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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-03-02 Daily Xml
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SA Ambulance Service

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (14:47): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing regarding integrity.

Leave granted.

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE: On Friday last week, the chief executive of SA Ambulance said:

…the ICAC commissioner has made it pretty clear that public sector employees need to adhere to that code so once they breach that code, I can't necessarily protect them.

The Advertiser then reported a response from the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption:

Ms Vanstone said reports made to the Office for Public Integrity about unauthorised disclosures of information would likely be referred back to the agency from which it came.

'I would only become involved in very limited circumstances where a disclosure had the potential to cause very serious harm.'

The Commissioner for Public Sector Employment said publicly yesterday:

My view is that what we saw playing out were really employee relations matters out in the public arena rather than a breach of the code of ethics.

My question to the minister is: given the relative authorities have said the actions of the ambulance officers are neither a breach of the code of ethics nor a matter for ICAC, does the minister agree with the steps taken by the ambulance chief executive to raise both the code of ethics and ICAC following comments from frontline health workers?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:49): Yet again, I don't agree with the characterisation of an opposition member. In the latter part of her question, she summarises her interpretation of the quote she gives as people saying that there is no issue in relation to a breach of the code of ethics.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The minister is on his feet.

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Leader of the Opposition is out of order.

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The Hon. S.G. WADE: I would just give the Leader of the Opposition more opportunities to mock himself.

The PRESIDENT: The minister should continue.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: I would highlight particularly one example that the chief executive of the Ambulance Service gave that concerns him in terms of public comments. He identified instances last week where ambulance officers were recounting events in relation to their working life that may well have risked identifying a patient. I would remind this parliament that this parliament has enacted the Health Care Act, which puts down stringent responsibilities. It's a breach of the law to breach—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Hunter!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: —patient confidentiality.

The Hon. I.K. Hunter interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: So if honourable members think that breaching—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: —patient confidentiality—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: —is a breach of the law but it's not a breach of the code ethics, I would ask them to think again.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. K.J. Maher: Threatening ambos is breaking the law.

The PRESIDENT: Order! You are wasting the time of your member, who I think would like to ask a supplementary.

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