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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-10-16 Daily Xml
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SA Health

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (14:58): My question is to the Premier. What concerns did the ICAC commissioner, the Hon. Bruce Lander, raise with the Chief Executive of the Department of Health and Wellbeing, Dr Chris McGowan, and what action did Dr McGowan take following those concerns being raised?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:58): It may not surprise the parliament that I am not privy to personal conversations between the ICAC commissioner and individual chief executives, but it is fair to say—

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —that the ICAC commissioner raised with me on day one of the government that he had very serious concerns about the health system in South Australia—very serious concerns. Again, I make the point that a decision for the ICAC to investigate something is not a decision of the government. We have provided adequate resources to the ICAC, increased resources to the ICAC, because we believe in it, but the prioritisation is purely something for the ICAC commissioner to do himself.

We have not been sitting idle. We knew that there were massive problems associated with CALHN, and that is why we moved very quickly—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —to KordaMentha. We weren't going to be sitting around waiting for an inquiry that might take six months, 12 months or 18 months. We needed to take action immediately. CALHN was spending more than $5 million over budget every single day and, of course, they had been able to uncover all sorts of maladministration—

Mr Malinauskas: But it's clinicians who make the decisions.

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —presided over by those opposite when they were in government.

Mr Malinauskas: But it's clinicians who make the decisions.

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It's a testy subject, sir, for the Leader of the Opposition. He was the minister for health, the guilty party, the person who presided over the fact that huge numbers of activities were never ever billed to the commonwealth.

The SPEAKER: Premier!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Tens and tens of millions of dollars.

Mr PICTON: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: There is a point of order. I think the Premier has completed his answer. He has completed his answer, so I'm going to move to the member for King and I will come back to the—

An honourable member: What's the point of order?

The SPEAKER: Was there a point of order?

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Yes, there was.

The SPEAKER: Sorry, I will hear the point of order. The point of order is for—

Mr PICTON: Debate.

The SPEAKER: I uphold the point of order. Member for King.

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