House of Assembly Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2) 51 2 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Ministerial Statement Ministerial Statement Health Care Bill HEALTH CARE BILL The Hon. J.D. HILL House of Assembly Kaurna Minister for Health Minister for the Southern Suburbs Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (12:58): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement. Leave granted. The Hon. J.D. HILL House of Assembly The Hon. J.D. HILL: Yesterday, during the committee stage of the Health Care Bill, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition said that she had corresponded with health services. She said: The most recent correspondence I forwarded to the attention of the chairs of the hospitals was intercepted by the chief executive, and he wrote to me saying that he considered information that I had communicated to the hospital boards was inaccurate, and he had therefore directed the hospitals to which the correspondence had been forwarded not to pass that correspondence on to their board. I said last night that I understood the member had asked the chief executive to forward her correspondence. I am now advised that the electorate office of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition emailed public servants in the country health units her press releases on 24 and 28 September  2007. The email message was as follows: Ms Chapman has requested that the attached media releases be brought to the attention of your board. As I indicated yesterday, one of the press releases was not passed on because of its inaccuracies. The chief executive of the department made that decision after the matter was referred to him. Should the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, or any other member, wish to communicate with chairs of boards she, and they, are entitled to do so, and they can write to them directly. It is not the responsibility of departmental staff to distribute her statements, particularly her inaccurate statements. [Sitting suspended from 12:59 to 14:00]