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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-02-08 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

Stirling Hospital

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (15:14): In this first sitting week for 2024, I can report to the house today good news, outstanding news, for my community of Stirling and surrounding areas that at the end of a year of sustained, hard and dedicated community work, the Stirling Hospital is now likely to stay put and stay open in Stirling. It is a tremendous achievement and I pay tribute to all who have been involved and that really means every single one of those community members who stood up to say just how important the Stirling Hospital is to our community.

Those reassuring words came from the board chair and were directed to the president of the Stirling Hospital at the end of last year. I can tell members that that came as significant reassurance at the end of a long year of hard and sustained work.

Members will recall that in April of last year the board advised me and other community stakeholders that it feared a $50 million capital challenge and it foreshadowed closing the nearly 100-year-old Stirling Hospital doors and moving to rented premises at Mount Barker.

I held two packed community meetings in the RSL hall in May and in June. I can tell you, in terms of powerful advocacy, sometimes just the presence speaks louder than any words could. We saw board members and chairs dating back many decades. I was so proud to be joined by the Leader of the Opposition, by the shadow minister for health and by the shadow minister for regional health in the course of those meetings where the case was taken up to the board: 'We will not stand for this. We will leave no stone unturned. We insist on that and no less than that.'

This result, coming at the end of last year, I am afraid to say, is no thanks to the Malinauskas Labor government. On 31 May, when I asked the Minister for Health in this place for assistance for the Stirling Hospital, for engagement, the minister was immediately and thoroughly content to wash his hands entirely of the whole thing. He indicated to the house that it was nothing to do with the government, nothing to do with him and there would be no more to see here, despite the fact that the minister was perfectly happy to come along and be part of a ribbon-cutting exercise not more than a few months earlier at the hospital when improved facilities were continuing to be opened.

In the middle of last year, an incorporated association, Save Stirling Hospital, was established. I paid tribute to my predecessor, the member for Heysen, Isobel Redmond, in that regard, who led the way towards a vehicle that could provide that concentrated focus on what was necessary to assist the board and to assist the hospital to find a pathway to stay at Stirling.

So many able and relevantly expert people have stepped up. It has been a source of great inspiration. I say, in particular, thanks to Dr Scott Brumby for his dedicated calm and careful work as president of the association. I say, as well, particular thanks to Professor Margaret Way who these days is based at Monash in Melbourne, a national hospital accreditation expert, whose mum still lives just round the corner from the hospital and whose brother lives in the area. Margaret said, 'Yes, I'm there. What do you need?' It was this group of dedicated people who were able to identify important accreditation rules, both state and federal, to identify means by which there was not such a crushing capital requirement and to engage with the board in a careful and thorough way towards achieving the desired outcome: staying open in Stirling.

I have proudly shared that news with my community. It is reassuring news indeed. There is much more work to be done, but at this time, when the Malinauskas Labor government has so badly failed on its promise to fix ramping, and we see overcrowding in all directions, never has there been a more important time to commit to local health services. Long live the Stirling Hospital. Thanks and tributes to all who have been involved in preserving its proud legacy.

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