Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-09-27 Daily Xml

Contents

Repatriation General Hospital

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (14:27): Supplementary question: is the minister refusing to outline what the sale price is and refusing to agree to release the contract, and if so why is the government willing to release, in contrast, the sale price of the ORAH?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse) (14:27): I thank the honourable member for her question. The land management agreement is a very important document that I think most South Australians would see as a good thing. It is a principal mechanism—not the only one, but it is a principal mechanism—that ensures that communities in and around the Repat site can have confidence that that site will be used in a way that is consistent with their expectations but also, like I said, consistent with the spirit of the services and the culture that has existed in and around the Repat for a long period of time.

There is no doubt that the Repat is an iconic site, but part of the things that have contributed to that status as an iconic site is that lots of those buildings are quite old. They should be preserved. They should be preserved in a way that provides a service to the community that is of a health nature. It also acknowledges the fact that many of those facilities were old, weren't fit for purpose, and we want to make sure that people using those facilities can get access to new facilities that are state of the art, that are world class, that do provide for the dignity that those people who use those services deserve while at the same time providing appropriate reference to the Repat site for future generations.