Two men sacked after Queensland Health payroll debacle back on department's books

THE only two people sacked over the Queensland Health payroll debacle have since worked with the department.

payroll

IT'S the punchline to one of the Labor Government's greatest failures - the only two people sacked over the Queensland Health payroll debacle have since worked with the department.

The Courier-Mail can reveal former senior bureaucrats Adrian Shea and Michael Kalimnios have worked as consultants on QH projects in the 12 months since they were made the scapegoats for the payroll problems that have affected thousands of workers.

No one else was sacked over the incident, which will leave one of the greatest stains on this Labor administration and cost taxpayers $219 million to fix.

In an interview with The Courier-Mail, Mr Shea confirmed he had "done a few little jobs" for the department in December and February when he was employed by consultants Thinc Health.

Queensland Health denied earlier this month that Mr Shea had been rehired even after taxpayers had already footed the bill for Thinc Health's work.

It also comes just weeks after it was revealed Mr Kalimnios, a former deputy director-general, was also given consultancy work for Queensland Health.

"I can't see why that would be an issue. I'm not touching anything to do with payroll," Mr Shea, a former QH executive director, said yesterday.

"I have gone and met with Queensland Health people, yeah, but I don't have a desk at Queensland Health," Mr Shea said. "I meet with staff in Queensland Health as anyone would in my business."

How the Health payroll debacle has been reported

Mr Shea would not say how many hours he had worked for Queensland Health, what he did or what he was paid.

But he said two other Thinc consultants were largely leading the project and much of his own work focused on health projects in Western Australia.

In May, Health Minister Geoff Wilson was forced to secure an agreement in writing that Mr Kalimnios would no longer work as a consultant after he too was rehired.

The two men were sacked in June last year, the night before a damning Auditor-General's report into the bungled rollout of the system went public.

It found the payroll system was signed off despite awareness of the extent of its risks.

Mr Wilson yesterday refused to comment, issuing a three-sentence statement which said only that he had made his views clear to Queensland Health in May and neither Mr Shea nor Mr Kalimnios had worked within the department in any capacity since.

But Mr Shea already has more work lined up as a subcontractor with consulting firm Communio, doing data analysis for a QH allied health staffing project.

Queensland Health acting director-general Dr Tony O'Connell last night issued a statement saying Mr Shea was employed by a private sector firm and had not been directly engaged as a consultant or contractor for Queensland Health since he left the department a year ago.

But Opposition health spokesman Mark McArdle said that was a "cover-up" and a poor excuse for accountability.

"It shows clearly the secrecy and the culture of cover-up within Queensland Health to the point that they will make a statement to the public but behind closed doors they'll do what they want to achieve their own goals," he said.

Mr Kalimnios, who was Queensland Health's corporate services deputy director-general, began scoping work in April for a financial management project at the Torres Strait Northern Peninsula Health District as a consultant from the Archeon company.

In an interview with The Courier-Mail in May, Mr Wilson was highly critical of the appointment, describing it as a "wrong decision" by Queensland Health senior management that showed "an insensitivity to staff".