Mr COX (6:19 PM) —There is one issue that I want to raise with the minister, because I understand that he will not be here for long: that is the provision of MRI machines in public hospitals. In some hospitals they are not available at the moment. This matter came to my attention because a former constituent of mine had a son with a brain tumour who was airlifted to Adelaide. He rang my office very distressed because he had been told that his son had been placed on a waiting list for an MRI in order to find out the extent of his ill health.

I spoke to the patient's doctor, and he said, `Well, the problem is not that there is a waiting list. The problem is that there is no MRI machine at the Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide'. I was surprised at that. We have had a considerable increase in the number of MRI machines in Australia. According to the Auditor-General, we have had an increase of about $50 million in the costs of MRI benefits over what was anticipated in the budget a couple of years ago, yet we still have not got them in the places where they are most needed—public hospitals like the Women's and Children's and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in South Australia where an MRI machine is in a position to do the highest valued work that it will probably do and provide the most benefit to the community. Instead, we have them in radiological practices all over the country and they are probably doing lower valued work.

I have had a look at the Blandford report and I found that it did not recommend putting an MRI machine in the Women's and Children's Hospital. I have had a look at the annual report of the minister's own department, which has some discussion on this matter and points out that there are particular difficulties in relation to the provision of MRI services for children because it requires more sensitive care in relation to anaesthetics. This was confirmed to me by the staff at the Women's and Children's Hospital, who said that when they send a patient to the Royal Adelaide to have an MRI scan they have to send a team of anaesthetists with them. They are away for several hours, which obviously disrupts the rest of the workload at the Women's and Children's Hospital. I am greatly concerned by this absence. I have raised it with the state health minister, Dean Brown, and he seemed to be fairly oblivious to the problem. He was aware that the Women's and Children's Hospital or the health commission had put out a tender for one of the private MRI machines to be bought into the hospital, one that had benefits attached to it under the arrangements. What he was not aware of was that, despite cabinet having made that brilliant decision, when the tenders were called there was absolutely no interest.

So there has been no progress. The state government does not appear to have a plan to correct the situation. I have people in my electorate who are extremely concerned about the issue, including a young lad named James Bodin who was the best friend of the child who was ill. He `was' the best friend, because the child, Lachlan Wasley, died about three weeks later. He had an inoperable, malignant tumour on his brainstem and died within a week of surgery. It is a very emotional issue. There are an awful lot of parents around South Australia who are deeply concerned about it. James Bodin has been out there running an absolutely wonderful campaign. He has raised more than $10,000 for childhood cancer research and it has been put into a fund in the name of Lachlan Wasley, his best friend who died and brought this matter to my attention.