Analysis: How do you ask intelligent questions about a report you haven’t seen?

The public are owed a bit more candour and transparency than what was on display at today’s government press conference, writes state political editor David Killick.

EVEN by the standards of these troubled times, today’s government press conference was a bizarre exercise.

Ostensibly held to release a report into the North West Regional Hospital, the 60-minute press conference had the outward appearance of accountability.

Only one thing was missing: any sign of the report itself.

It slipped onto the health department’s website but the press conference started and finished before journalists had an opportunity to read any of its contents.

Premier Peter Gutwein with Health Minister Sarah Courtney at the daily update. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

Premier Peter Gutwein spoke about the Ruby Princess, and people going to work with the sniffles – but urged people not to lay blame.

Health Minister Sarah Courtney praised health workers to the heavens – and urged people not to lay blame.

Ms Courtney said she accepted the recommendations of the report without actually revealing what they were. Some, we were told, have already been implemented.

The Premier, the Minister and the Health Department Secretary did a deft dance around the central issues.

It was a full 30 minutes before Director of Public Health Mark Veitch revealed transmission was most likely from a patient to staff and then among staff who continued to work despite symptoms.

It was 35 minutes into the press conference before some sense of recommendations were revealed. And what was explained sounded like a series of fundamental failures being hidden behind a wall of jargon and passive language: deficiencies of culture and behaviour, or “presenteeism” within the health service during a deadly epidemic.

Director of Public Health Mark Veitch. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

With a sitting of parliament looming, it seemed as though those present were deliberately running down the clock to avoid questions – not that informed inquiry from the reporters present was a remote possibility. How do you ask intelligent questions about a report you haven’t seen?

Fifty minutes into the press conference, a link to the report was provided. Copies of the report were sitting on a chair outside.

The government is asking a lot of the community during this crisis. It has been granted sweeping powers, unprecedented in peacetime to deal with the pandemic.

In return, the public are owed a bit more candour and transparency than was on display today.