Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-03-23 Daily Xml

Contents

Question Time

Ambulance Ramping

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (14:20): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before addressing a question to the Attorney-General regarding the safety of South Australians.

Leave granted.

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI: On a social media post on 27 February 2022, the Attorney-General stated, 'We will fix the ramping crisis.' Despite this pledge his government this week has now conveniently decided that it never committed to any specific target of reduction in ambulance ramping hours. My questions to the Attorney-General are:

1. Where, on the election posters which were plastered across the entire city and state during the 2022 state election campaign, did it say that fixing the ramping crisis would be measured on ambulance response times, not ramping hours?

2. What does the Attorney-General say to thousands of South Australians who feel they have been lied to?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:21): I thank the honourable member for her question. Certainly, at the last state election the Labor Party committed to reducing ramping hours so that we—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. K.J. MAHER:—so we can do what I think many South Australians reasonably expect, and that's get ambulances responding to cases on time.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: As evidence shows and common sense dictates, the two are directly linked.