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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-03-22 Daily Xml
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Question Time

Ambulance Ramping

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (14:01): My question is to the Premier. Did the Premier mislead South Australians by promising to fix ramping and, if so, will he apologise to the South Australian people? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

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

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! There's a point of order from the Leader of Government Business.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The use of the word 'mislead' in the parliament I think is in breach of standing order 97 and other standing orders as well. In the practice of the house, it can only be done by a substantive motion of the house and I ask the leader to rephrase his question.

The SPEAKER: I have the point of order. There's a good deal of merit in it. There is a procedure for suggesting that a member has misled the house and there are consequences, of course, that follow. I will give the leader the opportunity to recast the question.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Did the Premier promise to fix ramping? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: On 20 February 2022, the now Premier said and I quote, 'Labor is determined to do what is required to fix ramping.' Yesterday, his health minister told media that Labor had never promised to fix ramping.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:02): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. It is on a really important topic. It was important in February last year, it's important in February this year and certainly important today.

The Minister for Health and I made it abundantly clear to South Australians during the course of the February/March election campaign that our number one priority is to fix the ramping crisis. When we were pressed repeatedly, whether it be by the opposition or members of the media, as they well should have, when we were pressed around what does fixing the ramping crisis mean, what does it actually constitute in a practical sense, how will that be measured, when we were asked for that detail, we were very transparent about it. We put it all on the public record.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: We were so transparent. There were key elements that we wanted to put on the public record for everyone to know and digest in the lead-up to the election. The first element is we said it would take four years. The fact that we were putting that out there was subject to ridicule from the government at the time. The Liberal Party was out there ridiculing me and the Labor Party for having a policy that was going to take four years to address. The second thing, apart from the time line, was the substantive detail around what constitutes fixing the ramping crisis. Again, every single time—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Hammond! Member for Chaffey, order! The member for Morialta! The Premier has the call.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Every single time I was asked this question, I made the answer perfectly clear. There are oodles of media transcripts that can be referred to and recited. I am more than happy to furnish the opposition with copies, or anyone else who wants copies of those.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is warned.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: The now opposition have a responsibility that I accept, that they should uphold, to hold the government of the day to account on our commitments. But what we won't accept the opposition doing is the very thing that upsets the electorate more than anything else, and that is moving the goalposts. We put—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: That's right. That's exactly right.

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Chaffey! The member for Hammond is warned. The member for Schubert is warned.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier has the call.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond is warned for a second time. Member for Morialta, the Premier has the call.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: What the Liberal Party were doing in the lead-up to that election was saying, 'We're going to end ramping,' constant commitments around, 'We're going to end ramping,' and I made it clear that we believed that they were hot-air promises.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is warned for a final time, the member for Schubert for a second.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: We made a commitment to fix the ramping crisis, and we explained that fixing the ramping crisis means ambulances rolling up on time, because that is what South Australians are worried about. The very fact that at the beginning of last year when South Australians called 000 and on two out of three occasions the ambo didn't roll up on time for a life-threatening emergency had them incredibly concerned. What we have committed to do is deliver a policy that sees ambulances roll up on time. To that end, we are already delivering, because South Australians elected a Labor government and ambulance response times have substantially improved.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is on a final warning. Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: We are committed to see them continue to improve throughout the course of this term in government. But South Australians can take comfort in the fact that we lead a government that is investing the resources that are already delivering results in respect of improving ambulance response times, because today when somebody calls 000 with a life-threatening emergency it's more likely the ambo rolls up on time than what was the case 12 months under those opposite.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Adelaide is warned. The member for Schubert is on a final warning. The member for Morialta is on a final warning. The member for Hammond is on 2½ warnings.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Mawson! Member for Florey!

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