Victoria's Unhealthy Health System

When it comes to Freedom of Information (FOI), Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) makes the Freemasons look like News of the World.

No matter how innocuous the topic, if you want to access information from this department under FOI laws, expect a fight.

In a state where the top levels of bureaucracy appear to be dominated by megalomaniacal dinosaurs, fearful that any release of information would result in a proletariat revolution and the collapse of the government, DHHS is the worst of the worst.

The subject matter of one of the more notable FOI battles I’ve had in recent years was something very much in the public interest which had been sourced under FOI legislation elsewhere.

It related specifically to de-identified reports of medical errors causing patient deaths in public hospitals.

Not surprisingly, it was refused in full by DHHS.

An appeal was lodged with the FOI Commissioner and more than two years later, a decision finally came through allowing access to two heavily redacted pages that I’m almost certain would have told me nothing, let alone the fact that they were now several years old and most likely no longer newsworthy.

Despite this, the DHHS objected to the decision and applied to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, which alone costs almost $900. Accompanying that are hefty legal costs that would enter into the thousands if not the tens of thousands.

The arguments against release were tenuous. They alleged to be mostly worried that the information would not be forthcoming by hospital staff in future if it could possibly become the subject of public scrutiny by way of a Freedom of Information release.

However, it was later pointed out that for such an incident, reporting is mandatory to which then it was argued that it’s already believed such incidents are significantly underreported in Victoria.

Of course, there’s no proof of this, and no plans to do an audit to find out.

Then there was talk that if there was even a hint of which health district the incident occurred, any number of the parties could have been identified, or worse, the wrong person could be suspected of being involved. What I could glean from the clandestine conversations of those privileged few who were privy to the material was the location of the incident was a large regional area, probably a city.

Because of this, there were fears that maybe gossip about it had been shared and that these documents would prompt further discussion so that the event where a medical error had occurred would become not just gossip, but fact.

The discussion was so farcical, that it reminded me of a Yes Minister episode. But by the end of it, one thing was clear, the judge presiding over the matter preferred to not have to make a decision and if she did have to, then it would most likely be conservative in nature.

Without doubt, the best outcome for me was mutual agreement by consent, which meant that anything worthwhile would be redacted already.

I didn’t bother to argue because the only reason my curiosity was still triggered at all was what on earth were in the documents that they would go to so much effort and cost to withhold.

VCAT is notoriously conservative and even on the few occasions where matters on FOI do go in an applicant’s favour, it doesn’t mean a precedent is set. In fact, from my experience I can say, that every single subsequent one, regardless of decisions on the same information in the past, will be tested again.

Twice I’ve had to go to external review before the DHHS would even process an application relating to something as routine (at least in the world of FOI) as the cost to taxpayers to repair public housing that had been trashed by tenants along with examples of the worst cases.

And even then, what’s promised isn’t delivered.

This blog is the second of numerous blogs I plan to publish about Australia’s Secret State and the costly and relentless measures government agencies take to withhold information from Victorians.

While the tired, selfish and wasteful practices of senior bureaucrats and ministers wanting to maintain their stranglehold on information belonging to the public, won’t necessarily change as a result, those wanting to access information under FOI in Victoria, will at least know what they’re up for.

A link to my previous blog is HERE

If you’d like to share your experience with me, please don’t hesitate to email me on asandy@seven.com.au

Alison Sandy is the Seven Network’s FOI Editor