2 August 2012

Liberals want all the documents on the health stats rort French holiday

| johnboy
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A bit late to the party, the Canberra Liberals are kicking the can along the road following yesterday’s frankly shocking admissions that the Chief Minister had neglected to mention before that she’d holidayed in the South of France with Kate Jackson (the only named member of what the Auditor-General suspects was a group who doctored 11,700 records to improve the perceived performance of the Canberra Hospital Emergency Department).

The Liberals want to know a whole lot more about who said what to whom:

“Katy Gallagher initially took a week to disclose a conflict of interest claiming a mere personal relationship with a family member. Now it has been revealed that she herself has a personal relationship with the executive and is being deceptive about what she has told the Auditor General,” Mr Hanson said.

“The Canberra Liberals are demanding that Katy Gallagher now be finally open and accountable with Canberrans and provide full disclosure of all documents relating to this deception,” ACT Opposition Leader Zed Seselja said.

“This includes a transcript of the information given to the Auditor General, legal advice received from the Solicitor General and any other advice Katy Gallagher received on this issue.

“A failure to disclose this information will just add another layer of deception to a tangled web of misleads, half truths and omissions stated by Katy Gallagher on this issue,” Mr Seselja concluded.

Myself I’d love to know just how many ACT Health execs are holidaying in the South of France on any given summer.

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Why does anyone think it is even _remotely_ relevant that these two people know each other or spent some holiday time together?

Novel concept: Our politicians funnel some of their obviously pent-up energy and our taxpayer resources into improving the functionality of the health system that is so rooted that someone felt they had to fiddle with the statistics in the first place…

If I was held responsible for the actions of anyone who was a friend my my sisters who I met while I was on holiday, I’d be well and truly f**ked!

Shocking?
I really don’t see what this has to do with the main issue. I mean we already knew they are ‘acquaintances’, so, unless the trip was given as some sort of payment (which seems ludicrous), I couldn’t care less about their respective o/s holidays.
If people have decided in their own kangaroo court that KG was involved with instigating the tampering, do they think the two snuck over to France to secretly discuss rorting the ED system records when, *if* they wanted to discuss it, they could do it here in Cbr??
I just want the ED service improved so people don’t have to think about tweaking numbers….

HiddenDragon12:16 pm 02 Aug 12

However deftly, or otherwise, they may be handling it, the Liberals are correct in maintaining – or at least attempting to – a focus on this issue. I believe there are broader questions of probity and competence involved here which are worthy of public consideration, particularly this close to an election which will determine who governs us for the next four years.

That said, in the just over eleven weeks until election day, I would like to hear more, from all parties, about the ACT’s capacity to fund its health system in coming years. Likewise, with the current Government having agreed to a trial of the National Disability Insurance Scheme in the ACT, and with estimates that a fully implemented NDIS would have an annual cost of $18 billion (suggesting a pro-rata cost of $300-$400 million for the ACT, noting higher wage and related costs here), I would also like to hear from all parties about their position on a Territory contribution to the cost of an NDIS and how that will be funded. Those who support an appreciable increase in current Territory spending on Disability Services should let us know what they have in mind. The NDIS really is a fine idea, and to some in our community it could truly be a godsend, but find ideas such as this have to be paid for.

One does not spend many weeks together in France with someone without having a personal connection. One does not attend someones 40th birthday party without having a personal connection. What on earth is Amanda Bresnan talking about? Of course all of this should have been disclosed immediately. Why not just be up front about this from the beginning? None of this would be happening now if KG had just been up front and transparent. Because she was not up front about her personal connection it now really focusses the Canberra community on the question as to why the Chief Minister and the ACT Greens are not interested in finding out who else was involved in the doctoring of 12,700 patient records over many, many years. The whole thing stinks like a botched cover up to me, and it just keeps getting more and more embarrassing for Katy Gallagher and the Greens. I get the feeling there is still more to come on this whole thing.

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