HEALTH DEPARTMENT

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite) (14:49): My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. Are the payroll problems affecting nurses and ambulance officers caused by financial mismanagement within the Department of Health? If so, why has the minister not taken action sooner to fix the problem? On Thursday 12 April, 1,250 SA Ambulance Service employees were not paid on time. In recent days, the Deputy President of the South Australian Industrial Relations Commission has made directions in regard to 1,952 pay discrepancies involving nurses.

The Auditor-General, in his recent report to parliament, warned of problems within the Department of Health payroll management system regarding timesheets, bona fide reports, review of payroll reports, incompatible access rights, master file discrepancies, reconciliation failures, overpayment problems, source documentation and out-of-date policies and procedures. When will you pay your people?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Ageing, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts) (14:51): I think it is a bit fresh of the member to ask that question having raised a point about argument in the previous question, given his whole approach was incredibly argumentative. I think it is obvious from the Auditor-General's Report that there are problems with a number of issues in the health financial system. That is why we have auditor-general's reports, so we can deal with those issues. As I pointed out in my ministerial statement today, we are doing a lot to deal with those issues.

Regarding the issues around payroll, issues related to the implementation of a new financial system which is replacing 18 legacy systems, it is deeply regrettable that moving from 18 systems to one new system has caused problems, but that is what you get when you try to fix up historical problems in any organisation. Whether it is a government organisation or a business there are transition issues. We certainly made some errors in terms of how we estimated we would go through this process, and I think they are acknowledged by the health department, they are certainly acknowledged by me, pointed out by advisers to us, and pointed out by the Auditor-General.

In relation to the issues of payroll, they are ongoing problems, which the Minister for Finance is well and truly on top of and he is working with my department, his own department and the representatives of the two organisations. In relation to the Ambulance Service, there is a range of issues. Shared Services came in at the time when the ambulance award was brought down. Revisions to that award brought in a new pay scale which paid paramedics a greater sum of money, and there was a whole lot of back pay that had to be worked through. It was a very complicated set of arrangements that had to happen, and it had to happen at the same time that Shared Services was being introduced, and at the same time we were introducing Oracle. That is not to excuse anybody for it not working properly, but that is the explanation for it. As to the nurses, I understand those issues are being worked through as well.