E&OE…
Topics: My Health Record
JON FAINE:
Greg Hunt is a Liberal minister in the Scott Morrison government. He’s the federal Minister for Health. He’s also going for his regular fundraising walk through his electorate but has to at the same time juggle his ministerial responsibilities. Greg Hunt, good morning to you.
GREG HUNT:
Good morning Jon.
JON FAINE:
The eHealth website, the opportunity people took to try and opt out yesterday triggered a crash on the website. Why did that happen?
GREG HUNT:
Well there was a telecommunications error and the agency has worked to have that fixed. Agency’s taken responsibility. Ultimately I’m the minister responsible so I take responsibility for that.
Essentially they had a breakdown in the telecommunications provider, not within the website itself, but that’s what happened and it’s already been repaired and it’s operating well. And again the records on the website in terms of the actual functions were unaffected. But there were delays in getting on.
JON FAINE:
What, nothing to see here, move along, everything’s okay again?
GREG HUNT:
No, no, I’ve actually said there were delays in getting on and there was a breakdown at the telecommunications level, not with the system per se, but that’s something that we have to manage and we take responsibility for that.
JON FAINE:
So you’re prepared to extend the deadline? The Labor Party were trying to get an extension on the deadline in the Senate yesterday and failed but you’ve voluntarily offered up the same thing. So effectively is everyone agreeing the system wasn’t ready?
GREG HUNT:
No, it’s not that actually.
What the Labor Party tried to do was delay the system by a year knowing that that couldn’t be accepted by the Government.
What that would have done is meant that the privacy protections which are being expanded and the criminal sanctions which are being doubled for any breach of the system wouldn’t have been able to pass the House of Representatives.
Instead the Senate crossbench joined with us and defeated what was a pretty shameless naked attempt by the Labor Party to disrupt the system and agreed with us and we work together for an extension until 31 January before records are created.
But a very important point is that people can opt in or opt out of the My Health Record at any time in their lives, so that’s not a barrier one way or another.
JON FAINE:
No, but the records that accumulated while you’re part of it will be there, will they not? They don’t vanish?
GREG HUNT:
No, as a result of legislation before the Senate. In any event any person can already cancel their record at any time.
What this means is there won’t even be a backup of that which is available. So there’ll be a permanent volition which means that if you cancel your record, if you permanently delete it- but the important thing of course here is why does Australia have a system which already has six million people and for the first time mean that all Australians will have access to their own medical record in history and that’s ultimately to save lives and protect lives and 200,000 Australians.
JON FAINE:
Time is tight, Minister. Are you embarrassed by the disclosures in the Fairfax newspapers this morning that one of your key advisors and chair of the agency responsible for the My Health Record rollout has privately had a business relationship with Serco and the Digital Health Agency the chairman has a clear conflict of interest according to these newspaper reports.
GREG HUNT:
Well it’s a very curious report because in fact what they have done is publish the Register of Interests. So in other words the person in question complied and had their engagement on the Register of Interests and the implication if you read it is that they haven’t disclosed it. In fact it’s completely the opposite. The Register of Interests.
JON FAINE:
No, he’s declared an interest but isn’t it a conflict of interest. Effectively you’ve got chairing the board someone who has a commercial interest in the outcome of the deliberations of that board.
GREG HUNT:
No, there’s no commercial relationship between that company and the Digital Health Agency. So not only was it declared, there’s no commercial relationship between that company and the Digital Health Agency.
JON FAINE:
So, you’ve got someone here who is chairing the board of the Australian Digital Health Agency and is also advising Serco which gets government contracts.
GREG HUNT:
He doesn’t have any relationship with the Digital Health Agency.
JON FAINE:
Not that one with the ADHA, but it does with other government agencies and departments all over the place. They’ve got their finger in a whole lot of pies.
GREG HUNT:
I think what you would want is somebody to declare on the Register of Interests anything and if there’s any conflict which is if the agency they’re involved with has any dealings with the firm they’re involved with but there is no relationship and in any event even though there’s no relationship they’ve still gone ahead and declared it on the register.
The article presents it as if there’s a contract and as if there’s no register. That’s the clear implication. And I’m a little surprised at that fact but that’s up to each individual journalist. But it couldn’t be clearer if it’s on the register and there’s no commercial relationship, I think that certainly covered it.
JON FAINE:
Thank you for your time on all of those issues this morning and good luck on the fundraising walk through the electorate along the Phillip Island and coastal regions where Greg Hunt is the Member of Federal Parliament, he’s the Minister for Health in the Scott Morrison federal government.