Oakden ICAC report: Liberal and Labor respond to the damning Oakden nursing home report

A SOMBRE Premier Jay Weatherill has apologised and said he is “deeply sorry” for the disgraceful events at Oakden after the damning ICAC report — as Opposition Leader Steven Marshall accused him of running a “protection racket” for his ministers.

• Oakden outrage exposed — but ministers spared
• Analysis: Labor scathed but escape sanctions
• History of the Oakden scandal

A SOMBRE Premier Jay Weatherill has apologised and said he is “deeply sorry” for the disgraceful events at Oakden — as all who lived there, and their families “deserved better”.

“There’s no relief here, it’s just all shame,” he conceded during a press conference responding to Mr Lander’s report.

The corruption watchdog has labelled the scandal as “a disgrace, a shocking indictment and a shameful chapter in SA’s history” in his 456-page report but stopped short of a finding of maladministration against any government minister.

Mr Lander QC singled out senior management staff at Oakden facility and administrative staff in the health system, including those responsible for taking complaints, for findings of maladministration.

There were 13 recommendations for change.

READ OUR FULL COVERAGE OF THE OAKDEN ICAC REPORT

“As the leader of the government I have to accept responsibility for the failings at Oakden,” Mr Weatherill told the media on Wednesday.

He added that ministers responsible for the facility “should have been told” about the extent of problems at Oakden.

Mr Weatherill said he would meet with family members of former Oakden residents later on Wednesday and would not release the government’s formal response to the report until after that meeting.

However, he said the government viewed the report’s recommendations “favourably”.

He could not say how much taxpayer money was spent on legal representation for Ms Vlahos during the ICAC investigation.

Mr Weatherill said Ms Vlahos told him that “she led the process” of instigating the Chief Psychiatrist’s review into Oakden.

“Mr Lander found that she didn’t, and I accept his findings,” he said.

Mr Weatherill stressed that none of the five people found to have committed maladministration were not working at the refurbished Northgate facility where residents were transferred when Oakden closed.

Asked if it was a mistake to believe what Ms Vlahos had told him, Mr Weatherill replied “of course”.

He described Ms Vlahos’ attempts to have her name kept out of the published report as a “completely inappropriate submission”.

While he said the government accepted “full responsibility for the fact that it happened in a state run institution”, Mr Weatherill argued that there were “extraordinary layers of supervision” below ministerial level which should have enabled the extent of problems at Oakden to be raised with a Minister.

“The extent of abuse and neglect at Oakden was never drawn to the attention of a minister. If it had been, they would have acted on it,” he said.

Asked how the report might influence voters’ opinion of the government ahead of the state election, Mr Weatherill said: “What people will be looking at is how we respond”.

“People understand that, sadly, awful things happen from time to time,” he said.

Despite Mr Lander’s renewed request to be able to hold some open hearings, Mr Weatherill said the report “reaffirms my belief that hearings should be dealt with through a public report at the end of the process”.

Premier "deeply sorry" for abuse at Oakden. Patents "deserved better" from workers there. Five found guilty of maladministration all gone. pic.twitter.com/wdHeQKdNYo

— Daniel Wills (@DanWillsTiser) February 28, 2018

Opposition Leader Steven Marshall said the report revealed that Premier Jay Weatherill had “run a protection racket” for his ministers.

Mr Marshall said all South Australians should be outraged by what occurred at Oakden and the contents of Mr Lander’s report.

“Labor has failed our most vulnerable citizens,” he said. “This Government deserves to be sacked on March 17.”

SA Best leader Nick Xenophon labelled Mr Lander’s report a “powerful and shocking indictment of the State Government”.

“There is now no excuse for deep and systemic reforms not to be implemented,” he says in a statement.

He will address the media at 1.30pm.