Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-03-19 Daily Xml

Contents

SA Pathology

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (15:27): If you could take that on notice and provide the date, that would be helpful as well. Does the report suggest in any way that a $105 million cut to SA Pathology may not be achievable?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:27): With all due respect, Mr President, I don't think it would be a good use of the parliament's time for Ms Bourke to play 20 questions and try to get me to sketch the PwC report. To be frank, I don't have a copy with me, and I don't think that would actually be helpful. I actually think people are particularly interested in what the government is going to do. What the former Labor government did, from 2014 right through to 2017, was fail to properly manage SA Pathology and leave people in SA Pathology in the dark as to what was being planned.

My advice is that, in stark contrast to that approach, the PwC team has actively engaged not only workers but also their representatives, the unions. I commend them for that approach, because we want to make sure that any report that we receive is robust. How can it be if you don't engage the people at the front line?

In stark contrast to the hypocrites opposite, who claim to represent the worker and then studiously ignore their voice, this government will talk to all relevant stakeholders to make sure that we deliver the best possible value-for-money services for South Australians in health.