Page 1657 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 1 May 2012
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I was in the same briefing as Mr Hanson about the misreporting of data. This is a very concerning issue, and the ACT Health executives were incredibly helpful in that briefing. I greatly respect them for that. I will go to a couple of the points in Mr Hanson’s motion as well. He notes in point (l):
… in a briefing with the Health Director-General and the Minister’s staff on 26 April 2012, I asked if there was any personal relationship between Katy Gallagher and the senior hospital administrator who had been stood down and I was not provided with an answer …
Then in point (n):
… at the briefing with the Health Director-General on 26 April, the Health Director-General stated that the senior hospital administrator who had been stood down had failed to provide a reason why they had deliberately falsified emergency department data to make the results look better …
Yes, Mr Hanson, we were both in that same briefing. I heard the questions you asked the Health Director-General. I have to say that both those points in your motion are incredibly unfair to the officials. They were very forthcoming and very direct in the information they provided, which I greatly appreciated. To put those sorts of statements in the motion misrepresent what the Director-General of the Health Directorate said, and it is incredibly unfair to them and their willingness to be open in that briefing which we received.
As to the board of inquiry, as has already been noted today, a PricewaterhouseCoopers audit is occurring. I spoke with the Auditor-General last week and the Auditor-General outlined the work that was being undertaken to request information from ACT Health in order to consider whether or not to go ahead with an inquiry.
I think it is also worth pointing out the powers the Auditor-General has under the act, and they are quite significant. That is something we have obviously been looking into as this matter has come to light. The Auditor-General is, obviously, independent of the executive and may undertake any investigations that she so wishes. The role of the Auditor-General is to investigate activities undertaken by government. That is what the office is established to do.
The Auditor-General has the power to require an individual to attend before her for an interview and to produce such documents or records that the Auditor-General requires. That is a significant power. It is also worth pointing out that if a person fails to comply with this, they are subject to criminal penalties under the Auditor-General Act. It is actually worth noting that, as I said, there are significant powers under the Auditor-General Act, particularly in terms of actually compelling people to come forward and provide information, and if that does not occur, criminal penalties actually apply.
When we look at similar matters in other states and territories, it has been the Auditor-General in many cases who has undertaken investigations of these matters. We know
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