Page 1502 - Week 06 - Thursday, 2 July 2020
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time. On Friday, 15 May 2020 the individual was suspended without pay, and the employment of the individual, who worked in an administrative capacity only, ended on 22 May 2020.
As Mrs Dunne would be aware, the public service is bound by the public sector employment framework and privacy legislation to not be able to provide further comment on the employment aspect of this matter. (Time expired.)
MRS DUNNE: Minister, what action, if any, was taken by the government after this senior official was charged?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I refer Mrs Dunne to my response to the first question, but I will provide some further information. As I indicated, I am advised that it was not lawful for other agencies to notify the ACT Health Directorate at the time that the individual was charged. The ACT public sector employment enterprise agreement contains provisions that compel an employee to report details of criminal charges that are laid against them. Specifically, section H12.1 of the public sector administrative and related classifications enterprise agreement states:
An employee must advise the head of service in writing within 48 hours where practicable, but no longer than seven calendar days, of any criminal charges laid against the employee …
A failure by an employee to comply with an obligation contained in the public sector employment framework may constitute misconduct and lead to disciplinary action and sanction. It is clear from the answer that I previously gave that this particular employee failed to advise his employer of the charges that had been laid against him, but the ACT Health Directorate took prompt action on the employment aspects of this matter once it became aware of the matter on 14 May.
MS LEE: Minister, what steps have you taken to ensure that no taxpayer resources were used in the commission of these offences?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: As I said, the Director-General of the ACT Health Directorate immediately commenced an investigation into these matters, as soon as the directorate became aware. I have not been briefed on the full outcome of that investigation, but I will follow up to ensure that that matter is being appropriately investigated.
ACT Health—child sex offences
MR HANSON: My question is to the Minister for Health, and I refer again to the 22 June report in the Canberra Times. Minister, what action did ACT Health take after the arrest of a senior health executive to prevent this individual from working on any directorate matters that involved children in any way?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: As I advised the Assembly in one of my previous answers, this officer worked on administrative matters and not directly with patients or clients.
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