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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-06-19 Daily Xml
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Hospital Car Parking

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (14:28): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. What is the minister's response to concerns from nurses, cleaners and other health staff who will have to pay an extra $725 a year to park their cars at their workplaces in Noarlunga, Woodville, Modbury and Elizabeth Vale?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:28): My first response is not to listen to Labor lies. Labor accuse this government of abolishing the first two hours free parking at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital. In fact, it was their government that introduced the policy that multideck car parks will not have the first two hours free. That was how they planned The QEH hospital; this government continued their policy. In yet another Labor lie, we have an argument that the—

The Hon. K.J. Maher: Labor, Labor, Labor—back down!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: I want to make it clear that the former Labor government has failed to maintain the real value of car parking costs since 2011. The charges to the public, announced in recent weeks, are maintaining the real value of the charges that Labor had in force in 2011, and failed to maintain in that period since. When we're facing $517 million loss in revenue, I believe the cabinet made a responsible decision to undertake real increases in public car parking rates.

In relation to staff pay, it's important to remember that staff are paying about half of what the public do, so it's already a significantly lower rate, and it's fair to say that some staff have access to salary sacrifice arrangements. However, this government will continue to invest in car parks. It is not cheap to build car parks but we will continue to work with our patients and staff to make sure that access is maintained. The staff rates are linked to the cost of a Metro ticket, so it's comparable with public transport.

I think it's also important to mention that the Marshall Liberal government took key initiatives to make sure that car parking was affordable particularly for long-stay patients or for carers. One of the first things that we did in May 2018 was to cut the weekly car park fee at the Royal Adelaide Hospital by 40 per cent. We have also undertaken a review and broadened the exemptions for car parking fees. Let me stress that that is an exemption, it is not a discount, so there is a whole series of categories of patients who are exempt. We have extended that particularly to include parents or carers of a baby or a young child, and these groups pay nothing for car parking in metropolitan and public hospitals.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Have we finished on the opposition benches? I would like to hear the supplementary from the Hon. Ms Scriven. Please continue.

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