The ACT Health Directorate has already spent part of a $400,000 payment from Queensland Health linked to a bizarre public service misconduct inquiry in the sunshine state.
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But the territory has agreed to return about $260,000 to the Queensland government that had been set aside for National Mental Health Plan projects.
This week, the Queensland government revealed two senior health bureaucrats had been suspended on full pay while the allegations were referred to the Crime and Misconduct Commission.
The ACT Health Directorate said the money was accepted in good faith from Queensland Health for the national mental health secretariat, which is maintained by the ACT government.
A Health Directorate spokesman said the ACT had agreed to return funds to Queensland that had not already been spent on mental health projects.
An estimated $130,000 had already been used for a scheduled project.
''The ACT Health Directorate set up a special purpose account to ensure all funds within the account were transparently accounted for, and to keep these funds separate from ACT government-funded activities,'' the spokesman said.
''If a jurisdiction provides funding for national mental health activity and the projected activities for which the funds were allocated has not proceeded, the funds are regarded as still belonging to that jurisdiction and are dealt with as that jurisdiction requires.''
The ACT hosts the secretariat for the National Mental Health Standing Committee, which is overseeing the implementation of the fourth National Mental Health Plan.
Money that had already been spent on the projects would not be refunded.
The spokesman said Queensland Health staff had contacted an ACT Health Directorate official earlier this year to discuss the funds.
''The ACT Health Directorate official informed the Queensland Health officials that the funds were held in a special purpose account, the purpose for which they were provided and the status of that activity,'' the spokesman said.
A review had been conducted into the actions of the ACT government.
''The ACT government has undertaken an internal review to make sure ACT government procedures have been followed,'' the spokesman said.
The comments came after Queensland Health director-general Tony O'Connell revealed he had stood down ''two senior Queensland Health officers'' following allegations of official misconduct.
''I take these matters very seriously and have referred this issue to the Crime and Misconduct Commission for thorough investigation,'' he said in the statement.
''The officers in question have been suspended on full pay pending the outcome of the investigations.''
A Queensland Health spokeswoman said the two ''very senior'' officers worked in the Queensland Health corporate office. The spokeswoman said the allegations were reported by a third party in a ''public interest disclosure'' but she was unaware of the person's identity.