Ministerial Statement

MEDVET

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:02): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Until 1 July of this year, the IMVS was a statutory authority that was responsible to its own independent board and had its own chief executive, who reported, in turn, to that board. It operated with a high degree of autonomy, as was required by the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science Act 1982.

On 1 July 2008, the IMVS Act was repealed by parliament and the IMVS was thereby dissolved as a separate statutory authority. The new Health Care Act 2008 enabled the merging of the IMVS with other government pathology services to form one pathology service called SA Pathology. SA Pathology is now part of the Central Northern Adelaide Health Service. A major change is that SA Pathology is now responsible to the chief executive of SA Health and through him, to me as minister.

In the 1980s, the IMVS incorporated a company called Medvet Science Proprietary Limited under corporation law, to commercialise the intellectual property of IMVS. Since the repeal of the IMVS Act, the Central Northern Adelaide Health Service has become the shareholder of Medvet Science Proprietary Limited. Today I inform parliament that changes have been made to the constitution of Medvet to make governance, accountability and reporting obligations consistent with the new direction flowing from the repeal of the IMVS Act.

I can also advise that new directors will be appointed to the board this week, with the former deputy chief executive of the Department of Justice, Mr Terry Evans, as chair. The other members of the board will be Mr Alan Bolaffi, Mr Paul Gardiner and Professor Ruth Salom, the new chief executive of SA Pathology. This new board will reflect a mix of legal, financial, governance and health experience.

In the long term, the government will be reviewing the financial and operational affairs of Medvet and consider further reforms to its structure and relationship to government. As parliament is aware, the government's pathology reform process has brought to light some issues. In October last year, I became aware of allegations regarding IRIS 2 software. The Department of Health and the Crown Solicitor instigated the preliminary investigation by the Government Investigations Unit.

After the government investigator's report was received, the matter was referred promptly to the Anti-Corruption Branch of SA Police for it to conduct an investigation. I also wrote to the Auditor-General about this matter in February 2008, as I have previously informed the house. I am informed that the Anti-Corruption Branch has sought advice from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. It is expected that the DPP will be in a position to advise in the near future whether the allegations should be further investigated.

Recently, SA Pathology has become aware of information that raises questions about the conduct of several former employees of Medvet. I was informed on 17 September 2008 of these new allegations. These were referred immediately to South Australia Police, who are currently investigating. These allegations have also been reported to the Auditor-General.

The Crown Solicitor's advice is that further comment on the allegations at this stage could prejudice the investigations. It is not appropriate to comment any further at this stage while a police investigation is under way. Such comment could make the job of the police or the DPP more difficult. However, as soon as I am able to provide further information I will do so.

Without commenting on the allegations before the police and the DPP, I am confident that the governance changes to pathology services and Medvet will lead to a more robust governance and financial management system. Unfortunately, the opposition has opposed the government's legislative changes to governance. I remind the house of the deputy leader's comments in April, when opposing the reforms, that the IMVS is a 'stunning little entity' with a 'stunning financial record' and that Medvet is a 'little gem' that is 'steaming along beautifully'.