SA Health, ICAC Report

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:28): My question is to the Premier. Were you lying when you told the parliament last week that you found the ICAC report into SA Health helpful?

The SPEAKER: I remind the Leader of the Opposition to address his remarks through the Chair. The leader is well aware of standing order 97. I am going to ask him to rephrase the question, even though I didn't hear it in its entirety. Leader.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: Thanks, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Premier. Was the Premier honest when telling the parliament last week that he found the ICAC report very helpful?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:29): As I said last week and as I said today, I stand by every single statement that I have made. It was helpful, but some things can be very helpful and also have perverse outcomes, and that is exactly—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —and precisely what has occurred.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Well, I think it is useful.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned.

The Hon. S.K. Knoll: That is forced laughter, sir.

The SPEAKER: Minister for Transport, that may be so, but you are called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: These guys can't understand nuance whatsoever. The fact of the matter is something can be useful and have perverse outcomes at the same time. The reality is I think it was helpful to us to have that review.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It certainly confirmed—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I would like to hear the answer.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —that there was no further additional information that was hitherto not known to the government. From that perspective, it's not like it uncovered a whole pile of corruption that we now have to deal with on top of the mess that we inherited from the previous government, so from that perspective I think it was very useful. I think it was very useful in so much as it provided a focus, and now we have established the interagency task force to deal with this issue and we are pulling together people from across government and I think that is very helpful.

I also stand by my public and private comments regarding how demoralising this report ended up being with regard to people who are working very hard in Health at the moment to turn it around. I have heard that people who work in the Health department have been stopped in the streets and queried about all the corruption going on within their department. This is very demoralising. This is actually not what is occurring in SA Health. The commissioner does not point to widespread corruption.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for West Torrens is warned for a second time.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Let's be very clear: it's only a 60 or 70-page report.

Mr Malinauskas: So why didn't you read it?

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: They probably could have got through it by now. They have failed to actually raise one single solitary point with regard to corruption. What the commissioner says is that there are poor systems, there is a poor culture, there are poor practices which exist which could lead—could lead—to corruption. He goes on to outline more than 1,100 complaints that have been made to Health in the time since he has been the ICAC commissioner. Of course, the majority of that time that he has been the commissioner has been under the previous government.

What we really need to know from the ICAC commissioner, and hopefully this information will be provided, is how many of those complaints, those corruption allegations, occurred under the previous government. What was the advice to the previous government, what action was taken and was he satisfied? Because we have to be clear: this is a report, a review which canvasses a large period of time, the majority of which we were not in government. I emphasise that we are very focused, since day one of coming to government, on fixing the mess that we inherited.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We put more than $1 billion back into the health system. We have created five new local health networks so that we can have a greater focus as close to the action as possible. We have put new boards in place. Those boards only came into place on 1 July this year.

We put KordaMentha in to fix up, quite frankly, the financial atrocities that were occurring under the previous government, presided over by the previous government, never divulged by the previous government or the previous health minister, the now Leader of the Opposition—no transparency whatsoever, and we are just getting on with fixing it. Were we supported with the appointment of KordaMentha by the Labor Party? No. Were we supported by them to establish the new LHNs and new governance arrangements? No. We are not perturbed. We are just getting on—getting on with fixing the mess that we inherited from those opposite.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for West Torrens is on two warnings.