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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-05-08 Daily Xml
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IMVS REPORT

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:41): Will the Minister for Health now release the KPMG due diligence report carried out on the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science and advise how much the report cost? The government has consistently denied that it has any intention of selling any part of the IMVS and yet the opposition's request for a copy of the report has been denied, with the government claiming it is commercial in confidence. The income statement of IMVS is disclosed in its annual reports, the last of which indicates to us that it has net assets, including the Frome Road property, of nearly $100 million.

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:42): My colleague the Deputy Premier reminds me that on the weekend the opposition released a study into—

The Hon. K.O. Foley: A consultancy.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: —a consultancy into its grand plan to build a football stadium which would not cost taxpayers anything—about a third of the price of other stadiums around Australia. They would not even tell us who the consultant was, and their reason for not doing so was that it was commercial in confidence. I just say to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition: how can you practise such gross hypocrisy in this place?

The fact is that the government has introduced legislation in this place—which has been passed and is now in the other place—to make sure that we have an efficient pathology service in South Australia. We are combining the three pathology services: the IMVS, SouthPath and the Women's and Children's Pathology Service. This is about making sure the system is run focused on its goals.

KPMG did a report for us. The FOI officers, I understand, have said that vast proportions of that should not be released because it is commercial in confidence. The member asked me for it. I asked the department if we could give it to the member, and that was the advice I received, and I am bound by that kind of advice.

It is a commercial operation. The IMVS does operate in a commercial way. It does have a commercial arm; it is in competition with other suppliers of those services. If information about its business plan, business model and its operations were made public, it could damage its commercial operations. So, I thought that would have been logical.

As the deputy leader's party on the weekend claimed that same protection for an unnamed, anonymous report, I thought she would have understood the principles that applied. As to how much it cost, I am happy to get the information for the member.

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