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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-03-23 Daily Xml
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No-confidence Motion

Minister for Health and Wellbeing

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (14:03): I move:

That this house has no confidence in the Minister for Health and Wellbeing and that this house calls on him to resign for his failures as Minister for Health and Wellbeing—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Badcoe!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Elder!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Florey!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Mr Speaker—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Badcoe and the member for Elder are on their final warnings. I sense that it is going to be a lively session in advance of the Easter break. The leader.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I will start again, so that all members might be able to hear this. I move:

That this house has no confidence in the Minister for Health and Wellbeing and that this house calls on him to resign for his failures as Minister for Health and Wellbeing, including in particular for walking away from the government's central election commitment to fix ramping.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Frome!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: The central election commitment, provided to the South Australian community by the Labor Party in the lead-up to the 2022 state election, the central commitment—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Adelaide!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —the pivotal commitment was that 'Labor will fix ramping'.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Adelaide is warned.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: It was unequivocal, it was simple.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: It had no asterisks, there was no nuance, it was absolutely ironclad. They said, 'Labor will fix ramping'. That is what the South Australian people were promised at that election. It was Labor's central promise and it was heard loud and clear—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Florey is warned.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —on thousands of election posters, along highways, in streets, in the suburbs and towns that make up this state. Thousands of flyers entered letterboxes, on our social media feeds: 'Labor will fix ramping', 'Labor will fix ramping', Labor will fix ramping'. On the pre-polls before the election, on polling day, around polling booths: 'Labor will fix ramping', and on the doorsteps right across this state. The member for Newland told residents in Tea Tree Gully that, 'Labor will fix ramping'. The member for Elder told residents in St Mary's—

Members interjecting:

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

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —that 'Labor will fix ramping'.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: The member for Waite—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Florey!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —told residents in Lower Mitcham that, 'Labor will fix ramping'.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: The member for Davenport told residents in Aberfoyle Park—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Newland is warned for a final time.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —that, 'Labor will fix ramping'. The member for Adelaide told residents—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —in Prospect that, 'Labor would fix ramping', and the member for King told residents in Golden Grove that, 'Labor would fix ramping'.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Newland is warned for a final time.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: It was unequivocal, absolutely unequivocal. But what has happened—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Cheltenham!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —what has happened in the 12 months—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Florey!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —since the state election? The first anniversary, and what do they have, apart from chortling and laughing and smugness and arrogance? What is the practical outcome?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Florey is warned for a final time.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: The outcome is that ramping has gotten much, much worse in this state under those opposite.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hammond!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: It turns out that governing is a lot harder than selfies and slogans. It turns out that the—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey is warned.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —slogans and the selfies concocted around fixing ramping—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Florey!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —were fraudulent—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —because in February 2022—

The SPEAKER: Leader, please be seated. Members, I appreciate that this subject matter encourages a very willing contribution to debate; nevertheless, it is difficult for the member speaking to be heard. Members to my left and to my right, the standing orders, of course, are in force. The leader.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Thank you, Mr Speaker. If we look back at ramping statistics in February 2022, 1,522 hours were spent on the ramp.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier is called to order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: And what was it in February 2023?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Newland is on a final warning.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: It was 3,036 hours—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Waite!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —a doubling of ramping—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Premier is called order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —under this incompetent Labor government and this portfolio area, led by an incompetent minister. Ramping has skyrocketed. The Premier promised South Australians that he would fix ramping, but ramping has gotten worse than ever under their leadership. So what are they doing instead?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Clearly, things weren't going in the right direction—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Newland will depart under 137A, to be joined by the member for Elder, and the member for Florey will also depart. That is Florey, Elder and Newland—137A, for 15 minutes.

The honourable members for Florey, Elder and Newland having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: The leader has the call.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Those residents of Tea Tree Gully and Melrose Park would be so disappointed that their representatives cannot stand up for them today, cannot pay attention to some home truths when outlined about the failure of their government.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Mawson!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: What about McLaren Vale? What about Myponga?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Mawson is warned.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: What about Cape Jervis, Parndana, Kingscote?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Mawson!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: This man is also—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Badcoe!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —in complete denial. So what happened—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Mawson will depart under 137A. Reflections on the presence or otherwise of members are contrary to the standing orders.

The Hon. D.G. Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley can join him—15 minutes, 137A.

The honourable members for Mawson and Unley having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: The leader has the call.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Thank you, Mr Speaker. So with increasing media scrutiny, with the confidence of the South Australian public diminishing, what did we have this week? Clearly, and you can just imagine it up there in the Premier's Delivery Unit—the dream factory—Rik Morris pulling out the whiteboard and writing on it, 'We can't fulfil this one. We can't deliver this one. What will we do?' Let's look over here. Let's change the election commitment. We didn't make that promise. We can't keep the promise, so let's tell South Australians that we didn't make the promise. In this alternate reality that Rik Morris and the crew are trying to create here—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morphett!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —we are having a completely different election promise.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Reynell! Member for Cheltenham!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: This week, the health minister conceded that he can't deliver on his promise to fix ramping. The Premier has been avoiding media scrutiny. They are trying to pull the wool over the eyes of South Australians, and what do we get? We get a completely different commitment: 'We didn't promise to fix ramping. That was never anything to do with us.'

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Giles!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: It is about response times now. This is about ambulance response times.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Frome!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: 'Forget the ramping thing, look over here'—smoke, mirrors, selfies, slogans—'no, no, we were all about ambulance response times.' This is a dramatic backflip. This is a moving of the goal posts of historic proportions, and it is an extraordinary, extraordinary capitulation—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —on their central election promise.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Morphett! Member for Badcoe!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Those opposite, and the health minister in particular—he laughs. He laughs at people ramping. He has capitulated on the Labor Party's central election promise.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader has the call.

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey is warned for a final time.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: The Minister for Health and Wellbeing has said this week, and I quote:

The government—

We will want a bit of silence for this one. The Minister for Health and Wellbeing, and I quote, said this week:

The government has no target for a reduction in the number of hours ambulances spend ramped outside hospitals.

End quote. Does anyone recall that on the corflutes up and down highways and streets in the lead-up to the election? Not only is ramping not fixed, it is worse than ever, and we have seen the most arrogant backflip in the history of this state government. But don't just take my word for it.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Let's look at that auspicious publication's editorial today—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Treasurer is called to order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —in The Advertiser. The editorial was an excellent read this morning.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Leader will be seated. Please take a seat. Order! Members, it is as predicted a lively session. I appreciate, as earlier mentioned, that of course it is subject matter that encourages spirited contributions. The Leader must be heard. The Leader.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Thank you, Mr Speaker, because of course it is not my words now, it is those of others; perhaps a more learned analysis of the situation. So The Advertiser's editorial today, and I quote:

…the problem for the government is that, in light of its preposterous denials this week that it ever set a ramping target when the issue was the centrepiece of its election campaign, this too looks like trickery.

Frankly, it's going to be hard to believe anything Labor says about ramping from now on…

There must be many swinging voters around the state feeling like they have been hoodwinked.

Labor's promise was to fix the ramping crisis, not the response time crisis. Will Goodings today said:

An absolute rolled gold, clear as a bell, cast-iron promise that Labor will fix ramping. No asterisks, no caveats; they were going to do it. Now, over the past few months we have seen a crab-walking exercise where several nuances and caveats and provisos are being layered onto the nature of this challenge.

Let's hear what Matt Abraham has to say:

It has dawned on the government they're not going to be able to fix ramping and they promised to fix ramping. That's what got them elected.

David Penberthy today said that there were two versions of the poster that were up everywhere across South Australia. One said 'Labor will fix the ramping crisis' and the other—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hurtle Vale!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —just clear as a bell said, 'Labor will fix ramping.'

Paul, from Blakeview, called into FIVEaa today and said, 'Get your priorities right, Premier.' David Bevan, on 21 March said:

It's a year since the Malinauskas government was elected on the promise of fixing ramping and, of course, it's worse now than it was when they were elected.

Of course, let's hear what the Deputy Premier of South Australia had to say. On 19 March, asked whether she was satisfied with progress on Labor's promise to fix the ramping crisis, she said, and I quote, 'An impossible question to answer.' The question before us today is does this house—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Badcoe!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —have confidence in the health minister? He has no confidence in his own ability to fix the ramping crisis. That is very clear with his desire not to answer questions on it or his dramatic changing of the goalposts, but the more—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for West Torrens!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —important question—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Badcoe!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —is what do South Australians think of this? Do South Australians think this is all just a storm in a teacup—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Adelaide!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —to quote the Minister for Health and Wellbeing—a storm in a teacup?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Elizabeth!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Or do South Australians want better from their government? Perhaps South Australians want what they voted for. Perhaps South Australians want ramping to be fixed. Perhaps South Australians want the ramping crisis to be fixed. Perhaps those living in Belair want ramping to be fixed. Perhaps those in O'Halloran Hill want ramping to be fixed. Perhaps those in Adelaide want ramping to be fixed. Perhaps those in One Tree Hill—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Badcoe!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —want ramping to be fixed.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Davenport! Member for King!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: There are less marginal seats to go through now so I will not do that.

The Hon. B.I. Boyer interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Wright!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: The truth of the matter, though, is that when it comes to this minister it is not just the situation with ramping. That might be the primary concern we are addressing today, but what about the other concerns? What about his dismissive statements—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Taylor!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —around the provision of pillows in hospitals. When the member for Schubert asked him a question about this a few weeks ago—nothing to see here—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —that's not a problem.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Chaffey!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: What about the 93 year old who spent 23 hours in The Queen Elizabeth Hospital emergency department without a pillow, without sheets? How do you think he felt about the dismissive tone of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing? What about the families of the children who have suffered at the hands of the debacle unfolding with the Women's and Children's Hospital with the cochlear implants?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: That of course extends over a period of time but it was the—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —Minister for Health and Wellbeing's quasi coverup over recent months which has further exposed—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Hurtle Vale!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —this state to liability for this scandal, because he went slow on it. He failed to take the action—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Badcoe!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —that he should have, and vulnerable children have suffered at his hands.

The SPEAKER: The leader. The member for Badcoe and the member for Chaffey will depart for 15 minutes under 137A.

The honourable members for Badcoe and Chaffey having withdrawn from the chamber:

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The leader has the call.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: It is the hundreds of patients ramped in our hospitals that we are speaking up for today. It is people like the 93-year-old gentleman stuck in an emergency department at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital without a pillow. Do you know what his family were told when they asked for a pillow? They were told, 'Pillows are like a precious commodity around here.' Pillows are like a precious commodity—that's what his family were told by staff at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in the last 24 hours.

It is for the children who have been impacted by the go-slow approach of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing with regard to investigating the cochlear implant—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hurtle Vale!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —scandal at the Women's and Children's Hospital.

The Hon. N.F. Cook interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hurtle Vale is warned for a final time.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: South Australians deserve better. South Australians expect better. If the health minister has no confidence in his own capacity, in his own ability to deliver on key commitments that his party made in the lead-up to the 2022 state election, perhaps, just perhaps the Minister for Health and Wellbeing should consider his future. I have no confidence in him; we have no confidence in him.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Waite!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: People living in Hawthorndene have no confidence in him either. People living in Flagstaff Hill have no confidence in him either.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Waite!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: People living in Salisbury Heights do not have confidence in him either.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Adelaide!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: He is embattled, he is beleaguered, and the clock is ticking for the Minister for Health and Wellbeing in South Australia. He must resign, and if he does not resign the Premier must sack him. This house should not have confidence in the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. He has let South Australians down and he must resign.

Members interjecting:

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

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: This government has confidence in the health minister. This house will demonstrate its confidence in this health minister. We say that with certainty because everybody in this place knows that not only—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —is this minister committed to the substantial task that he has inherited but he has a plan to fix the ramping crisis. This motion, at its essence—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Frome! Member for Morialta!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —demonstrates an extraordinary level of desperation amongst the opposition and its leader. Desperation, sir—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is warned.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —that is best demonstrated by the opportunity this motion presents to make clear the contrast in substantive policy that exists between the politics of the opposition and the plans of the government. It is worthwhile remembering—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is warned for a final time.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —it is worthwhile South Australians contemplating—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta! Member for Hammond! Member for Morphett!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —just how bad a situation those opposite managed to create over the course of—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton! Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —four years of government. The moment that those opposite got elected, they got to work—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Schubert! Member for Frome!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —doing what Liberals do best: cut after cut after cut to the public health budget in this state. Hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton! Member for Schubert!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —immediately extracted out of the state budget in public hospitals with patients and health workers left to pay the price.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert will depart under 137A. If there was any doubt about it, she was using her hands to project her voice, which must mean that the chamber is in disorder.

Mrs Hurn interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! You will depart under 137A for 15 minutes.

The honourable member for Schubert having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: The Premier.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Once they established their regime of substantial cuts throughout the public hospital system, the next great idea that the then government had was to bring in the corporate liquidators to start to run the most substantial part of our hospital system in the Central Adelaide Local Health Network. It wasn't doctors, nurses and health leadership professionals running our health system but rather the corporate liquidators.

Then something happened. Then we had a global pandemic in 2020. When the rest of the world rapidly turned its mind to 'What can we do to improve the state of our public health system? What effort and resources can we reallocate to public health during a time of truly unprecedented crisis?' what do those opposite do? Well, they maintained the cuts—they maintained the cuts—and then what they decided to do—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morphett, order! Member for Waite!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —was to make health workers redundant—make health workers redundant!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morphett is warned for a final time.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: The member for Morphett—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Davenport!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —sat there at the cabinet table when the decisions were made to make health workers redundant during the course of a global pandemic. There is nothing more precious in this state or anywhere in the nation—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morphett! The member for Waite and the member for Morphett will depart under 137A for 15 minutes. I anticipate other members may now be returning. Welcome back, member for Florey.

The honourable members for Waite and Morphett having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: The Premier.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: There is nothing more precious in this state or anywhere around the country at the moment than a health worker dedicated to looking after patients. During the course of a global pandemic, those opposite thought it a good idea to make health workers redundant. Why was that occurring? It was occurring, of course, because the person who was really in charge of health policy during the life of the former government was not the health minister but was, rather, the Treasurer of South Australia who thought it was a good idea to make health workers redundant in a pandemic and then go into war with every health worker he could get his hands on.

It was the Treasurer who was running health policy in this state during the course of the last government—

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner: No, that was you.

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —the Premier was asleep at the wheel.

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is on a final warning.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: They are not my words but the words of the now Leader of the Opposition—and the Leader of the Opposition of course was busy capitulating—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —to the Eastern States. What an extraordinary situation. So, going into the state election in March this year, South Australians were left with a very clear—

Mr Cowdrey: You're so confident in Chris you're not even going to talk about him.

The SPEAKER: The member for Colton is warned for a final time.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —and simple choice: a plan to invest record sums into our health system and recruit a lot more workers to be working within it or no plan at all except for a city basketball stadium—and the people of South Australia spoke, and they spoke loudly. Since then the Minister for Health has been hard at work—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Flinders, member for Hammond, member for Colton!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —implementing all of the government's policy, which is extensive, employing hundreds of additional nurses, employing over a hundred additional doctors, already opening up 200 additional beds in the system—

Mr Cowdrey: Why are you changing the plan then? Why change?

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —with more to come, employing hundreds more ambulance officers, and getting to work actually seeing those commitments delivered. During the course of the last 12 months alone—

Mr Cowdrey: Commit to the target then.

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —in only 12 months, we have seen ambulance response times substantially improve to the extent that increasingly, when South Australians dial 000 in their time of need, their confidence levels have dramatically escalated—

Ms Pratt interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Frome!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —that the ambulance will roll up on time. Disputes with health workers have been resolved.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Other organisations outside of the public health system—

Mr Tarzia interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hartley!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —have been the beneficiary of this Minister for Health's dedication by hearing their calls and applying additional resources to them. The list of those is extensive, but the one thing that has been more important than anything else is doing the little things that make a difference as quickly as possible, like employing 16 additional doctors in the women's and kids' hospital now, while at the same time planning for a Women's and Children's Hospital that is not just going to suit us for the next two or three years but set us up for the next hundred. This health minister is capable—

Mr Cowdrey interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —of making the tough and hard decisions, not to just get us to the next election but to make sure that young people, in the 2030s and the 2040s, can have confidence in a public health system that is looking after them.

Mr Cowdrey: Why change the target then?

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Whether it be compulsorily acquiring—

Mr Telfer interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Flinders!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —additional land in the western suburbs for The QEH—

Mr Tarzia interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley is warned.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —or compulsorily acquiring land at the Lyell McEwin Hospital—

Ms Pratt interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Frome!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —this is a minister who has the foresight to think ahead of the game into the long term, of getting a lot more beds in the system, a lot more people working within the system but then making the long-term investment decisions to set us up—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hammond!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —which is the exact sort of person you want in charge of the health system. This minister is not only dedicated—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Florey, order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —to delivering on our election commitments, he is going above and beyond that to ensure that the next generation of South Australians will be the beneficiaries of his leadership.

Mr Tarzia interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hartley!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: But more than that, this motion presents the opportunity for us to not just contemplate the policy and the plan but the man himself. What I know about the Minister for Health (the member for Kaurna) is that he is probably the hardest working person in this place. Seldom do I wake up in the morning and not be in receipt of a text message—

Mr Brown interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Florey!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —from the Minister for Health, who has been monitoring the performance of our health system throughout the course—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Frome!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —of the evening.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Every single time that someone in this state has drawn to the minister's attention of not being in receipt of the highest possible care—

The Hon. D.G. Pisoni: That's because he's so worried about the Labor Party, that's the only reason.

The SPEAKER: Member for Unley!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —it's the minister himself who is rapidly picking up the phone to get in touch with someone to learn about their experience, to put the human context on someone who is in our health system. That occurred as recently as this morning, when the minister heard Therese on FIVEaa radio and was quickly dialling her number to be in touch with her, and to understand her experience. Then, within hours of speaking to Therese, this minister is down at The QEH, seeing firsthand the situation to make sure it's addressed—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hartley!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —deploying his leadership skills, his power and authority, not burying his head in the sand—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —but getting to work, making sure that health patients are being looked after. This is the sort of person that we want in charge of our health system. He has got the resources, he has got the plan, he has got the human experience to make sure that South Australian patients are having their concerns addressed. We know that turning around the health system will take time.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Unley!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: We know that we are seeing results, but there is a long way to go. There is no resiling from the fact that health is our number one priority.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hammond!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: We have a policy that stands in stark contrast to that of the Leader of the Opposition—

The SPEAKER: Member for Unley! Member for Florey!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —who is only filled with desperation and politics at a time when South Australians expect so much more from people who work within this house.

The SPEAKER: It is most certainly a spirited debate, but with members returning to the benches and the benches now being replenished, the level of noise in the chamber is increasing. One departure under 137A is not an inoculation against further departures in the same session. Members, please be warned.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:30): It is an extraordinary thing to be lectured by the Premier, the man who closed the Repat, about services for South Australians when it comes to our health system. It is an extraordinary thing to be lectured by the Premier, the man who defended Transforming Health as the health minister.

It is an extraordinary thing to be lectured by the Premier, who appointed the architect of Transforming Health who, as an adviser in John Hill's office, as an assistant minister for health, whose record on the history of South Australia's health system is very tarnished to start with as the Minister for Health in this place, to serve the people of South Australia, to deliver what was, prior to the election, Labor's number one priority for the people of South Australia: to fix ramping here in South Australia.

If the Minister for Health has no confidence in his ability to fix ramping in South Australia, as he has made it very clear all week that he has no confidence of that nature, why should anyone in this house have confidence in his ability to do so? The fact is they have changed the metric by which people of South Australia are expected to judge this government.

We saw last Friday the CEO of SA Health, Dr Robyn Lawrence, not once, not two times, but three times in the Budget and Finance Committee being asked: what was the promise that she was being tasked with delivering for the people of South Australia? What was the mandate that the government had? She said, straight after her opening statement, 'I have a clear mandate to reduce ramping and improve access to care for patients.' She said just minutes later:

…we have an ongoing piece of work to improve the ramping situation. Certainly the initial target as we move forward is to reach the levels that we saw back in 2018, and I think we would all like to see ramping minimised even beyond that.

She was asked: what was the clear commitment? She said, 'I think the commitment is to return to our 2018 levels of transfer of care—in three years.' That was on Friday.

On Saturday, we had the then Acting Premier, the Deputy Premier, go out and front media, giving the government their one-year report card on how they were going on their election promises. She gave them 48 per cent of election promises delivered. It was notable in the press release that there was no mention of ramping. Everyone before the election knew ramping was the number one priority.

The Premier told The Advertiser, a significant journal of record in this state, what his number one priority was going to be: it was going to be to fix the ramping crisis in South Australia. When asked what that meant, the chief executive tasked with fixing this issue, said that it was reducing the transfer of care. What did South Australians think reducing ramping meant? I reckon they meant reducing ramping.

What did Labor backbenchers think reducing ramping meant? Well, the member for Elder said, 'The last 17 months I've been out in our community with my team, listening to you about our priorities, ending ramping being first one.' She went on to say, 'I am committed to this and more.' That was on 17 February last year.

The member for Newland on 22 February said, 'The Malinauskas Labor government will recruit more nurses, improve care and safety, reduce the burden on public hospitals to fix ramping.' The member for Gibson described Labor's policies as 'Labor's comprehensive plan to fix the ramping crisis'. She went on to say they will stop on the 25 February—stop the ramping of ambulances. So you can see it; it is here in full technicolour on her Facebook page.

The Minister for Human Services can stop gesticulating. She said 'a comprehensive plan to stop ramping'. The Minister for Child Protection on her Facebook on 25 February talked about 'stop ramping of ambulances'. The member for Badcoe talked about her poster waving. She said, 'Lots of honks! Lots of support for Labor's strategy to stop ramping!'

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Badcoe! Member for Colton!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: On thousands and thousands of posters on poles in suburbs and cities, in towns and the CBD of Adelaide, the Premier was saying that he had the right priorities: 'Labor will fix the ramping crisis'.

Labor MPs told their electors, when they were putting themselves forward to be elected to this house to represent their constituents, they would fix ramping. Not one of them in that said that there was an asterisk saying that it would be within four years and certainly not one of them said that it was going to be judged by how long it took a category 1 or a category 2 ambulance to arrive. No. They said they would fix ramping.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Florey!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: They said they would fix ramping, and every South Australian knows that that meant—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley is warned.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: —the number of ambulances' hours on ramps outside hospitals waiting for their patients to be moved into hospitals receiving the care they need in the environment they are supposed to be receiving it. That is what Labor's promise was and everyone in South Australia knows it. The constituents who were told by the member for Badcoe—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Mawson!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: —by the member for Gibson, by the member for Newland, by the member for Adelaide, Elder and all of the others who are being asked to support their minister today. Those members know that—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Mawson!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: —they told their constituents that the promise was to fix ramping, the promise was to end ramping, the promise was to get ambulances off the ramps. That's what they said, that's what South Australians believed.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for King! Member for Adelaide!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: And for them to now come out this week, having worked out that they can't deliver that—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Davenport!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: —the health minister clearly on Monday morning, having told his cabinet—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Badcoe! Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: —that that they were not going to be able to achieve that goal, they now expect all South Australians to believe this nonsense that that was never the promise. They expect all South Australians to believe that they never said that. You know, there is somebody who reminded the parliament a couple of years ago of George Orwell in Nineteen Eighty-Four when he wrote:

…if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Just because people in the government plan for the next three years every day to repeat the rhetoric that they never promised to fix ramping, just because members of the government—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Florey!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: —the Premier is indeed asking members of his backbench—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Florey!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: —to show loyalty to the health minister above their own constituents, that does not mean they should do so.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Each member of the Labor Party who put forward materials saying Labor would fix ramping, each member of the Labor Party who told constituents at the door that they were going to fix ramping—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: —every single one of them has a responsibility to deliver for their constituents what they promised, and what they promised was to fix ramping. And now that they know that their health minister has no plan to fix ramping, now they know their health minister is telling people that what they thought they heard they did not hear, that what they believed—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: —was the promise was not the promise.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Those members have a responsibility to their electors. Their responsibility to their electors is more important than their responsibility to the Premier or the health minister and they have a duty to vote with the opposition to support this motion, and the health minister should fulfil his duty to resign from this position which he has no confidence in himself to deliver.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Members to my left and right, there is more noise in this chamber with 47 members than there is in the House of Commons with 600.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:37): This motion by the opposition really is not about the Minister for Health and Wellbeing, it is about the Leader of the Opposition.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Colton and the member for Florey will depart under 137A for 15 minutes. Member for Florey, it is no inoculation to have been asked to depart only once, but twice in one day is an achievement.

The honourable members for Colton and Florey having withdrawn from the chamber:

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morialta is warned for a final time, as is the member for Mawson.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The Leader of the Opposition has wasted the first 12 months in his role. This motion is a distraction.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is on a final warning.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It is a distraction from the coverage and criticism he has received. I know it bothers him, you can tell, moving around in his seat; he does not like it. Unfortunately, for the government, we cannot save the Leader of the Opposition, as much as we would like to. The weird and silent tactics he has employed over the last 12 months have convinced everyone it is not a matter of if but when. Tactically, he has failed again. He has failed again—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Cheltenham!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —not just because of the iron rule of arithmetics in this house, which is the numbers because the motion will not be carried, but because he has failed to make the argument. The only way you can make an argument for a no-confidence motion for any minister is to offer the alternative to replace that minister. But he stands on no platform.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: No health policy at the last election of any note or any worth, and since the election no health policy or alternative of any note.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Davenport is warned for a final time.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: All he wants to do is to tear down the people who are attempting to fix the mistakes that they left behind.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Frome!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: We are seeing plenty from the opposition.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Unley!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I have to say, given the quality and quantity of questions from members opposite, especially the Leader of the Opposition, to me this is a lazy attempt to make a point. No question time in lieu of this motion means what? No questions, no scrutiny. They can't put their argument.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: They can't put an alternative.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: All they want to do is tear down.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Adelaide is warned.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: But you can smell the relief from the opposition benches that there's no question time today.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey is warned.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It wafts down from the second floor, the staff up there, just happy. They don't have to write any more questions.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond is warned for a final time.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Happy that there is no question time.

The Hon. D.G. Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Where is—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —the contrasting? Where is the policy alternative the Leader of the Opposition will point to as the alternative? Is it the policy platform of the last election? They can't get rid of that fast enough!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond is warned for a final time.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: They can't get rid of it fast enough. Is it a new policy platform that they are standing on to claim that they have a better plan? Nothing! Silence.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Davenport!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Nowhere.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Chaffey is on a final warning. The member for Hammond and the member for Adelaide will depart under 137A for 15 minutes.

The honourable members for Hammond and Adelaide having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: The Leader of Government Business.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It would be better use of the parliament's time to hold a question time, but the truth is that the opposition hate question time. The answers they receive humiliate them and they know it—they know it. Their questions don't cut through. Their strategy is weak, ill-disciplined and uncoordinated.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta! The member for Unley!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: To use the words of the Leader of the Opposition, 'Don't believe me.'

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morialta!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: 'Believe a paper of note, believe the paper of record.' Let's read the editorial about Speirs' head in the sand.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Oh, you know, the one that you liked quoting so much today.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morialta!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Let's read the editorial.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Oh, don't worry! It reads:

If David Speirs has a political motto, it seems—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morialta, the member for Morphett and the member for Davenport will depart under 137A for 15 minutes.

The honourable members for Morialta, Morphett and Davenport having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: I should remark, as there are a number of members presently out of the chamber, that should there be—

The Hon. N.F. Cook interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Hurtle Vale! I should remark, as there are a number of members not presently in the chamber because of the exercise, unfortunately, of 137A, that should there be a division they are permitted to return for that purpose. The Leader of Government Business.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Thank you, sir. Given the Leader of the Opposition was so quick to point out editorials—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes, he is. Well, I will read one of my favourites:

If David Speirs has a political motto, it seems 'ignorance is bliss' might be it. Or perhaps 'no news is good news'.

It goes on to say:

Given that Mr Speirs'—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Flinders!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS:

career appears in peril, perhaps his performance, in the eyes of his partyroom, and the public—

The SPEAKER: The member for Frome! The member for Unley! The member for Flinders!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS:

might improve were he to be a little more engaged.

End quote. How do you become more engaged? You offer a political alternative, you offer a policy. How dare the Leader of the Opposition—

The SPEAKER: The member for Flinders.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —get up in this house and waste the time of this house with a no-confidence motion that will fail, without even the ability to offer an alternative? What does he really expect the public to see here? He wants the minister to resign but offers no alternative policy position.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Leader! The member for Unley!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: That just shows he is bereft of any belief in any policy. If you believe the Leader of the Opposition, he was the Treasurer default. He was the one who was going to be the Treasurer in waiting. He was one of the most experienced cabinet ministers around the table, one of the most trusted advisers—just ask him. Just ask him—he'll tell you. It was him. It was the Premier, Rob Lucas, David Speirs and daylight. Just ask him.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Mawson! The member for Unley is warned for a final time.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Apparently, he has gone from, 'I was strapped into the back of a car watching dad asleep at the wheel'—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Unley!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —to, 'I was a key strategist in the last government.'

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley is warned.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: So one of the two is true.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: But of course, if he was who he says he was—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —that means he was the architect of $400 million worth of cuts—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —he was architect of the redundancy, he was the architect of cancelling elective surgeries, he was the architect of proposing a brand-new basketball stadium instead of attending to health. He can't have it both ways.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Cheltenham!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Either he is a genius in the background or he was strapped into the seat in the back of the car.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Frome!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: He can choose.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Flinders is warned for a final time. Leader of Government Business.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: But he will not choose because the truth is he has no plan and he knows he does not need to develop it because he ain't going to make it, no matter how hard I try to keep him here. All of us are committed to keeping him there. If this motion was reversed and it was a no confidence motion in the Leader of the Opposition, all of us would get up and walk across the floor to support him.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: We would be right behind him—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —because we know—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Elizabeth!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —there other forces lurking in the background. Some say it is time for Tarzia. Some say there is another—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —a voice crying out in the wilderness for another greater to come whose sandals we are not fit to even carry.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It could be Basham; it could be.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It could be Basham, although I have got my money on the kid at the back there.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: He is ready.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: He is tanned, he is ready, he has the chambray shirt, he has the chinos, he has the boots: he is ready to go, out of central casting—ready to go.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Unley is warned!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I have known the Minister for Health since he was a staffer in the federal government.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the leader!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I know no-one who has more empathy and caring for the people he serves. Not only does he work hard—

The Hon. D.G. Pisoni: You need to broaden your circles then.

The SPEAKER: Member for Unley!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —he is a good and decent person who cares terribly about our entire state.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Mawson!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: He wants our health system to succeed. He worries about it, he cares about it, he fights for it. He is the best person to lead our health portfolio.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Unley!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: He is the best person to do this job. He has our complete confidence and we will see it—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Frome!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —by the non-aligned members of this house and how they vote. Let's just see who lasts longer: the Minister for Health or the Leader of the Opposition.

Mrs HURN (Schubert) (14:47): It is absolutely no surprise that I rise to support this motion of no confidence in the Minister for Health. I absolutely do so because not only has this house lost confidence in the Minister for Health but the people of South Australia have lost confidence in this Minister for Health. Just 12 months on, they have absolutely dropped their number one election commitment; they cannot keep their number one central promise.

I understand that this is so hard for those opposite to understand because it was the member for Newland, the member for Elder and all of those opposite who went to their constituencies, who looked them in them in the eye and said, 'We will fix ramping in South Australia.' You could not drive anywhere—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mrs HURN: —up hill, down dale: 'We will fix ramping'. They said it at press conferences, they said it at their street-corner meetings, they said it everywhere. In fact, 12 months in—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Taylor!

Mrs HURN: —and the government, even the government, for the last 12 months have been talking about this key metric—

Members interjecting:

Mrs HURN: —exactly—what would be their key metric to fix ramping in the state. Transfer of care—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Mawson is warned for a final time.

Mrs HURN: —then it all changed.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mrs HURN: It happened on ABC radio—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mrs HURN: —on Tuesday of this week. And guess what it coincided with?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Giles!

Mrs HURN: The worst 10 months of ramping in South Australia's history. The worst ramping in South Australia's history—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Waite!

Mrs HURN: —and it is South Australians who are absolutely paying the price. And guess what they say? Guess what they say? It was South Australians who got it wrong. It was South Australians who misunderstood—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mrs HURN: —the posters that said, 'We will fix ramping'.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Premier is called to order! Member for Newland!

Mrs HURN: I don't know what was happening, but—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hurtle Vale!

Mrs HURN: —when I was driving up hill, down dale I didn't see, 'We will fix response times'.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mrs HURN: I didn't see that. What I did hear those opposite say, and the ads that they paid for, is 'Vote Labor like your life depends on it because some day it just might', and 12 months in—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mrs HURN: —things have never been worse.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Badcoe and the member for Hurtle Vale, although a minister, but now not required for question time, will depart under 137A for 15 minutes or until the conclusion of this debate.

The honourable members for Badcoe and Hurtle Vale having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert.

Mrs HURN: And then they have the arrogance, the minister has the arrogance, to go on radio and say, 'This is all a storm in a teacup. South Australians got it wrong.' They believe that they have hoodwinked South Australians, and guess who is not buying it?

Honourable members: South Australians.

Mrs HURN: South Australians. South Australians are not buying it.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Elder!

Mrs HURN: Now, I really do understand that this is difficult for those opposite.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Maybe we should have an election.

The SPEAKER: Member for West Torrens!

Mrs HURN: This is really difficult for those opposite to see—really, really difficult—because when you come into government you should have a level of goodwill. There should be a level of goodwill that occurs when you are elected, a generous portion—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mrs HURN: —and this type of thing erodes confidence in government, just like that. And guess what kicks it away forever and ever? Telling South Australians that they were the ones who misunderstood, that they got it wrong. But there is one chance of redemption—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Wright!

Mrs HURN: —for Labor, one chance, and that is to sit down with their constituents, to sit down with paramedics—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Taylor is warned.

Mrs HURN: —and apologise—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Taylor! Member for Frome!

Mrs HURN: —apologise to South Australians because it is time for Labor to say sorry. It is time for Labor to say, 'We are so sorry that 12 months on we just forgot to tell you that things would double—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Taylor! Order!

Mrs HURN: —that things would get worse before they got better—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Taylor!

Mrs HURN: —and we are so sorry that we played the biggest role ever in South Australia's worst ever—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Mawson is warned for a final time.

Mrs HURN: —fear campaign just so that you would vote for us, and we are so sorry that South Australians are still dying waiting for an ambulance.' And do you know what, Mr Speaker? So many South Australians voted for the Premier, they voted for the minister, based on this promise, and South Australians will never forget. South Australians know what they voted for, and South Australians absolutely expect for that to be delivered.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Newland! Member for Waite! Member for Mawson!

Mrs HURN: And how can we have confidence in a minister who just this week, 12 months in, has walked away, is attempting to wave the white flag—it is all too hard. And you cannot do the big things; you cannot even do the small things—pillows. There are no pillows in the hospitals.

An honourable member: Luxury.

Mrs HURN: Exactly. None of that. There is no linen. You cannot get the basics right. We do not have confidence in this minister.

Time expired.

Members interjecting:

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

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Treasurer) (14:53): I thank the member for Schubert for her contribution. In fact, I was glad she got one being left 5½ minutes out of 30 minutes of the debate time, but nothing says more about the modern-day Liberal Party than that. Nothing says more about the Liberal Party than that, only allowing a female shadow minister for health 5½ minutes out of a 30-minute debate. Do you know what else says a lot about the Liberal Party? Once again, a bogus campaign of deception on this very matter, because on this side we made it abundantly clear—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —what we would be doing if we were elected—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Flinders!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —at the last election, at press conference after press conference after press conference. And we had a lot of them on health because we had a lot of policies on health. We had a fully costed strategy to substantially increase capacity in every facet of our health system. We promised—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Flinders is warned for a final time.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —more than 300 new beds and now we have increased it to more than 550. We increased it by more than 300 nurses—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —by more than 100 doctors, and 350 ambos, because we knew the state that those opposite had left the health system in.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: What was their first act?

Mr Tarzia interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Hartley will be departing shortly.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Their first act—

Mr Tarzia interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Treasurer, please be seated. The member for Hartley appears to be appealing to me—137A, remainder of the debate. Member for Hartley, please depart.

The honourable member for Hartley having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Because we knew the state that they had left the health system in under the last four years. What was the first act of the previous Liberal government in health? It was to impose a further—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —$400 million of savings on the health system and then, as the Premier said, call the corporate liquidators into our Central Adelaide Local Health Network.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Frome!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Less resources and corporate liquidators.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Newland!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: And what did they promise to do? What did they budget to do at the outset of a global pandemic?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Unley!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: To cut doctors and to cut nurses. This is how the Liberals left our health system.

Ms Savvas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Newland is warned for a final time.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: And when ambulance officers were realising that they could not get to emergency callouts on time, what did they do? They contacted the government and they begged for more resources. They begged for more resources, but did they get them? Of course they did not. Of course they did not, and they tried and they tried and response times got longer and longer and longer.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Newland is on a final warning.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: People were dying because they could not get an ambulance.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Flinders!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Out of desperation, what did our hardworking paramedics and ambulance officers do? They started telling South Australians directly. They started putting messages on the sides of the ambulances so that South Australians knew the dark truth about how those opposite—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —were running our health system into the ground. What did the Liberal government do in response to ambulance officers speaking out? They took them to court.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey is warned for a final time.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: When we got into government, our hardworking paramedics and ambulance officers—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hammond!

The SPEAKER: —had not had a pay rise in five years—five years.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Flinders! Member for Waite!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: They took them to court and they refused to give them a pay rise. That is the legacy of those opposite.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Mawson!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Yes, indeed, member for Flinders—137A, to be joined by the member for Mawson for the remainder of the debate. He is a lively contributor.

The honourable members for Flinders and Mawson having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: When our constituents were coming to us to tell us how concerned they were that when they called an ambulance—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Schubert!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —one would not turn up, do you know what our policy was going to be? To make sure that ambulances could turn up, and we made it abundantly clear what our target would be for this term of government. We wanted response times to get back to where they were in 2017-18—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond is warned.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —85 per cent of all callouts on time—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Schubert!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —85 per cent response times.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is warned.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: That was our target and we said it at press conference after press conference. We said it—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Frome!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —on talkback radio interview after talkback radio interview. It was abundantly clear.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Frome!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Every time a journalist asked the Premier, the Minister for Health or me as shadow treasurer—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —what our target was, we told them. So now what do we get? We get the member for Schubert once again bogusly putting it around that that was not our commitment at all.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: That was not our commitment at all. Our commitment, apparently, was something entirely different—something entirely different—and now bogusly the member for Schubert—

Mrs Hurn interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert well knows 137A, and will depart for five minutes.

The honourable member for Schubert having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Bogusly putting it around that this confected target—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —that they have come up with is what we should be held to account for. We know what our target is. We are investing the resources so that we can meet it. As we said to the people of South Australia, we are committed to delivering it over the course of this term.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: But I am not surprised that this is the tactic. I am not surprised that this is the tactic of those opposite, because it is those opposite who spent the last four years carrying on like this, deceiving South Australians about what they were doing to their health system, pulling resources out. Just remember—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —the debacle of their health policy at the last election. We had a drop to The Advertiser, 'We are going to spend half a billion dollars, five hundred million dollars, in new resources to health.' By the next morning, by the time the papers were hitting the pavement, those opposite—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Perhaps members should, member for Waite, but in any event, of course, you will know that standing order 141 does not permit quarrels between house including in relation to The Advertiser or any other subject matter. Of course, also the standing orders make plain that no noise or interruption is allowed in debate. It might be said that in the course of debate such as this that standing order is observed only in the breach. The Treasurer.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: They bogusly dropped a story to The 'Tiser claiming that they were going to put five hundred million dollars into health. By the time the paper hit the pavement the next morning they back-tracked to one hundred and twenty three million dollars. Then that day, at a press conference, their health minister, Stephen Wade, was asked, 'Is this new money?'

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: He said, 'To be honest, I don't know. You would have to ask the Treasurer. I don't even know what the health policy is—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —or how much it costs. I don't know whether the money is new. I just work here.' That was the approach of those opposite.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: But do you know who was central to this approach? You know who was central to this? The member for Schubert. Front row seat to the strategy and to the policy of those opposite—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Frome!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —for the entire four years. It's extraordinary. Instead of providing the resources—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —that our health system needs, they sent in the corporate liquidators. Instead of listening to our ambos, they took them to court. Instead of—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Frome!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —hiring more health workers, they sacked them. It's just extraordinary. Instead of sending in extra doctors—

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —we got ourselves a spin doctor.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hammond! Member for Morialta!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Just extraordinary. And the member for Schubert in particular has a history for this. Remember the bogus promise that she rolled out—

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

The SPEAKER: Order! There's a point of order from the member from Morialta, which I am bound to hear under 134.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: And no, I don't need guidance before the member has put his point.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Standing order 127, personal reflections.

The SPEAKER: That may be.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Florey!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: And that, member for Chaffey, is rather the point. She isn't here to raise the point of order and therefore I give it due consideration. However, given the nature of a very willing debate, I will listen carefully. The Treasurer.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Because it was the member for Schubert who made the bogus commitment to the community in the Barossa that the Liberals were funding a new hospital and it was complete rubbish—complete rubbish. Once we had sifted through the spin—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond is warned.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —and the dross and the rubbish that the Liberals had put out, what turned out was that they committed to buy a block of land. That's the sort of spin we get from the member for Schubert. Yesterday, we had the episode of—

Mr Cowdrey interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —selective quotes from the member for Schubert—the selective quotes. Don't worry about the rest of the sentence.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: What about my little clause that I'm building my question in question time around? That's how those people opposite operate.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: They're not interested in facts, they're not interested in change, they're not interested in resourcing our health system, they're interested in petty political arguments—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Chaffey!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —because they have got nothing else.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hammond!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: They are not fit to govern and that's why the decision was made at the last election. We have tried the alternative—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —we have tried the cuts, the corporate liquidators, the sacked doctors, the sacked nurses—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —the increased savings, we've tried that, we've tried demonising our ambos, running them through the court system—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —refusing to give them a pay rise for five years, we've tried all of that—and South Australians are suffering. That's why we are here, that's why we have a plan, that's why it's funded and that's why we're delivering it.

The SPEAKER: Members may well ask: what are the terms of standing order 142?

No noise or interruption allowed in debate. While a Member is speaking, no other Member may make a noise or disturbance or converse aloud or speak so as to interrupt the Member speaking except on a point of order.

And it's for that reason that 137A has been widely used today. Is there a member seeking the call or are we going to put the question? Time has expired.

The house divided on the motion:

Ayes 12

Noes 26

Majority 14

AYES

Batty, J.A. Cowdrey, M.J. Gardner, J.A.W. (teller)
Hurn, A.M. McBride, P.N. Patterson, S.J.R.
Pederick, A.S. Pratt, P.K. Speirs, D.J.
Teague, J.B. Telfer, S.J. Whetstone, T.J.

NOES

Bell, T.S. Bettison, Z.L. Bignell, L.W.K.
Boyer, B.I. Brock, G.G. Brown, M.E.
Champion, N.D. Clancy, N.P. Cook, N.F.
Ellis, F.J. Hood, L.P. Hughes, E.J.
Hutchesson, C.L. Koutsantonis, A. Malinauskas, P.B. (teller)
Michaels, A. Mullighan, S.C. Odenwalder, L.K.
Pearce, R.K. Piccolo, A. Picton, C.J.
Savvas, O.M. Stinson, J.M. Szakacs, J.K.
Thompson, E.L. Wortley, D.J.

PAIRS

Marshall, S.S. Fulbrook, J.P. Pisoni, D.G.
Close, S.E. Tarzia, V.A. Andrews, S.E.
Basham, D.K.B. Hildyard, K.A.

Motion thus negatived.

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