Flinders Medical Centre Hydrotherapy Services

A question for the Minister for Health - Flinders Medical Centre Hydrotherapy Services.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: My questions are for the Minister for Health.

1. Will the minister give an undertaking that the hydrotherapy pool in the main building
at FMC will continue to operate to meet the needs of the community as long as the Daw Park
hydrotherapy pool isn't available?

2. On what basis does the government consider the demand for hydrotherapy services
has reduced such that the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network can go from two pools to one?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and
Substance Abuse): I thank the honourable member for her question. I have an important
announcement to make. This Liberal government—sorry, the Liberal opposition earlier today
decided—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: —if they were in government they would do this. Their
position is to replicate government policy. What an astounding effort! They have been in opposition
for in excess of 15 years and they have decided in the lead-up to the next state election that the new
tactic they are going to apply when it comes to policy announcement is to copy the government's
policy. It is somewhat extraordinary.

We have built a brand-new hydrotherapy pool at the Flinders Medical Centre. I know there
are a lot of residents and workers in SALHN who are looking forward to getting access to that pool.
We are currently in the process of transitioning off the Repat site. It is an extensive, methodical
logistical effort that is underway as we speak. It is very much our hope that that goes as smoothly as
what occurred in the case of the move from the ORAH to the NRAH. Once the transition is complete,
all Southern Adelaide Local Health Network (SALHN) users who require hydrotherapy access will
get it at the Flinders Medical Centre.

Regarding the Repat site, the Liberal Party knows all too well what the government's position
is on this particular issue because they have cloned it. We are going to make sure that we work with
the ACH Group to ensure that that pool continues to operate in the interests of those people who live
in and around the Repat site. At the Flinders Medical Centre, there is a brand-new pool which will be
accessed by all those people who require hydrotherapy and other associated services.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Supplementary: my question arises from the answer,
in particular the reference to a methodical logistical transition. Is the Repat pool open today?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and
Substance Abuse): That is a unique question from the opposition, who are so creative that
they have decided to come up with a Repat policy that, guess what, clones the government's policy.
We are in the process of transitioning off the Repat site. We have been a government that has been
actually serious about ensuring that those people who are in state government public health facilities
get access to good ones.

We know that the opposition deserves a distinction when it comes to consistency in opposing
every effort that this government has ever made to invest in brand-new facilities. We saw it with the
new Royal Adelaide Hospital, opposed by the opposition. We have seen it with the Jamie Larcombe
Centre investment by the state government, opposed by the opposition. We have seen it in regard
to our effort to ensure that all people who had access to the Repat site in the past, get access to
things like the $185 million-plus investment we have made at the Flinders Medical Centre.

We are serious about putting our money where our mouth is when it comes to the provision
of high-quality public health care in brand-new facilities, and we will remain committed to that cause,
if we are lucky enough to be elected at the next state election.