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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-02-21 Daily Xml
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Question Time

Ambulance Ramping

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (14:07): My question is to the Premier. When will the Premier fix ramping? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Ramping has nearly doubled since the election. Just yesterday, it was reported that nine people waited over 24 hours for a bed in a hospital and 16 people waited over 12 hours.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:07): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I appreciate and note the leader's appetite for manipulation of statistics to serve his own purposes, but—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

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

The SPEAKER: Premier, there is a point of order from the member for Morialta.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Standing order 127 and 98 as well, if you'd like.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I will allow the leader and the Premier some latitude because of their positions. I will listen carefully. Standing orders do apply to both.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: The Leader of the Opposition would do well to familiarise himself with remarks that I consistently made throughout the course of the election campaign when I was asked this precise question because, clearly, we were very determined in opposition, as we are in government, to commit ourselves to the task of turning around ramping in this state, which of course effectively quadrupled during the course of the last government.

When I was asked the question during the election campaign about what actually constitutes fixing ramping and when it will be done by, I made very clear statements. The first thing is that we are seeking to address the ramping crisis, and what that means—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.G. Pisoni interjecting:

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

Ms Hood interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Adelaide! The Premier has the call.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: What we said constituted fixing the ramping crisis was getting it in such a position that we would see ambulances roll up on time. That was not something that those opposite—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Morialta!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —seemed to care too much about, which is why—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Unley! Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —they didn't go to the election with a comprehensive—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond is warned.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Of course, this stands in stark contrast to what we delivered on this side of the aisle which was a comprehensive health policy that seeks to address a number of different elements: more beds, more nurses, more doctors, more ambulance officers, more ambulance stations. And each and every element of that policy we are progressively rolling out. In respect of the second component—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is warned.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —regarding the timing, we made it clear during the course of the election campaign. Again, I stated this repeatedly in press conference after press conference, and I invite the Leader of the Opposition amongst others to familiarise themselves with these remarks. I made it clear that we expected that it would take the full four years—in fact, I think SALibMedia—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —tweeted to this effect—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is on one warning.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —that it would take time to roll these things out, and we are committed to doing so.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: I am happy to say—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Chaffey, member for Schubert, member for Morialta!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: I am happy to say that those people working within our public hospital system have been very pleased—

Mrs Hurn interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is warned.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —to see constant updates coming through from the government about how we are progressively rolling out those resources. We believe that in due course that will have a positive impact. I just invite the opposition to also contemplate a counterfactual: imagine what a world looks like where you get re-elected and we don't have more nurses, we don't have more doctors, we don't have more ambulance officers and we don't have more beds. We know what the system would look like then.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Badcoe!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: We know what the system would look like then.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Chaffey!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: On this side of the house—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —we continue to deliver.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Wright!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: We continue to deliver on each and every element of that policy and on that side of the house—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Wright is warned. The member for Chaffey is warned. Member for Frome! Member for Hartley!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —they continue to want to fight with ambos or whatever it might be. We will get on with delivering and making a difference and you get on complaining about it.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! In addition to a long list of warnings, the member for Hartley is warned.

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