In a train-wreck radio interview this morning, the Liberals have been forced to admit they have no policies and no commitment to fix ramping.
Opposition health spokeswoman Ashton Hurn fumbled her way through a disastrous interview with veteran ABC broadcaster David Bevan, asked nine times what the Liberals' commitment is on ramping and providing no answers.
Bevan: So what's your promise?
Hurn: Our promise is to come up with a suite of honest policies that we'll be taking to the next election to alleviate the pressure.
Bevan: Yes, but what are you offering South Australians? Is it a vague, 'we will alleviate the pressure'? What does that mean? Are you promising you'll get ramping stats back down to March 2022 levels? Or March 2018 levels? What are you promising?
Hurn: We're promising that we will be taking an honest set of policies to the next election which is a year and a half away…
The former spin doctor even resorted to verbal gymnastics when asked about what the Liberals were aiming for:
Bevan: But will you give people a target, saying this is what we're aiming for?
Hurn: I'm interested to know what the Labor Party –
The stark admission comes after a senior Liberal proposed a patient tax to fix ramping, forcing Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia to issue a red-faced retraction saying that wasn't Liberal policy.
Even more embarrassing for Ms Hurn, she was the chief spin doctor for former Liberal Premier Steven Marshall when he boldly claimed in June 2021 that he expected to see ramping improvements "almost immediately".
Instead ramping shot up nearly 400 per cent in their four years in office.
The Liberals failed to act during their time in government, closing beds and making hundreds of nurses redundant.
In contrast, the Malinauskas Labor Government is opening 600 extra hospital beds to create more capacity, hiring hundreds more doctors and nurses and introducing a suite of hospital avoidance services.
Opening newly constructed extra beds since late August has helped achieve a 42 per cent reduction in ramping since July, a drop of more than 2,300 hours per month.
Each of the past three months has been better than the same months last year and better than any months since June 2023.
As put by Chris Picton
Former spin doctor Ashton Hurn has let the cat out of the bag that the Liberals will do absolutely nothing to fix the ramping crisis.
In her disastrous radio interview this morning, when asked nine times about what the Liberals would do, she was forced to admit the Liberals have no policies and no ambition to fix ramping.
Worse still, she said she disagreed with the Government's plan to build a bigger health system.
There's now a clear contrast: the Government that has the ambition and plans to fix the ramping crisis which is now showing positive progress. And an Opposition that doesn't even want to fix the ramping crisis and has no plans.
And if they have no plans and no ambition – then that sounds like a recipe for returning to the cuts and redundancies of the previous Liberal Government.
So from now on – every time South Australians see Ashton Hurn in the media talking about ramping – they will know that if she was elected she would do absolutely nothing about it.
