EDITORIAL: Integrity critical, but sadly missing in strategic data release

In his landmark review of Queensland’s public service, Professor Peter Coaldrake detailed a concerning culture of “overreach” and “increasing influence”. And that’s exactly what we see in the Health Minister’s data release, writes the editor.

Integrity in government is not an adornment to the system, but essential to it. So wrote Peter Coaldrake, the man chosen by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk earlier this year to lead a review into the culture and accountability of Queensland’s public sector.

But what is “integrity”, according to Professor Coaldrake? Well, he explained in his final report in June that: “The purpose of an integrity system in government is to ensure its agents – ministers, their staff, the public service and boards and staff of other government-owned bodies – work fairly, honestly, openly and accountably in their interests of the public they serve, and not for the benefit of themselves or their interests.” Prof Coaldrake revealed that “examples frequently cited in representations to this review” included “concerns about the overreach of some ministerial staff”.

That is, the insiders who lined up to express their concerns about the way the business of government is being conducted in Queensland “frequently” complained about ministerial staff – people paid to make their politician bosses look good – having too much say over the way the supposedly independent public service does its job.

He warned of instances where public servants had felt pressured by ministerial staff to act in a way that best suited the government’s political agenda, rather than in the best interests of Queenslanders.

Health Minister Yvette D'Ath.

And so come the revelations today in documents released to the Opposition – under Right to Information laws – that staff in Health Minister Yvette D’Ath’s office in May told the department when to release significant public health data – and their direction was to do so when it was least likely to cause public embarrassment to their politician boss.

The documents show the quarterly data had been ready for release by the department on Friday May 20, but it was not until the following Thursday that the minister’s office wanted it published – 15 minutes prior to Question Time on the last parliamentary sitting day before a four-week adjournment leading into the State Budget.

Had the release happened when the data was ready, the Opposition would have had three full sitting days to grill the Minister. As it was, they were to have 15 minutes notice before their last chance to do so for a month – and even then the release would have come when MPs were already in the chamber. It stinks.

Professor Peter Coaldrake.

And what stinks even more is that the documents also reveal that when the data was mistakenly uploaded a few hours early, the public servants responsible were later told off – it being “reiterated” to them that “in future we need to follow the instructions as provided by the (Minister’s office).”

Yet despite this clear evidence, Minister D’Ath is still sticking to the line – now-exposed as being a fair way from the truth – that quarterly health performance data is always published “as it becomes available”.

These documents reveal that the issues Prof Coaldrake warned about in his landmark review are not the imagination of some disgruntled former staffers, but instead the standard way things were done by the Palaszczuk Government.

As the Premier prepares to this week reveal her legislative response to the recommendations for reform made by Prof Coaldrake we can only hope that things have changed since he exposed it. Sadly, being realists, we seriously doubt anything yet has.