The Weatherill Government’s wrongful suspension and dismissal of former Director of the Cardiac and Thoracic Surgical Unit of Flinders Medical Centre, Professor John Knight, will cost taxpayers more than $6 million. The Supreme Court was told this morning the Weatherill Government had agreed to pay Professor Knight $4.34 million to settle a legal claim he…
DetailsShadow Health Minister Rob Lucas today condemned Minister Snelling and former Minister John Hill for refusing to apologise to Professor John Knight in Parliament this afternoon. “It is a disgrace that neither man had the courage to stand up in Parliament and admit the mistakes made by the Labor Government, and apologise to Professor Knight,”…
DetailsShadow Health Minister Rob Lucas yesterday in Parliament condemned the Weatherill Government for the poor treatment of a 78-year-old woman waiting for major surgery. On Monday morning at 7:00am the woman from the western suburbs arrived at the admissions office of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for a scheduled major operation to remove her right side…
DetailsThe Weatherill Government is wasting millions of dollars on expensive health consultancies at a time when cuts are being implemented in critical health programs. “Minister Snelling has just announced yet another review by consultants into the efficiency of the Women’s and Children’s Hospital,” Shadow Minister for Health Rob Lucas said. “The Weatherill Government has already…
DetailsSouth Australian aged care providers have ‘run into a brick wall’ with their protest to WorkCover and the state government about massive increases in WorkCover premiums, Shadow Finance Minister Rob Lucas said today. Lawyers acting on behalf of Aged & Community Services SA & NT Inc and Leading Age Services Australia-SA Inc lodged an appeal…
DetailsShadow Finance Minister Rob Lucas today accused WorkCover and Treasurer Snelling of breaching government guidelines by refusing to make former WorkCover Chief Executive Rob Thomson’s contract available for inspection. “Since September last year the Liberal Party has been trying to inspect Mr Thomson’s contract under government guidelines issued by DPC – Circular PC027 – Disclosure…
DetailsShadow Minister for Finance Rob Lucas said following the release of the list of Cabinet documents for the Labor Government’s first year in 2002 he would lodge 221 separate requests for documents today. Now the wait for the actual release of Labor Government documents begins! Given the Labor Government’s past performance under Freedom of Information…
DetailsShadow Minister for Finance Rob Lucas today called on Premier Weatherill to ensure his Department meets the guidelines for the timely release of Cabinet documents. From today, Cabinet documents from the first year of the Rann Labor Government (2002) are meant to be available for the first time after a process of application. Under the…
DetailsSenior public servants who receive benefits worth hundreds of dollars from companies doing business with their departments should face greater transparency and accountability, Shadow Finance Minister Rob Lucas said today. Mr Lucas said information compiled from two years of FOI requests revealed some CEOs received benefits up to the value of $500, such as free…
DetailsThe Weatherill Government has maintained its ‘secret state’ mentality this year by continuing to increase the number of parliamentary questions it refuses to answer as well as now taking up to 2½ years to provide responses which don’t even address the questions. For example, in June 2010 Minister Gago was asked how many frequent flyer…
DetailsThe performance of Funds SA is being investigated by the Legislative Council’s Statutory Authorities Review Committee. Funds SA is the SA Government owned corporation which invests more than $18 billion on behalf of South Australia’s public superannuation funds and approved public authorities such as the Motor Accident Commission. “Given the massive increase under a Labor…
DetailsSmall manufacturing businesses have missed out on $694,000 in funding because of bureaucratic delays in establishing a grants program. DMITRE executives confirmed to the Legislative Council Budget and Finance Committee on Monday that $694,000 of a budgeted $1 million in 2010/11 to assist local manufacturing businesses to improve their competitiveness was unspent that year. “Whilst…
DetailsA two year parliamentary inquiry by Labor, Liberal and Independent MPs has unanimously concluded WorkCover is the worst performing workers compensation scheme in Australia. The Joint Parliamentary Committee on Occupational Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation inquiry, which commenced in July 2010, tabled its final report in Parliament last week. Shadow Industrial Relations Minister Rob Lucas said…
DetailsHealth Minister John Hill has been embarrassed by SA Health Chief Executive David Swan’s revelation job cuts were actually much greater than indicated by Mr Hill. In evidence to the Budget and Finance Committee today, Mr Swan revealed budget cuts meant there would be 1,200 FTE job cuts this year, in addition to hundreds more…
DetailsShadow Minister for Finance Rob Lucas today accused Minister Snelling and WorkCover of suppressing information on the reasons for the sudden resignation of former WorkCover Chief Executive Officer Rob Thomson, and details of his termination payout “On 18 September WorkCover announced Mr Thomson had resigned immediately for ‘personal reasons’ after serving just over two years…
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