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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-11-13 Daily Xml
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Aged-Care CCTV Trial

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (15:16): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing about CCTV cameras and conflicts of interest.

Leave granted.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: Care Protect, a UK-based independent provider of a CCTV camera surveillance system, recently quit its involvement in a pilot program to be run in South Australia's residential care facilities. Care Protect has cited several concerns of probity concerning the conduct of certain key members of the steering committee, particularly in relation to the commercial interests of Mr Bret Morris, the interim chief of digital services in the department. My questions to the minister are:

1. Is he comfortable that, as a senior staff member of SA Health, Mr Morris was until recently, in July, promoting his Metrixcare Healthcare Analytics business to SA Health while still a member of the CCTV team?

2. Did Mr Morris declare his interests when he was appointed to the CCTV steering committee?

3. Why does the minister consider Mr Morris's extensive interest in aged care is not relevant to the CCTV pilot?

4. Has the minister investigated any links that Mr Morris or any other member of the team has to companies that provide hardware and IT data systems, and what were the results of that investigation?

5. Can he detail the SA Health workplace surveillance policy, and when did that come into operation?

6. What type of surveillance detection equipment is currently in place at each of the sites identified as locations for the pilot?

7. Is it correct that Care Protect was told that its cameras, known as Hikvision, were noncompliant with SA Health and commonwealth government laws because they were made in China?

8. Is the minister aware that a member of the steering committee, Mr Chad Khoury, told members of the steering committee those concerns?

9. Is it correct that Hikvision cameras are currently in use in the minister's own department and that a number are installed in sites designated for the pilot?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:19): I thank the honourable member for a question time full of questions in that cluster. Let me tackle a few. In relation to conflicts of interest, I advised the council yesterday that issues had been raised with me in relation to conflicts of interest of SA Health staff involved in the project. I received information and advice and, on the basis of that information, I did not feel that a conflict of interest had been established. As I said, I am acting on advice and, of course, if any member of this house or any member of the community considers that issues of public integrity need to be looked into, they are free to raise matters with the Office of Public Integrity. In terms of the issue in relation to—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Hunter, please. We don't have long to go and there are a lot of questions for the minister to answer.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: With all due respect, I am not sure which board the honourable member is referring to because this is not a project of a local health network; it is a project of the Department for Health and Wellbeing, and the Department for Health and Wellbeing does not have a board.

In relation to the Hikvision cameras, the view of SA Health is that it had security vulnerabilities which we have been advised have seen them removed from commonwealth, defence and military facilities. I am also advised that Hikvision cameras that are currently installed in SA Health facilities are being phased out and replaced with new cameras.

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