Gallagher steps away from hospital data inquiry

Deputy Chief Minister Andrew Barr will now be responsible for the government's response, which looks likely to include an Auditor-General's inquiry after Ms Gallagher yesterday disclosed an indirect personal connection to the health bureaucrat at the centre of the controversy. The Canberra Liberals immediately accused Ms Gallagher of ''hiding'' her family's relationship with the officer and renewed their calls for an independent inquiry. Ms Gallagher - who on Tuesday said she knew the bureaucrat - said yesterday that Auditor-General Maxine Cooper had been asked to carry out a performance audit on ''data integrity'' at ACT Health and that it would be Dr Cooper who would determine her own terms of reference.

The Chief Minister announced she was standing aside from leading the response to the revelations after seeking legal advice about how to manage the potential of a perceived conflict of interest.

Ms Gallagher said the senior executive, alleged to have doctored emergency department data to make the ED's performance look better, had a personal connection with a member of the Chief Minister's family.

She said she was handing responsibility for the investigation over to Mr Barr after seeking legal advice but offered only scant details of the potential conflict.

''I knew the officer, I knew her in a professional capacity, but she also has a personal connection with a family member of mine,'' the Chief Minister said.

''I've taken some advice on this in the last day or so about how to manage that, and I've come to the conclusion that the best way to go is to hand responsibility for the investigation, the audit, briefing from the department and any analysis to the Deputy Chief Minister.''

Ms Gallagher declined to elaborate on the relationship, saying she did not want to compromise the privacy of the officer at the centre of the storm.

''I can't say very much in terms of not wanting to breach anybody's privacy,'' she said.

Canberra Liberals' health spokesman Jeremy Hanson said the Chief Minster ''hid'' the potential conflict ''for a whole week''.

''This is about as serious as it gets and is a despicable breach of trust between Canberrans and the Chief Minister,'' Mr Hanson said.

''Peddling incorrect statistics was bad enough, but Katy Gallagher has now shown she has no boundaries when it comes to hiding the full facts from Canberrans.''

Mr Hanson renewed his call for an independent investigation into the matter.

But Ms Gallagher said that the Auditor-General, if she decided to investigate, would determine the scope of her investigation. The Chief Minister said that both the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the Commonwealth had declined to become involved with the investigation.

''All of those organisations would prefer to reserve their rights around being involved in a broader data audit,'' she said.

''We've determined that to give the community the assurance they need around data integrity and, to be honest, to give the government the assurance we need, the Auditor-General is the best placed for that to be examined.''

But Dr Cooper told The Canberra Times she had already been considering launching an audit of data integrity at the hospital and that she was aware of the implications for public policy arising from the alleged breaches that had already been identified.

The auditor, whose office is an independent statutory authority that reports to the Legislative Assembly, would not confirm yesterday if her office would agree to investigate.

''We absolutely recognise the serious nature of this issue,'' Dr Cooper said.

''Having recognised that already, we've asked for some information from ACT Health and that will be coming forward to us.

''When we have received that information, we will then determine whether it's appropriate to conduct a performance audit based on the potential benefits to public administration and accountability.''