Grievance Debate

Australian Craniofacial Unit

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (15:07): All South Australians are proud of the Australian Craniofacial Unit. All South Australians are proud of the landmark work that Professor David David, the South Australian of the Year, has done in this state for the past 44 years except, apparently, for those people opposite, who have not only failed to deal with the issues that have been raised about maintaining the unit and keeping the same level of high-quality care that we have had for those patients for the past 44 years but have also gone to the lengths of coming into this parliament and slighting the work of Professor David David. They have slighted the fact that he was not involved in a review that the government undertook and that the review was done without his knowledge and involvement or any discussions with him or the ability for him to provide input into that review.

We heard yesterday some of the most disgraceful comments I can imagine in this parliament. To think that these comments were directed at the South Australian of the Year is just absolutely staggering. This is a unit that has produced some of the most amazing work that we can all be so proud of. This is work where we have led the world. Not only have we provided for South Australians but we have also provided humanitarian assistance for people around the world, particularly to countries to our north where we have provided assistance that never would have been available in those countries. It is something that all South Australians are proud of.

But there are significant issues happening at the unit now. We know that there are significant concerns that Professor David David has raised about what is happening at the unit now. This includes Dr Ben Grave, who is one of the senior oral surgeons at the unit, who has been pushed out of the unit and was not offered an interview for his own position in very suspicious circumstances. Professor David has been trying to raise this issue with the Premier and the health minister for the past two months and has been unable to get anywhere in resolving these issues.

We then bring this matter to the parliament and ask the Premier and the minister to raise this, to identify this and to deal with it. This is something that I think all South Australians would expect to be dealt with promptly by a responsible government doing what they should in the best interests of the people of this state.

Unfortunately, we then had to come back here yesterday and take up the fact that nothing had happened and that there has not been any action on this front. Not only that, but we have now had legal action launched by Dr Grave against his removal from the unit under those suspicious circumstances. Professor David is very concerned about this removal damaging the multidisciplinary approach that has been the foundation of the unit from the beginning and has led to amazing outcomes for patients that far exceed what we see around the world.

Unfortunately, what we saw from the Minister for Energy, representing the Minister for Health, was a number of statements that completely misled the parliament, which is a very serious thing to do. It was absolutely appalling. The opposition has today had to go to the length of moving to set up a privileges committee to investigate this matter. We think that needs to be approved by the parliament promptly so that we can get to the bottom of this matter.

There were four main ways in which the minister raised issues that misled us yesterday. Firstly, he said that everybody was aware of this review happening. He said that everybody should have been aware of it happening. That is incorrect. He suggested that the Premier had even announced it. All of that is incorrect. There was never any announcement of this review. We have gone through Hansard and we have gone through all the media and no announcement was ever made.

Secondly, he said that this review was independent, which has been shown, within 24 hours, to be completely bogus. It was an internal review by a Department for Health officer looking into its own actions. That is not independent at all. Most importantly, he said that Professor David David knew about it and Professor David David had the opportunity to provide input into it. We note that that is absolutely false. The reason we know that is because Professor David told us of this fact immediately. He gave us a statement in which he said:

I have read the Hansard transcript of today's questions. I am staggered that it can be said that I was aware of this review. I have not been approached by a reviewer or had any knowledge of a review other than that the Minister was looking into it and would keep me informed. I cannot see how such a review could deal with the matter effectively without my input. It is disturbing to see such inaccuracies in the transcript, [such as] the "Foundation" has nothing to do with the issue [as it] is an independent charitable organisation which raises funds for the craniofacially deformed!

Yours sincerely, David David

These are serious allegations and they need a full investigation by this parliament.