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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-11-27 Daily Xml
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KordaMentha

The Hon. T.T. NGO (15:26): Will the minister rule out further using KordaMentha or another corporate liquidator to undertake a similar exercise with other local health networks, like Country Health and northern and southern?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:26): Far be it from me to reflect on whether or not that was a supplementary within order.

The PRESIDENT: It was a broad-ranging answer, minister.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: All I would say is that I need to keep my answers less broad ranging.

The PRESIDENT: A comprehensive answer, minister.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: The honourable member's question and the rebuke from the President actually encourages me to give a broad-ranging answer. The honourable member is saying, as I understood it: do I as minister think that it would be a good idea to use KordaMentha elsewhere? Let's put it this way: KordaMentha is a strong financial team, and they are experienced in providing financial and organisational recovery. I suspect there would be a goodly number of people in Whyalla who would be quite pleased that we are using such a strong team to try to clean up the mess here in our hospitals, because they have done some good work in Whyalla.

In terms of whether or not we will use them in other networks, it is far too early to say. All I can say is that their financial and organisational recovery plan, which was developed in consultation with clinicians right across the network and beyond, has received resounding—resounding might be overstating it—very strong resonance with the staff of the Central Adelaide Local Health Network. The reason is that, not only do they know that with a proper focus they can improve both patient outcomes and the financials, but perhaps even more importantly they know how much organisational reform is required in their network.

I am told that at the staff forum yesterday a particular clinician stood up and made a positive comment about the commitment from the Central Adelaide Local Health Network, the board, the CEO and KordaMentha to address bullying within that network. You can't have a network that thrives when poor performance is not challenged and when good performance is not authorised.

In terms of so far so good, I am very pleased that, in spite of the pejorative statements of the opposition diminishing them as mere liquidators, their report demonstrates that they have a capacity to see the organisation as a whole. This is a whole-of-organisation recovery plan, it will need a whole-of-organisation commitment, and I would also take the opportunity to highlight the breadth of the government's investment in the capacity of the network to deliver on this plan.

This plan is so important for the future of the network and the hospitals within it that the government is making sure that this network has all the support it needs to deliver a positive outcome. The first thing we did, in terms of what we have done in the last week, was last Thursday we announced a new board. The board, as previously announced, will be chaired by Raymond Spencer and deputy chair, Mick Reid. Of course, Raymond Spencer is a respected businessman in this city. Mick Reid is less well known but one of the most illustrious health administrators in the nation. He was formerly director general of New South Wales Health and formerly director general of Queensland Health. I would say he knows a bit about health.

On Thursday, His Excellency the Governor was kind enough to approve the remaining members of the board. They include two health professionals, Dr Alex Cockram, who is a psychiatrist, and Professor Justin Beilby, who is a general practitioner. I have already mentioned the health administration skills of Mick Reid, but he will be joined by Professor Judith Dwyer AC; Kim Morey, a public health expert; and Naomi James, a legal person. I thank the parliament for endorsing board governance in the legislation that came earlier this year, and we took the opportunity to bring forward the appointment of that board so that on day zero, yesterday, there would be a governance board in place to oversee the project.

The second thing that we have done this week is to welcome the new CEO of Central Adelaide Local Health Network, Lesley Dwyer. Lesley suffers the same affliction I do: she is a Victorian, but she has worked in South Australia before. In her most recent appointment, she has been the chair of Medway trust in the United Kingdom, and reportedly has turned around that trust, with the help, obviously, of many others. But her leadership was, I am told, exceptional there, and we are looking forward to welcoming her back to Australian soil, as we did yesterday, to be part of this recovery team.

I would stress to the house that we are convinced that the Central Adelaide Local Health Network needs both a financial and an organisational recovery, and that is why we have put in place a broad-based governance framework with a board overseeing a CEO, who oversees both the clinical and the financial streams, and KordaMentha supporting the financial stream. So we believe that we have given the network the best chance of success, and we look forward to this plan rolling out and the people of the Central Adelaide Local Health Network and, to be frank, all South Australians who rely on that network getting the best possible care.

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