Labor's Joy Burch has called for an investigation into the Liberals' promotional material for its Canberra Hospital rebuild, saying the Liberals have used former emergency department clinical director Michael Hall's image and quotes without his permission.
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Ms Burch wrote to Speaker Vicki Dunne on Wednesday night, saying the flyer might breach the code of conduct for Assembly members, which requires them to "recognise the unique position of impartiality" of public servants. She asked Mrs Dunne to refer the matter to Standards Commissioner Ken Crispin for investigation.
"I am advised that Dr Hall was not made aware of, or granted permission for, his image and any comments he may have previously made in relation to the hospital to be used in Liberal political material," Ms Burch wrote.
"The use of his image and previous comments in this way strongly implies that he supports the Liberal Party's policy in relation to the hospital.
"... I am concerned that Mr Hanson's actions have grievously impinged on Dr Hall's rights, as a private citizen and public sector employee, to dignity and privacy.
The flyer quotes Dr Hall as saying in a Canberra Times article last year, "We need to start from scratch and build an emergency department from the ground up. There are still compromises being made." And it quotes him telling the ABC in 2014, "The hospital is seriously under stress."
The same flyer quotes former Labor minister John Hargreaves as saying that after a week at Canberra Hospital he "wondered did I just have a nightmare or was it real".
Dr Hall could not be reached for comment.
Canberra Liberals campaign director Daniel Clode said he had endorsed the flyer, not Mr Hanson, as Ms Burch "falsely alleges".
"It's little surprise that this most incompetent of ex-Labor ministers doesn't know that the Electoral Commissioner has the regulatory overview of electoral endorsements.
"When the government's own senior public servants go to the media to decry Labor's decisions to avoid replacement of a failing facility, then it's strongly in the public interest and fair use to point to these damning comments by health experts," he said.
Mr Clode said he had quoted two other ex-Labor ministers in the flyer to make the case for the Liberal hospital expansion.
"Ms Burch is ineptly clutching at straws in trying to stifle debate," he said.
