Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas brands former Labor Government plan to sell Repatriation Hospital site as a ‘mistake’

It was the former Labor Government’s controversial plan that may have cost it an election — and Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas owns up to it as he reflects on one year in the job.

Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas with wife Anna and two children. Picture: Tom Huntley

• Repat Hospital: State Government reveals new plan
• State Government tears up ACH’s $200m contract

The former Labor Government’s controversial plan to sell the Repatriation Hospital at Daw Park has been disowned and branded a “mistake” by new Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas.

And he has revealed that as Health Minister he effectively binned the proposed master plan for the site submitted to the Weatherill Government by private bidders, ACH Group.

“I didn’t sign off on it before the election and the rest is history,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Mail.

The pointed criticism of the plan to sell the Repat site — a central plank of the Weatherill Government’s Transforming Health strategy — is part of a major policy rethink marking his first year in the job.

Empty wards at the Repatriation Hospital in Daw Park last year. Picture: Brenton Edwards/AAP

The 38-year-old Labor leader says his policy shake-up will be driven by his “Labor Listens” exercise that has seen him tour all 47 South Australian electorates in 12 months.

“I think if the government wanted to ensure that the vision of the Repat site being a health precinct was going to be delivered, it should have remained in government hands,” he said.

“It gives the government a lot more control, it allows the government to make its investments accordingly, and not necessarily be reliant on the private sector.

“I think it was a mistake. The retention of the Repat site in government hands is what should have happened and should continue to happen.”

At last year’s election, the Liberals won two critical “Repat seats” to help seal victory — Waite and Elder.

In May, Liberal Health Minister Stephen Wade officially terminated any deal to sell the Repat site to ACH but hosed down expectations the Repat could be reactivated as a general hospital.

In February, Premier Steven Marshall announced the “future of the Repat Health Precinct has been secured” with a $70m joint funding agreement with the federal government.

Mr Malinauskas said four major themes emerged from his Labor Listens tour — health, including angst over the Repat closure, education, climate change and the economy, especially wage inequality and rising prices.

While these themes dovetail with the mantra of the previous Rann and Weatherill Labor governments, and the federal Labor Opposition, Mr Malinauskas insists it was a genuine listening exercise that will now drive policy development all the way to the 2022 state election.

“I think we can win the next election, if we’re serious about focusing on the future and developing good public policy,” he said.

“If we get the keys to the car, I want to know exactly where we’re driving it.”

In a discursive interview, Mr Malinauskas canvassed a broad range of topics:

POLITICAL BUBBLE:

Echoing Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s use of the phrase the “Canberra bubble”, he said “people who are inside the political bubble” obsess about prior decisions.

South Australians were more interested in their futures than “sort of an endless analysis of what’s happened in the past”.

THE BIG CANARY:

SA was the “canary in the coal mine”, but the state’s high power prices couldn’t be blamed on Labor’s 16-year push into wind power.

Instead, he said a failure of national leadership and “extraordinary policy uncertainty” over carbon pricing meant companies had not invested in new baseload power stations, running on either coal or gas.

A carbon tax would have lowered power bills by giving policy certainty for industry and investment.

NUCLEAR ENERGY:

He is open to nuclear power generation because it “doesn’t have any carbon emissions” but it was “off the table” because SA’s Royal Commission into the Nuclear Fuel Cycle found it was not economically viable in Australia.

HOT BUTTON ISSUES:

Climate change concern came up consistently during his statewide tour, particularly from younger people.

Families and pensioners raised concerns about power prices.

Labor’s handling of the Oakden aged care crisis and children in state care emerged as negatives. Shopping hours reform, opposed by Labor, “barely came up”.

ROCKET SCIENTISTS:

Parents are worried about the future of work for their children and want an economy “growing for everybody not just a few”.

“They understand that SA has to be at the forefront of innovative new growing industries … but not every parent necessarily believes their child is going to be a rocket scientist or an astronaut.”

CALL TAMMY:

When asked about the Bill by Greens MLC Tammy Franks to decriminalise abortion, he replied “I haven’t talked to her yet”.

“The principal of abortion being safe, legal and rare is appropriate.”

He said “that sort of thing” rarely came up in Labor Listens.

EUTHANASIA:

This surfaced as an issue and he was “more than happy” with Labor’s Kyam Maher generating a fresh debate in parliament.

But he’d be anxious to make sure people had “dignity through palliative care … I’d be worried where the safeguards stand”.

LIVING THE DREAM:

“I was very lucky. I grew up in a middle class dream. A loving household, incredibly devoted, working parents. I’ve got absolutely no excuse for not doing my best and giving back.”