Page 2429 - Week 06 - Thursday, 23 June 2011
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But Katy Gallagher refused to acknowledge in the media that any complaints had been made. And even after that clinical review was tabled, four days after that clinical review was tabled that said categorically complaints were made, Katy Gallagher said on WIN News: “You can’t investigate allegations that don’t exist.” So she was still denying and still trying to suppress any evidence that complaints were made. It is absolutely outrageous.
I think everybody understands that there were problems at the Canberra Hospital, despite Katy Gallagher’s denial, and we had to drag her tooth and nail through that process. There are even allegations that have not been proved that when the people that wrote that clinical review, that produced it, gave it to the government, the version that they got back was so outrageously modified that they threatened to go to the media. That has not been proved, and we will never get to the bottom of that either. But it just goes to show what lengths this government will go to to hide any fact.
We can look even further back to this minister’s behaviour over Calvary. This open and accountable government, this open and accountable minister, that went to the last election saying—and I quote from 7 October 2008, which is 11 days before the election:
Government needs to govern and leaders need to lead. Governments must also put their plans on the table. We have put our plans on the table.
We know that was not true. We know that Katy Gallagher had been seeking a heads of agreement with the Little Company of Mary over very detailed plans to purchase Calvary Hospital—very detailed plans, because we have seen that correspondence. When it comes to that heads of agreement, she was not even up front about that. I will quote from some further evidence. This relates back to a question that was asked by me in the Assembly. I said:
Minister, would you table for the Assembly any document relating to the purchase of Calvary hospital which was released to the electorate prior to the election of 2008 despite the fact that you had a draft heads of agreement that you were trying to have signed with Calvary hospital?
She said in response to that:
Talk about rewriting history! I was not attempting to have rushed through a heads of agreement. Little Company of Mary at the time requested that a heads of agreement be signed so that discussions could continue …
I will say that again: she said in this place on 10 March that Little Company of Mary requested that the heads of agreement be signed. But let us look at the letter that pre-dated the election. I will quote from it. This is Katy Gallagher’s letter that she signed:
In summary, as we embark on the total redevelopment of the system, I find the prospect of retaining the existing separated governance of Calvary Bruce in perpetuity highly problematic. I would like to propose a different arrangement. Should the board be supportive of this proposal, I propose that the Little
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