SA Health, ICAC Report

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (14:27): Supplementary: minister, if the government can find tens of millions of dollars to fund the razor gang KordaMentha group to inquire into SA Health, why can't the minister find the $2 million that the ICAC commissioner asked for to properly do the job and investigate SA Health fully?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:27): I thank the honourable member for raising the point because implicit in the opposition's question is: is this government willing to invest in tackling maladministration? Yes, we are, and that's exactly what we have done. In the KordaMentha project we have invested more than $20 million, ten times the amount that the ICAC commissioner sought. This is a strong and longstanding commitment.

I remind honourable members that the ICAC commissioner met with me on day one and, in the context of those comments, in the early months of government I had to tackle the crisis that was the Central Adelaide Local Heath Network. KordaMentha was engaged and Mark Mentha, one of the most experienced business advisers in the nation, described CALHN as the most broken organisation he had ever seen.

I would like to ask honourable members: in March 2018, who had been in control of the health system for 16 years? For 16 years had they tackled the issue in CALHN? In fact, you have to ask yourself: if the ICAC commissioner asked to meet with me on the first day that I was in government, did he ask to meet with Peter Malinauskas—sorry, the Leader of the Opposition in the other place—when he was the health minister? Did he ask to meet with the current shadow minister for health, as he was an assistant health minister? What did they do? I can assure you that there was a broken organisation waiting to be restored and this government is determined to do it.