Former ACT chief minister and ousted senator Katy Gallagher has taken a job with Calvary Hospital, where she could have a role in negotiating the hosptial's funding agreement with the ACT government.
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Ms Gallagher, who was forced out of the Senate when the High Court found she held dual citizenship when elected, began work with the Little Company of Mary on Monday.
Health Minister Meegan Fitzharris confirmed Ms Gallagher's job was in "service design liaison", but was not able to provide a precise description of what that role entailed, saying that was a question for Calvary.
Questions were sent to Ms Gallagher about her employment but she did not respond.
Ms Gallagher wants to return to the Senate at the next election, and is in a preselection battle with Senator David Smith, who took over her seat in a countback when Ms Gallagher was forced out.
Ms Gallagher was also a long-time ACT health minister, in the job for a decade from 2006 until she left the ACT parliament in 2016.
In 2009, the ACT government with Ms Gallagher as health minister tried to buy Calvary hospital for $77 million, but the Little Company of Mary Health Care pulled out of the deal.
Ms Fitzharris confirmed the news of Ms Gallagher's new job under questioning at ACT estimates hearings on Thursday.
Asked by Liberal health spokeswoman Vicki Dunne whether there would be a conflict of interest if Ms Gallagher was put on the negotiating team for the new Calvary funding agreement, Ms Fitzharris said, "That is a matter for Calvary and for Ms Gallagher and I would leave that to them. She is a private citizen and they are a separate organisation and that is really a question for them to consider at this point."
Government spokeswoman Karen Doran said Calvary received $205 million under its funding agreement for 2017-18 and the government was now negotiating the new agreement for 2018-19, with a plan to negotiate a rolling three-year agreement instead of year by year.
A spokeswoman for Little Company of Mary Health Care said Ms Gallagher was engaged as a service development consultant.
"Katy is helping us drive better health outcomes for the people of ACT," she said.
"Calvary is in a unique position as a private not for profit enterprise providing services in a range of settings in the ACT to challenge the service delivery model and improve access to high quality care to the growing population of the ACT.
"Katy, who was born in the ACT, has an extraordinary background in public service and is passionate about making a difference in health care in her home territory and broader."
Ms Gallagher was disqualified from the Senate last month when the High Court found she did not take reasonable steps to renounce her British citizenship before the 2016 election.
She has since announced she will attempt to take back her seat at the next election, but her replacement in the upper house plans to put up a fight.
Ms Gallagher was replaced in the Senate by her former running mate David Smith, who was previously the ACT director of Professionals Australia.
Mr Smith said he planned to hold on to his new seat and would put himself forward for preselection.
