Report 11: 2019-20

Opinion on Ministerial Notification – Report 11: 2019-20

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Ministerial notice not required

On 23 August 2019, we received notice from the Minister for Health, the Hon Roger Cook MLA, under section 82 of the Financial Management Act 2006 in relation to information the Minister’s office supplied about the visit of Dr James Downar to Western Australia.

Dr Downar is a Canadian physician specialising in palliative care and was invited to meet with the Ministerial Expert Panel on Voluntary Assisted Dying, and brief Members of Parliament.

In Parliament on 9 May 2019, the Hon Nick Goiran MLC, asked the Parliamentary Secretary, the Hon Alanna Clohesy MLC, representing the Minister for Health, Question on Notice 2128:

I refer to the answer to my question without notice on 8 May 2019 in which the Minister requested that I place on notice that part of the question that the Minister says requires substantial data collection and resources, and I ask will the Minister now table all documents received or created by the Minister or his staff about Dr Downar’s visit to Western Australia?

In Parliament on 6 August 2019, the Hon Nick Goiran MLC, again asked the question above to the Parliamentary Secretary representing the Minister for Health.

On 6 August 2019, the Hon Alanna Clohesy MLC, replied:

Yes. [See tabled paper no 2898.]

The Minister tabled correspondence from his office in response to the parliamentary question, redacting information from an email chain that was deemed unrelated to
Dr Downar’s visit, and redacting parts that comprised personal information (i.e. email addresses and phone numbers).

We determined that a notice was not required in this instance, as all information relating to the conduct or operations of an agency had been tabled and the other parts of the requested information, which contained the redacted information, were unrelated to the conduct or operations of an agency.

The Audit Practice Statement on our website (www.audit.wa.gov.au) outlines the circumstances when a notice is unlikely to be required. These include when a Minister has already provided relevant information to Parliament or when the information does not relate to the conduct or operations of an agency.

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