She was accompanied by Member for Stuart, Graham Gunn, and Liberal candidate for the seat, Dan Van Holst Pellekaan.

Ms Redmond visited the Peterborough Campus of Mid North Health and Nalya Lodge Aged Care facility, with the visitors being taken on an inspection tour by executive officer Mignon Hogan, Country Health SA’s Dominic LaBasso and Mayor Ruth Whittle.

During her visit, Ms Redmond was scathing regarding the Government’s handling of health in the State, stating that health and water were two major issues in the future election campaign.

Referring to health, Ms Redmond expressed her party’s opinion that building an entirely new hospital, rather than an “on-site rebuild” of the Royal Adelaide Hospital in Adelaide, would cost South Australians

$1 billion, which could be otherwise channeled into regional health.

The Opposition Leader also reaffirmed her party’s commitment to re-establishing local hospital boards, rather than the Health Advisory Boards which were set up before the Government’s proposed revision of Country Health Services in 2008.

Regarding water, Ms Redmond said it was vital that the Lower Lakes received water if they were to survive and that a proposed desalination plant in Adelaide was merely a fail-safe measure against lack of rain, with treatment of storm and grey water being a larger issue that needed to be addressed.

Ms Redmond felt that the management of the Murray-Darling system should be taken out of State government hands and managed by an Independent federal authority, but said that, “With a Queensland-based Labor Prime Minister, it is probably not likely to happen!”

Mayor Ruth Whittle, a former hospital board chairman and current Health Advisory Committee member, said is was stressed that services, particularly aged care facilities, were extended in rural communities such as Peterborough.

“Nalya Lodge has had plans drawn-up twice for extensions. We, Mid North Health, own the building and land,” she said.