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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-05-04 Daily Xml
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Paediatric Health Services

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (15:32): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Health and Wellbeing a question about paediatric health services.

Leave granted.

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI: Before the last election, the Marshall Liberal team committed to building a new Women's and Children's Hospital co-located with the new Royal Adelaide Hospital. Can the minister please update the council on this election commitment?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:32): I thank the honourable member for her question. The Marshall Liberal team went to the 2018 election with a clear position on building a new Women's and Children's Hospital co-located with the new Royal Adelaide Hospital. We rejected Labor's plan to build a new women's hospital co-located with the new Royal Adelaide Hospital while leaving the children's hospital stranded in the existing facility at North Adelaide. This plan would have seen children separated from their mothers and children's health services abandoned in ageing infrastructure for an undefined period.

The AMA and the ANMF also rejected Labor's position in 2017, expressing disappointment in the plan to separate the women's hospital from the children's hospital. South Australians agreed with them: they did not want Labor's plan, instead choosing to keep families together and provide them with a world-class hospital.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order, the Hon. Mr Hunter!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: The Marshall Liberal government is delivering on that commitment.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Minister, resume your seat, please.

The Hon. R.P. Wortley interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Wortley knows well enough not to point in the chamber.

An honourable member interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The minister will be heard in silence.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Thank you, Mr President. As I was saying, the Marshall Liberal government is delivering on this commitment. However, there are some, such as the Women's and Children's Hospital Alliance, who refuse to accept the verdict of South Australian voters. Led by Professor Jones, they continue to run Labor's line, put out before the 2018 election. Just as he did before the 2018 election, Professor Jones continued to call for separation of services in the media yesterday.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: The model of having a co-located Women's and Children's Hospital at the Royal Adelaide Hospital site was put forward by this government and backed by the majority of South Australians. Let's be clear, the Marshall Liberal government was elected with that clear commitment and we will deliver on it.

We have already committed $650 million towards the new hospital, while investing an additional $50 million in works on the current site to ensure quality services are maintained during the build. We have engaged in lengthy consultation with our clinicians on the design for the hospital, with further clinical workshops planned. We have spent $600,000 supporting that clinical consultation, an unprecedented investment in engaging our clinicians.

The Hon. E.S. Bourke interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Ms Bourke!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: We are also backing the health advice, and I think it's really important to be clear here. The World Health Organization and many reputable birthing studies support the ability of mothers to have as much skin to skin contact with their newborn as possible. While some women will find urgent care post birth—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Hunter and the Hon. Ms Bourke, order!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: While some women will need urgent care post birth, this requirement should not necessitate a mother being separated from her baby because we have a women's hospital in one location and a children's hospital across town. If you separate mothers and babies from each other by having each receiving care at different hospitals, you are removing the ability for known benefits of early skin to skin contact, including greater respiratory, temperature and glucose stability, and significantly less crying.

The Hon. E.S. Bourke interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Ms Bourke, you can't help yourself. Order!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: We can't back away from our commitment—

The Hon. E.S. Bourke interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order, the Hon. Ms Bourke!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: —to South Australian families simply because the Women's and Children's Hospital Alliance refuses to accept the verdict of the South Australian community three years ago.

The PRESIDENT: The Deputy Leader of the Opposition has the call for a supplementary arising out of the answer.

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