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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 7 Hansard (26 June) . . Page.. 2640 ..

MR CORBELL

documents? Is it just some innuendo, is it just some wild assertion, or do they have any evidence to back that up?

The reality is that they do not have any evidence to back that up, nor do they have anything that indicates that there are other documents. There has been no reference to other documents. There has been no reference to documents that have not been included in the package provided to the Estimates Committee.

The government was very upfront about that piece of information. We said, Mr Speaker, that that memo was not produced at the request of me, as Minister for Health, or my office, nor was it requested by the executive management team in the department of health. It was authored by an officer who should have known better and the officer has been disciplined and counselled in the appropriate manner. The government provided all the documents in relation to that matter and I do not really see what it is the Liberal Party is trying to achieve in regard to that matter.

In relation to my evidence to the committee, I have had cause to reflect very carefully on the evidence I gave. In relation to that, the committee found in its majority report that the Assembly should consider a privileges investigation into my evidence. Mr Speaker, the relevant passage is an exchange between me and the chairman of the committee, Mr Smyth.

Mr Smyth asked me when the March figures for the waiting lists for elective surgery in our public hospitals would be made available. I indicated that I would be releasing those figures later in the week of the hearing, which would have been the Friday. The chairman asked whether that was a break from routine as they were normally available on the 21st of the month, and I said that it was. It was because the government had decided to change the reporting format and that the government wanted to announce that new format and explain the reasons for the change in presentation.

The chairman asked me whether I had those figures with me then. I said that I did not. The chairman then asked me whether officers of the department of health had those figures with them then and whether the waiting list had grown or shrunk in that month. I said that officers did have them, but that I would be releasing those figures later in the week. Mr Smyth asked me if I could provide a raw figure then and a breakdown later in the week and I said no.

Mr Speaker, having reflected on that evidence, I believe that I was wrong to do that. I should not have denied that information to the committee. It was a mistake on my part and I apologise to members for doing so. The point I was wanting to make, Mr Speaker, was that the government had revised the presentation of the elective waiting list figures and the government wanted, as all governments do, to release that information at a time of its choosing and to explain the changes in the format and why that had been done.

The document that was to be released was not ready to be released on the Thursday of the Estimates Committee hearing. It was ready to be released the following day. It had been planned to be released the following day and it was not finalised until late on the Thursday prior to its release the following day. Mr Speaker, that does not excuse my not providing the raw figure to Mr Smyth. I should have done so. I regret that I did not. It

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