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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-04-05 Daily Xml
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AUDITOR-GENERAL'S REPORT

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (15:30): My question is again to the Treasurer. How is it that, after 10 years of Labor, Country Health SA and Adelaide Health Service's finances are in such a state that the Auditor-General cannot obtain sufficient audit evidence to conclude that balances relating to staff benefit expenses, supplies and services, payables, revenues from fees and charges, receivables, cash and cash equivalents were not materially misstated? Just so that the Treasurer knows that I am not selectively quoting, the Auditor-General's Report tabled today, says this:

As a result of these matters, I was unable to obtain sufficient audit evidence to conclude that the following balances in the financial report were not materially misstated:

Staff benefit expenses

Supplies and services

Payables

Revenues from fees and charges

Receivables

Cash and cash equivalents

It is not possible to quantify the financial effects, if any, on the financial report as a result of these matters.

The SPEAKER: Order! Before I call the minister, I point out to the member that he did not need to use the term 'such a state'. He could have asked a question without including that. The minister.

The Hon. I.F. Evans interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

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) (15:31): The issues associated with the Auditor-General's comments have been raised in this place before. It is a matter about which I have answered a number of questions in relation to the Auditor-General's Report.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I take it that this a serious question. I would like to give a serious answer to it. The Auditor has a made a number comments. This is the first time I have seen the full report, and obviously I will go through it in detail. There are a number of areas within the health budget and the performance of the financials in the health system which are not up to the standard that I and the government would want and, clearly, it is not up to the standard the Auditor-General believes should be there, and we are taking action to ensure that we get our finances in order.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: The Deputy Leader of the Opposition continues to interject but call for order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Minister, deputy leader, behave, order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I do not think that I have said anything political, I have not criticised the other side. I have not said anything which is not directed to the relevance of the question.

The SPEAKER: Absolutely.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Yet I still get this barrage of commentary from the other side. The point I was making is that we are committed as a government and as a department to getting our finances in order. One of the issues we have had to deal with over the last year or so has been the development of a new computer system known as Oracle, which has had some problems in terms of its introduction. The Auditor-General's Report, if you read through it—and I have been looking through it now—makes plenty of comment in relation to that. Of course, in all audits in every department every year, there are always issues where the Auditor-General says you can do better. However—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Madam Speaker—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Can I just draw members' attention to a quote from the Auditor on page 8, because one should not selectively quote. I am going to give quote for quote to the member for Davenport—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: —and this is what the—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: —Auditor-General says on page 8, under the heading 'Assessment of controls':

In my opinion, the controls exercised by the Department of Health in relation to the receipt, expenditure and investment of money, the acquisition and disposal of property and the incurring of liabilities, except for the matters raised in relation to funding to non-government organisations, payroll, accounts payable and accounts receivable as outlined under 'Communication of audit matters', are sufficient to provide reasonable assurance that the financial transactions of the Department of Health have been conducted properly and in accordance with law.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. I.F. EVANS: Madam Speaker?

The SPEAKER: Is that a supplementary? I couldn't hear for the noise.

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