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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-06-02 Daily Xml
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Question Time

Transfer of Care Data

Mrs HURN (Schubert) (14:02): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. When will the government be releasing the monthly transfer of care data for May?

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:03): As we have committed to do so before the election, and we have been doing consistently in the few months afterwards, we will be releasing the transfer of care data. That will be happening in a timely way within the next few days. This is something which we will be providing publicly and will be doing very differently from what happened under the previous government.

It is worth looking at what happened under the previous government because there was no regular release of this data. There was no regular release whatsoever. In fact, journalists had to go regularly to the government and ask for this data; in fact, they would ask the press secretary to the then Premier, who is now—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: Yes.

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Minister, there's a—

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: We will do it every week if you want to keep asking the same question.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! There is a point of order from the member for Morialta, which I will hear under 134.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: It's the practice of the house that when a member or a minister is referring to another member of the house, which the minister clearly is, he do so by the appropriate title.

The SPEAKER: I am listening carefully. The minister, of course, is aware of the standing orders. It's a day of quite some theatre and also great significance, budget day. Members and ministers are reminded of the standing orders.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: It is worth reflecting upon what has happened in terms of the release of this data. Here we have the shadow minister, who previously was the press secretary for the previous Premier, who previously was the person who would be denying journalists access to the particular data.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morialta.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: The question was really specific: when will the government be releasing the monthly transfer of care data for May 2022?

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta, we are very early in the minister's response. I will listen carefully.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: The answer is that we will be doing it in a much more timely way than happened under the previous government because it is worth reflecting upon the timeliness of the release of this data.

For instance, if you look at what happened on 18 November 2021, there was a release of data that went back to August, and so that was 84 days later that data was released—84 days. I am advised that on 26 August 2021 there was data that was released that went back to May 2021. So that is a significant period of time; in fact, that was data that went back 111 days. I am advised that on 7 May 2021 there was data released that went back to February 2021—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Chaffey is called to order.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: —and I am advised that was 212 days—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Human Services is called to order.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: —that there was data released.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Human Services will cease interjecting. Minister, there is a point of order from the member for Morialta. I will hear the point of order under 134. The member for Morialta on a point of the order.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Sir, it was a specific question without provocation. Standing order 98 requires that the minister answer the question without entering debate. The compare and contrast has gone on for half of the time allocated. The answer is a very simple one up to the minister.

The SPEAKER: There have been a number of points of order, member for Morialta, from yourself. The first was in relation to a range of other standing orders—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Human Services is called to order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Chaffey! The first wasn't directly in relation to the substance of the question; the second was. The minister's answer to me was that he would turn to the substance. He then provided some compare and contrast, and I understand the minister is now moving to the substance of the question.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: Very clearly, the practice had been to wait and to wait and to wait to release this data and then often to drop it out to a particular journalist here and there.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morialta.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: He is defying your ruling. You instructed him to return to the substance of the question, and the minister has continued in exactly the same vein that he was before your ruling.

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta, I did not make a formal ruling; instead, I offered some guidance to the minister. I remind the minister that he must chart a course close to the question. The minister.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: Thank you, sir, and the question was: when will the data be released? Well, if you look, we have these boxes here that show it is No. 2 on the date here. So we have a question of: why is it not being released in two days? But under the previous government, under the media and communications—

Mrs Hurn interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert!

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: —leadership of the member opposite—

Mrs Hurn interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is called to order.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: —we were waiting over 100 days—

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey!

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: —for the same data.

Mr Patterson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morphett!

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: That would have been over 100. The data will be released, as we have committed to do so at the election. It will be released in a timely way—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: —and in a much more timely way than those opposite released this data. The truth is—

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell: That's the best they've got.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: That's a very good point from the member for Mawson: this is the best that they have because they don't want to talk about the actual issues because we are the ones addressing the issues.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order, sir.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Mawson, the member for Morphett, the member for Chaffey! The member for Morialta.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Standing order 98. The minister's reflection on the member for Mawson's contribution on the structure of the question couldn't be less relevant to anyone in South Australia.

The SPEAKER: I am listening carefully. I uphold the point of order.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: The truth is that our hospital system is under continued pressure because we do not have the resources, and in 55 minutes the Treasurer is about to come here and deliver a budget that invests in addressing the issues for our health system. We have opened up every single bed we possibly can, but we need to have more—

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is called to order.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: —beds and hire more doctors and nurses to address this problem that we have inherited to turn the tide on the issues of ramping and access block in our system, and we are looking forward to doing exactly that.

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