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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-02-22 Daily Xml
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Public Works Committee: Rebuilt Victor Harbor Ambulance Station

Mr BROWN (Florey) (11:15): I move:

That the 49th report of the committee, entitled Rebuilt Victor Harbor Ambulance Station, be noted.

The Department for Health and Wellbeing (SA Health) proposes to rebuild the Victor Harbor Ambulance Station to provide updated accommodation for the South Australian Ambulance Service (SAAS). This will support a significant expansion of service capabilities and capacity to manage emergency responses.

Due to population growth, SAAS has identified continued and increasing demand for its services in South Australia, and the need for a larger ambulance station to serve the expanding Victor Harbor community and the surrounding areas of Encounter Bay, Port Elliot and Middleton. For the Victor Harbor region, the current ambulance station is unable to be effectively expanded to meet this increased service demand, with this lack of capacity further tested during peak periods such as the summer months. The rebuilt ambulance station will complement the surrounding stations in neighbouring Goolwa and Yankalilla which are currently staffed by volunteers. This project will construct a facility to house three ambulance crews, two clinical team leaders and four additional staff, providing accommodation for a total of 40 personnel.

SAAS is the state's provider of emergency ambulance transport, clinical care and patient transport services. It operates 119 ambulance stations across South Australia and the MedSTAR emergency medical retrieval service at Adelaide Airport. The new station forms part of the state government's 2022 election commitment to improve infrastructure, increase staffing and provide additional resources for SAAS. It will give alignment to the SA Health strategic plan by strengthening primary health care and enhancing hospital care by offering more services close to where people live, and will allow SAAS to improve ambulance coverage and response in metropolitan Adelaide and key regional centres in South Australia.

This project will support priority 1 and priority 2 service level response times for consumers in Victor Harbor, and improve service levels and coverage in neighbouring areas and the southern Fleurieu region. Additionally, dispatch and turnaround times after an incident will be improved, and the community will experience enhanced customer care through this expansion of services. The total budget to deliver the scope of the election commitment is $70 million. The allocated budget for the rebuilt Victor Harbor Ambulance Station is $9 million. Construction is anticipated to commence shortly, in March this year, with practical completion in March 2025.

The current station is located in the centre of Victor Harbor, which proves difficult to navigate to neighbouring communities due to significant amounts of vehicle and pedestrian traffic and traffic lights, especially in the summer months. Following a detailed investigation process, the new ambulance station will be located on Adelaide Road, Hayborough, which was chosen as it has access to a number of major roads and is in close proximity to the ring road to Victor Harbor which gives rapid access into the township. Plans submitted by SA Health detail the station comprises key functional areas, including:

garage space for six ambulance vehicles and one light fleet vehicle;

a training room with seating for 25 people;

a meeting room to accommodate 10 people;

office space, workstations and a study room;

kitchen and dining room;

crew rest room and personal work/rest break rooms;

an outdoor courtyard; and

26 car parking spaces—including one accessible space—bicycle parking and a charge station.

SA Health considered three options to deliver the project: option 1 was to construct and rebuild a new Victor Harbor Ambulance Station, option 2 was to do nothing and maintain the status quo, and option 3 was to expand and refurbish the existing station. Maintaining the current service status will not address the increased service demand in the area. Expansion of the existing facility does not provide the same benefits as a newly built station, and the ability to maintain emergency services during upgrades of existing infrastructure also poses challenges. Therefore, option 1 was preferred, as the rebuild provides a modern, fit-for-purpose facility for the additional workforce to meet operational needs and enables the appropriate emergency service provisions to the surrounding communities.

The Department for Infrastructure and Transport have confirmed a general building contractor will be appointed under a design and construct contract. The elected contractor will provide input into the detailed design of the facilities as stage 1, with progression to stage 2 to construct the main works.

Sustainable development strategies have been incorporated into the design, construction and operation of the rebuilt ambulance station and will be included in all phases of the project. SA Health notes the department has a strong focus on achieving sustainable environment outcomes with low recurrent costs and as a result the facility will be a flexible, high-quality environment with high energy and water efficiency. Additionally, the new station will have qualities that enable a positive environment and workplace for staff, users and occupants, improving wellbeing and assisting in managing behaviours.

After consultation with the Attorney-General's Department's Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation unit, it was determined there are no registered or reported Aboriginal sites, objects or ancestral remains within the project area. There are no state, local or contributory non-Aboriginal heritage-listed places; however, any significant trees falling within the development zone will be protected under legislative requirements.

SA Health states that engagement and clinical consultation has been a key theme throughout the concept planning and will continue with various stakeholders during the design and construction phases. Stakeholders include operational and support staff, consumer reference groups and industrial bodies. Consultation with the local community has occurred through targeted letter drops and a community engagement session was held in October last year.

The committee examined written and oral evidence in relation to the rebuilt Victor Harbor Ambulance Station. Witnesses who appeared before the committee were Tim Packer, Executive Director, Infrastructure, Department for Health and Wellbeing; James Macdonald, Manager, Project Management Building Projects, Department for Infrastructure and Transport; Robert Tolson, Executive Director, Operations (Country), South Australian Ambulance Service; and Rob Elliott, Chief Executive Officer, South Australian Ambulance Service. I thank the witnesses for their time.

Based upon the evidence considered and pursuant to section 12C of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991, the Public Works Committee reports to parliament that it recommends the proposed public work.

Mr BASHAM (Finniss) (11:21): Thank you for the opportunity to speak in relation to the new build of an ambulance station in Victor Harbor. Victor Harbor is certainly very much a growing city, as well as the surrounds right through to Goolwa, Port Elliot, and Middleton in particular. The building of a new station is certainly something that I very much support, but just not its current proposed location. It is certainly something that I have raised with the minister at least three times in correspondence to him.

I have real concerns about some of the traffic movements in front of the location, particularly during the busy summer time. From the roundabout in front of Bunnings, the traffic easily builds back past where the proposed location is and it would be very difficult to get an ambulance through that strip of road with traffic going both ways and very limited ability to drive down the centre of the road to get to the roundabout to then either get into the township of Victor Harbor or head into Port Elliot.

I was more than willing to meet with the minister or his representative to discuss other alternatives. I suggested some other alternatives that I know the minister investigated and said were a possibility, but they were going to stick with what they had chosen.

Interestingly, the site chosen, and which has not been mentioned in the report at this stage, is on a park named after a matron who served for 20-odd years through the forties, fifties and sixties at the South Coast District Hospital. Matron Alice Tuck was a dedicated medical person in the region and certainly did a lot for the community. Interestingly, Matron Tuck was the matron who gave Lowitja O'Donoghue her opportunity to take up nursing in the South Coast District Hospital. It has a particular connection to a larger story.

It is disappointing that the park that is named in her honour is mainly going to be built on with an ambulance station, but I guess there is some upside in that. Hopefully, the government considers naming the station after Matron Tuck going forward, particularly because of her long-term connection, including being responsible, as I googled this morning, for the management of ambulances from the hospital back in the 1950s. There is a report of her taking a new ambulance, after 17 years of an old ambulance—getting a replacement in December 1955.

It is really important that we acknowledge the need and the importance of this station. I just hope I am proved wrong about its location—the traffic movements there are easily navigable and as the population grows, and particularly with the new subdivision just down the road, that is also going to add traffic to this particular point—that it does not deliver the outcomes that I have raised in my concerns. There have also been other community concerns around the area. There is a group of local residents who are very concerned about having an ambulance station next door to their residential homes; that has certainly been raised quite extensively as well.

I think it is something we certainly did need. The existing location in the centre of town was extremely challenging, but it did have multiple means of getting from the front door of the station out of the town relatively quickly. We were able to have choices, whereas the new location at Hayborough is not going to have quite that same ability to have those choices.

The other thing about the existing station is that in discussions with the previous minister and the previous government, there were some ownership issues of the current station that needed to be resolved and understood. It goes back to the 1980s and St John Ambulance and the formation of SAAS. St John's and SAAS have been co-tenants in that building ever since, likewise over at Goolwa, and so there were some challenges in relation to the ownership of the current building that made it difficult to move on. My understanding is they have very much been resolved, which is a great outcome, particularly for St John's. So I am very pleased that this has been built, and I look forward to its success, and hopefully my concerns are not realised.

Mr BROWN (Florey) (11:27): I take the opportunity to thank the member for Finniss for his contribution. It is always good to hear from local members about their particular perspectives on projects, even if it is an opportunity for them to provide a litany of concerns and potential objections to the project. I would like to thank everyone who gave evidence to the committee, and I thank members of the committee for their deliberations.

Motion carried.

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