Health Minister Stephen Wade likes to talk about “the fact of the matter” — in fact, he explained it to ABC broadcaster David Bevan 25 times in just one morning interview.

Mr Wade took to the airwaves during Mr Bevan’s 8.30am slot in response to KordaMentha’s damning report into a $300 million Royal Adelaide Hospital budget blowout.

But listeners were left a little confused at Mr Wade’s affinity for his favourite term, which he used almost every time he answered a question on ABC Radio.

“Well, the fact of the matter is, we are focusing on eliminating our inefficiencies …,” he said at the beginning of the interview.

Little did listeners know, this was the first of many, many, many “facts of the matter”.

In fact, in a blistering two-minute period, he dropped the phrase seven times.

Ten minutes later, former Health Minister and now-Opposition leader Peter Malinauskas chimed in via a phone call with what seemed to be a cheeky jibe, saying “what I’m interested in is the actual facts that are contained within the report …”

Mr Wade didn’t take the hint, however, as he continued on with his “facts of the matter” for another gruelling 10 minutes.