Question Without Notice No. 666 asked in the Legislative Council on 11 October 2017 by Hon Nick Goiran
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
666. Hon NICK GOIRAN to the parliamentary secretary representing the Minister for Health:
I refer to the tabling on 10 October 2017 of the minister's notice under section 82 of the Financial Management Act 2006.
(1) Is the minister aware that such notice was required to be laid before each house of Parliament within 14 days after making the decision not to provide information to Parliament on 15 June 2017?
(2) Why was the notice not tabled by 29 June 2017 as required?
(3) What correspondence has been exchanged between the minister and the Office of the Auditor General about the minister's decision to deny information to Parliament on 15 June 2017?
(4) Further to (3), will the minister table a copy of that correspondence; and, if so, when?
(5) Why has an apology not been given to the house?
(6) What steps has the minister implemented to ensure that this breach will not occur again?
Hon ALANNA CLOHESY replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question.
(1) No. Parliament was notified on 15 June 2017 in the Legislative Council via question on notice 5 that —
(9) (a) The confidential report 'Notification of induced abortions, 2014/15, Gestation 20 weeks or more' was provided by the Executive Director Public Health to the Minister for Health in August 2016, and a revised version was provided in November 2016.
(b) The report is confidential, contains medical information on 'Reason for Abortion', and will therefore not be tabled.
(2) Notification by the Auditor General of this requirement occurred on 6 July 2017. We responded to the Auditor General on 31 July 2017. The Auditor General then requested further information. The correspondence containing this information was approved and signed on 22 September 2017. This notice was tabled on the first available sitting of Parliament.
(3)–(4) I table the attached correspondence.
[See paper 740.]
(5) Not applicable.
(6) Not applicable. Under section 24 of the Auditor General Act 2006, we await the decision of the Auditor General. The outcome of this decision will be tabled in Parliament.