Health Minister Jack Snelling announces he is quitting Cabinet and State Parliament
UPDATED: Health Minister Jack Snelling has told what is behind his decision to quit politics — he’s been offered a “very enticing position at home”.
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WHEN Jack Snelling was asked what was next on his agenda, after surprisingly quitting as Health Minister, he relied on the old faithful mantra of politicians everywhere — “family time’’.
“I have been offered a very, very enticing position at home by my wife, she is very, very keen for me to catch up on house chores that I have left neglected over the last 20 years,’’ he said at his farewell press conference as Health Minister with a laugh.
Still, with an annual pension of something around $245,000 a year for the rest of his life, the 44-year-old Snelling won’t be needing to rush the job market anytime soon.
Mr Snelling was surrounded by wife Lucia and their six children in the shadow of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital, which he helped open only two weeks ago, when he made his surprise announcement, exclusively revealed on advertiser.com.au, that his time was up.
Not only as a Health Minister, but as a politician full stop.
It was the kids, he said, that made him want to stop.
“In a portfolio like health, you can’t help but often be distracted, and dare I say even sometimes a little bit grumpy, with the family in a way they don’t deserve,’’ he said.
As is the way with such things, Mr Snelling was keen to lay the first stone in what he believed he hopes will be his lasting legacy. The opening of the new Royal Adelaide and the controversial Transforming Health reforms. And he wasn’t shying away from their importance and his role in it.
“I know that because of the changes we have made with Transforming Health, people who otherwise would have died, will live, people who would have come out of hospital in a wheelchair will come out walking,’’ he said.
“I know there will be huge benefits to thousands of individual patients from the changes we have made.’'
Premier Jay Weatherill was happy to join in the praise — or perhaps he was pre-emptively attributing blame in case it all goes wrong later.
“He will always be remembered as the man who delivered the new Royal Adelaide Hospital,’’ Mr Weatherill said. “He is also the man who took the courageous decision to modernise our healthcare system.’’
Mr Snelling has been Health Minister since January 2013, coming to the job after being dumped as Treasurer by the man who was eulogising him on Sunday — Jay Weatherill.
Sunday’s announcement signals the end of a career that started in 1997 with Mr Snelling’s election to the northern suburbs seat of Playford. Mr Snelling served as a backbencher until being appointed as Speaker after the 2006 election.
After Labor won again in 2010, Mr Snelling joined Cabinet as Employment Minister.
His most important role was when he joined forces with then union leader, and now potential Health Minister, Peter Malinauskas to tell long-serving Premier Mike Rann he was being replaced by Mr Weatherill.
“When we won that election (in 2014) we were completely vindicated in what was a very difficult decision at the time,’’ he said.
Mr Snelling was evasive when asked when he had made his decision and when he informed the premier.
“It’s been a very, very difficult decision for me and I have agonised over it for some time,’’ he said.
He said doubts started to emerge after he was controversially parachuted into the neighbouring seat of Florey as the candidate for next year’s election. Sitting member Frances Bedford rebelled at the idea and subsequently quit the party to run as an independent.
“Obviously when it was clear that Frances Bedford, contrary to what she had previously indicated, was not going to retire. That did give me some pause to rethink.’’
He maintained he was still confident he would have won the seat. “I am in no doubt about that at all.’’
Mr Weatherill said he had had discussions with Ms Bedford, but declined to comment further. Ms Bedford did not return calls from The Advertiser .
Mr Snelling’s unexpected resignation has annoyed some in the party who believed he would stand in an election that many believe will be volatile and knife edge. Labor will need to reopen preselections to find a new candidate in Florey who will lack Mr Snelling’s profile.
Mr Snelling denied his decision was anything to do with last week’s chaotic opening of the new hospital, as the system struggled to cope with a record influx of patients. In fact, he said, last week showed the health system at its finest.
“What we have seen last week is just how good our health system is,’’ he said. “A health system can’t stop people presenting to our emergency departments, they can’t stop people calling for ambulances. There is no health system in the world, not a good one, that turns people away at the door.’’
Mr Snelling said the completion of the new RAH made it “an appropriate moment for me to step away”.
“It has been observed that while those of us in politics are volunteers, our families are conscripts, and this couldn’t be truer than for my family,” he said.
“Almost Lucia’s entire married life has been to me as an MP, all of our children have been born in that time, and our youngest was born after I entered the ministry. It is time for them to have a taste of life with a husband and father who is not a public figure.”
Young gun to old
■ 1997: Jack Snelling enters politics as the Member for Playford as a 24-year-old, the youngest member of the House of Assembly at the time.
■ 2006: Mr Snelling replaces Bob Such as Speaker, a position he held until the 2010 election.
■ 2010: Promoted to Cabinet. Was handed a smattering of portfolios, including Employment, Veterans Affairs and Road Safety.
■ 2011: Appointed to Treasury, replacing Kevin Foley.
■ January 2013: Dumped as Treasurer after delivering two Budgets and replaced by Premier Jay Weatherill.
■ January 2013: Shifted to the Health portfolio, replacing John Hill.
■ April 2013: The above-ground concrete floor of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital is poured.
■ June 2014: Government announces Transforming Health in 2014 Budget, pinning the blame on Federal Government cuts to health and education. Multiple planned hospital upgrades were frozen as part of the plan.
■ July 2014-December 2015: Bungle leads to 10 leukaemia patients receiving half the required doses of their chemotherapy drugs.
■ November 2014: Construction worker Jorge Castillo-Riffo dies after being crushed by a scissor lift at the new RAH site.
■ September 2015: Mr Snelling confirms the move from the old hospital would not occur in April 2016 as planned, pushing move date back to November.
■ February 2016: Worker Steve Wyatt dies at the NRAH site.
■ April 2016: Consortium building new hospital misses completion deadline, prompting the Government to issue a default notice against it.
■ December 2016:Government wins a legal battle over defects in the new hospital.
■ May 2017: SA Health launches urgent inquiry into deaths of two stroke patients at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, where only two specialists qualified to give lifesaving treatment were simultaneously rostered on leave.
■ July 2017: Transforming Health boss Dorothy Keefe caught out criticising Government’s plans to restore cardiac services at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
■ August 2017: Mr Snelling announces Transforming Health has been completed.
September 2017: Hospital opening coincides with influx of patients placing huge stresses on the metropolitan health system.
Healthy competition
Peter Malinuaskas — The Police Minister is regarded as one of the government’s rising stars. Resides in the Legislative Council but is expected to win the seat of Croydon.
Susan Close — Part of the left faction, Close has been Education Minister and Child Development since February 2015. The Port Adelaide MP has her admirers but blotted her copybook as Child Development minister.
Kyam Maher — Labor’s leader in the Legislative Council is Employment Minister as well as looking after manufacturing and innovation is seen as capable by colleagues.
New Faces
Chris Picton — A protege of former Health Minister John Hill has long been tipped as the next Cabinet member. Assistant Minister to the Treasurer, he holds Kuarna.
Nat Cook — Cook surprisingly won Fisher in December 2014 after Bob Such passed away. A nurse by training she also set up the Sammy D Foundation with husband Neil Davis.
