Changes to the structure of Healthway, sparked by a major benefits scandal affecting the WA Government health promotion agency, have been ratified by State Parliament.
Despite concerns the changes to Healthway’s structure would erode the agency’s independence, the Government’s bill passed the Legislative Council along party lines last night.
The changes were first sparked by a damning Public Sector Commission report last year, which found Healthway board members had excessively used event tickets for private purposes without adequate oversight.
The report examined tickets derived through sponsorship arrangements with a range of sporting teams and found less than half were used for a legitimate business purpose.
The Government proposed a major restructure of the agency in the aftermath of that scandal, with Health Minister Kim Hames saying he wanted Healthway to focus on grassroots campaigns rather than sponsoring sporting events.
The legislation passed by State Parliament last night reduces the number of board members, makes the Health Minister responsible for selecting them and will see the agency structured in a similar way to Lotterywest.
The Government said the Minister would have the power to direct Healthway with respect to its functions and powers, either broadly or on a particular matter.
But in introducing the legislation to Parliament last year, Dr Hames said the minister would not be able to give directions to Healthway relating to the provision of funds or grants.
Greens, Labor vote against changes
Despite that, Labor and the Greens voted against the bill amid concerns it would remove Healthway’s independence and politicise the grants process.
“The independence of the new foundation is significantly less than that of Healthway,” Labor’s Upper House leader Sue Ellery told Parliament.
“The minister can appoint members to the board by virtue of the minister’s own opinion about their knowledge and experience … there is no transparency.”
But the Government has constantly denied the agency’s independence would be lost, arguing the changes were needed to restore public confidence in it.
In addition to the ticketing scandal, the agency attracted controversy in 2014 when WA Opera announced it would not perform Carmen following the inking of a sponsorship with Healthway, because the story features smoking.
That drew an angry response from Premier Colin Barnett at the time, who said the situation was “highly embarrassing” and “arts censorship”.