Probe into Bourke Indigenous health service

Declining numbers of Indigenous people rely on the Commonwealth-funded Bourke Aboriginal Corporation Health Service for GP visits.

‘Client numbers have dropped by 30 per cent over four years, so the health of the community is clearly suffering’: Registrar of Indigenous Corporations Selwyn Button.

Aboriginal leaders in northwest NSW suspected fraud when they called in a forensic accountant to examine the region’s government-funded health service for ­Indigenous people.

Declining numbers of Indigenous people rely on the Commonwealth-funded Bourke Aboriginal Corporation Health Service for GP visits and other health needs. The organisation had been troubled for some time but the crisis deepened in April when the Commonwealth Department of Health told the service it was not suitable for funding beyond July 2020. The Commonwealth reached this view due to significant and ongoing governance issues, a reduction in service delivery and a history of noncompliance with the requirements under a grant agreement.

“The Bourke Aboriginal Corporation Health Service (BACHS) has been experiencing significant governance issues since late 2018, and these issues have not resolved despite significant intervention and support by the department and other stakeholders,” a spokesman from the Department of Health said.

The department decided those concerns presented “an unacceptable risk to the quality and continuity of care to clients in the Bourke region”.

The Bourke service is the only organisation funded by the ­Commonwealth’s Indigenous Australians’ Health Program to be rated “an extreme risk”.

“The Department therefore decided the best course of action was to request the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC) to consider placing BACHS under special administration,” the spokesman said.

“This will ensure health services delivered by BACHS for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the region remain in community control, with strong and effective governance.”

The health service has 1350 ­Indigenous clients but the number of people who use it is in decline. In 2019-20, it received $2.8 million in Commonwealth grants.

A profit and loss statement on the website of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission says the health service also received $213,000 in Medicare income in 2019. A grants administrator wrote a remediation plan for the Bourke health service in 2019 but little progress was made, according to a statement from the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations Selwyn Button.

“Client numbers have dropped by 30 per cent over four years, so the health of the community is clearly suffering,” Mr Button said.

Before the appointment of special administrator Peter McQuoid on December 15, the health service’s locally elected board of management acted on concerns of its own to appoint a forensic accountant. Mr McQuoid said the board, comprised of Indigenous leaders, suspected a fraud had occurred when it appointed accounting firm RMS to examine the books. Though the board stepped down when the special administration began, Mr McQuoid told The Australian RMS would still carry out its investigation and report in January or February.

One former member of the health service’s board told The Australian the board appointed the forensic accountant from RMS because members had unanswered questions about the health service that went back years.

Mr McQuoid, who has experience as a special administrator of Indigenous health services, said he had found nothing to suggest any fraud had occurred. The viability of the service was at stake and his role was to ensure the organisation was able to continue to operate.

“Please know that being placed under special administration in no way implies fraud or wrongdoing by any former directors,” Mr McQuoid wrote in a newsletter.

Mr McQuoid said special administration was a free service from the ORIC that many organisations welcomed. This was because it saved important services and prevented corporations from shutting down.