the education minister were involved. I do not know whether the press secretary—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Morialta!

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: —of the Premier's office was—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Schubert! The minister has the call.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: Thank you for your protection, sir. I do not know whether the press secretary of the then Premier would have been involved in that decision.

Mrs Hurn interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Schubert! The minister has the call.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: The history of this matter is that originally a temporary screen was put up outside the Royal Adelaide Hospital. I think it was, from memory, a Friday night that this started going up and we absolutely criticised the priorities of the previous government in doing this, because they were elected saying that they were going to fix the health system. Actually, they made—

Mr Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is on two warnings.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: —the problem 485 per cent worse, and one of their only things, lasting legacies, seems to be this screen there. I would have much rather they invested that in beds in the system. That would have left us with a lot more options in terms of how we can address that—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Unley! Member for Schubert!

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: —immediate pressure on the health system that I outlined—

Mrs Hurn interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is warned.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: —in my ministerial statement earlier. I would have much preferred that they invested that time up in Mount Barker, where we have a massively growing population and where we have plans to basically triple the number of beds up in that very important growing community. However, that was not their priority. So we made those comments, and then the then government, not only did they put up that temporary screen but then they doubled-down on that and they installed a permanent screening around at some—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Unley!

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: —expense. I can say very honestly to the shadow minister, I do not know what the expense of that privacy screen was, but—

Mrs Hurn interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is warned for a third time.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: —given her interest, I am happy to seek the information from the department as to the exact costs of the previous government installing that permanent privacy screen. My priority, and this government's priority, is to invest our money in more beds, in more doctors, in more nurses, in more ambos, in more ambulance stations. That is where we will be spending our money and they are the commitments that we have made and will be delivering.

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