Health Minister Yvette D’Ath hits back at ABC report
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath is considering her legal options after the ABC published a story she described as being ‘based solely on smear and innuendo’.
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Health Minister Yvette D’Ath is “considering her options” on legal action against the national broadcaster after the ABC published a news article she described as being “based solely on smear and innuendo”.
The ABC news story, published online on Wednesday, was also rebuked by the Health Department’s Director-General Shaun Drummond for making “false” suggestions around the appropriateness “of the selection of a site of a Covid-19 vaccination clinic”.
The article highlighted Ms D’Ath’s close friendship with Redcliffe businesswoman Marlene Newcombe, including how one of Ms Newcombe’s companies leased space to Queensland Health to run a vaccination clinic.
It also pointed out Ms D’Ath had received a gift from Ms Newcombe of “temporary use of storage space”, which was declared in the minister’s register of interests.
The Courier-Mail does not suggest any wrongdoing by the health minister.
Ms D’Ath said the article was “based solely on smear and innuendo” and was “without a shred of evidence”.
She said it was “highly defamatory” and called on ABC management to retract the article.
“(The journalist) alleges a conflict of interest, there is no conflict,” Ms D’Ath said.
A spokesman for Ms D’Ath confirmed she was “considering her options” when asked if the minister would be launching defamation action.
But the ABC has stood by the accuracy of the story, with a spokeswoman saying Ms D’Ath had been given “opportunities to respond and her responses are included in the story”.
“She has not answered all of the ABC’s questions,” the spokeswoman said.
Mr Drummond, in a statement, said any “suggestion or imputation that appropriate procurement processes were not followed is false”.
“These are operational decisions, made by officers of the Department of Health and Hospital and Health Services. There was no involvement by the Office of the Minister for Health and Ambulances Services, or by the Minister personally,” he said.
Facing scrutiny in parliament, Ms D’Ath also confirmed she did disclose her friendship with the businesswoman to her director-general.
She said she disclosed the relationship after the site owned by the business had been picked by Queensland Health.
“I couldn’t have done it beforehand because I had no involvement in the actual choosing of the site or the negotiations that was done at HHS level until it had actually occurred,” Ms D’Ath said.
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