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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-11-26 Daily Xml
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State Government Partnerships

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (14:43): My question is directed to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. Will the minister update the council on state government partnerships?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:43): I thank the honourable member for his question. The Marshall Liberal government was elected with a commitment to working collaboratively and engaging with stakeholders to bring about the best outcomes for the community at large. This was in stark contrast to the arrogance of the former Labor government, which adopted—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! I can't hear the minister. Go on, minister.

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: You don't even know what your chief executive is doing. Not responsible for the chief executive of your own agency.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Hunter, alright.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: This was in stark contrast to the arrogance of the former Labor government, which adopted a hectoring and bullying approach, picking favourites and using the same standover tactics they learnt in their days as union bosses.

Now, honourable members, I ask you the question: has Labor learnt anything? Are we yet to see this Labor Party abandoning that hectoring and bullying approach? Time and time again in this chamber and in the public domain we see the union bullyboys of the Labor Party adopting an arrogant, hectoring bullyboy approach, picking favourites and using standover tactics they learnt in their days as union bosses.

One would have thought they would have learnt the mistakes of their ways and that, after the election of March 2018, they would have perhaps taken a dose of humility and stopped the hectoring. We see today that, no, it has not stopped and it hasn't stopped only in this chamber. It has also continued in the public domain. Unfortunately, Labor has proven time and time again that they remain the same bullyboys as they were in their previous lives as union bosses.

Just this week, when the Marshall Liberal government announced a partnership with HammondCare to deliver a response to the scandal allowed to continue at Oakden, instead of welcoming this important step to addressing Oakden's legacy of Labor, they lashed out at HammondCare with outrageous smears. Labor said that South Australians need reassurance about HammondCare in the context of the royal commission. What a lot of rubbish! There were three expert clinicians called to the royal commission from HammondCare. HammondCare is one of the most nationally respected not-for-profit providers with expertise in dementia care.

A facility HammondCare operates in New South Wales was singled out in the Oakden report as a model of this type of care, as opposed to what was being allowed to happen at Oakden. But no, this isn't enough for Labor. Their record on Oakden was shameful. They were more interested in getting their ministers' names out of an ICAC report than they were about addressing the underlying problems. Yet, in spite of that shameful legacy, the Labor Party wants to attack HammondCare. What's their sin? They partnered with the Liberal Party to deliver better care for South Australians. What a sin! It doesn't matter to Labor what their record is or what benefits South Australians. Because HammondCare is working with the Marshall Liberal government, they are now on Labor's blacklist.

This is exactly the same treatment that Labor meted out to KordaMentha. When KordaMentha worked in Whyalla and turned around the steelworks, they were heroes for South Australia. But now because the Marshall Liberal government has engaged KordaMentha to turn around our central hospitals, which KordaMentha described as the most broken organisations they had ever seen, Labor turned on KordaMentha. The bullyboys of the union—hectoring, bullying—they turned their venom on KordaMentha.

It's like children in a playground, 'If KordaMentha is friends with Steven Marshall, then they can't be friends with me.' Forget the big picture. Forget the hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers' money wasted by Labor, the hurt inflicted on South Australians needing care and their families. The fact of the matter is that Labor continues to play the bullying and hectoring approach.

Labor also plays this game with RDNS Silver Chain, a respected South Australian institution which has worked in partnership with successive governments, Liberal and Labor, delivering quality care across the state. But Labor conveniently forgets that history and forgets that they were happy to partner with RDNS. But today, because they are partnering with a Liberal government, RDNS is also on Labor's blacklist.

To show the hypocrisy of Labor, just remember that it was Labor who entered into the largest health privatisation in South Australian history with a $2.4 billion new Royal Adelaide Hospital. Taxpayers in South Australia are paying nearly $1 million a day every day for Labor's privatisation. Imagine the reaction from members opposite if it was a Liberal government that had signed that deal. Labor should be ashamed of their bullying behaviour, of the smears they run against non-government organisations that partner with the Liberal government. This government is proud of its capacity to collaborate with partners to deliver better services for South Australians. We will not let Labor's bullying and smears stop our efforts to clean up their mess.

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