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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-09-27 Daily Xml
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Ambulance Ramping

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (14:15): My question is to the Premier. Does the Premier acknowledge that ramping has increased to record levels on his watch and will he take responsibility for this?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:15): Of course, we absolutely acknowledge that the chronic underinvestment in health that we saw over the course of the previous government absolutely—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Morphett! The Premier has the call.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: We know that the chronic underinvestment in health did not set the state up very well at all—

Mr Tarzia interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hartley!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —for a situation where we saw this winter—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier has the call.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —of course, the state being confronted with the coalescence of not just COVID cases in winter for the first time but also COVID and flu. For the better part of two years, between 2020 and 2022, we saw ramping escalate to unprecedented levels, over 400 per cent—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morphett is warned.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —higher than was the case back in 2018. Of course, that would have been the time to start really ramping up investment in additional staff both within the Ambulance Service and within the hospital system more broadly. That opportunity was missed and of course then we saw COVID and flu come into the state for the first time ever. That has had an impact on ramping; that is publicly acknowledged.

I guess there is another example here of compare and contrast in that we are releasing ramping figures on a monthly basis transparently to the people of South Australia and indeed to the members of the opposition—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —a practice that this opposition is becoming increasingly familiar with; they weren't familiar with it in the four years prior. We are putting the figures out there on the public record because we think South Australians deserve to know the facts.

Another fact that they deserve to know is that what we are now seeing is gradually, as every month passes by, more and more resources being made available to the health system: more nurses, more ambos, more doctors, and longer term decision-making in regard to capital infrastructure in the health system, including today's announcement around the Women's and Children's Hospital.

I think that every reasonable South Australian well understands that to turn around this ship is like turning around an aircraft carrier: it will take time. But by making the right long-term decisions, by making active investment decisions around additional resources, people and capital, we will start to right the ship.

There are other challenges that must be confronted in addressing the issues associated with ramping that are beyond the state government's control, and we are taking up that challenge as well. We are advocating to the commonwealth government that we start to see a turnaround in behaviour in respect of the primary healthcare system. We know the primary healthcare system, with respect to GPs and also in terms of disability services, the intersection with the NDIS and aged care, matters too. We are not squibbing any of the challenges. We are taking these up to the commonwealth—

Mr Cowdrey interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —including up to a federal Labor government. We will have no equivocation in taking it up to our federal Labor government. We are more than willing to call that out if we see the necessity for it. We are taking up the challenge in areas that are beyond our control. In respect of areas that are within our control, we are absolutely meeting the challenge as we committed to do to the people of South Australia at the March election.

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