Mr chairman: Good morning. I welcome Mr Vatskalis, and invite you to introduce the officers accompanying you, and if you wish to make an opening statement on behalf of the Department of Health and Families. Minister vatskalis’ portfolios

ESTIMATES COMMITTEE PROCEEDINGS – 17 JUNE 2010 
government minister in the Northern Territory, at least tried considerably harder than her successors. 
So, I am well aware of the structure of the department; I am well aware of your role, I just wish that 
you were well aware of our role.
 
 
Minister, on ABC radio on 18 February in your chest beating interview, you said, and I quote:
 
 
Obviously there has not been enough leadership in the department.
 
 
David Ashbridge, the former CEO resigned in February. Jenny Scott, the former Executive Director, 
resigned from her position in November. They were both, as of last week, listed on the website, I have 
not checked this week. Neither of them has been replaced. You said you were going to act quickly, 
you were not going to wait for another two or three months, things were going to happen. You have 
not even replaced the key senior bureaucrats in your department. When you were talking about bad 
leadership, were you referring to your own?
 
 
Mr VATSKALIS: Mr Chairman, you probably notice next to me is the Acting Director, and we currently 
have a recruitment process in place to employ the new CEO of the department. So, I think it is fair 
that the new CEO be part of the people who select a number of senior positions in the department, 
rather than actually going out to choose who is going to be the permanent director. But, I have to say, 
I am very happy with Ms Gardiner-Barnes’ performance. She has provided the necessary leadership, 
and we can see that from the way the department is operating.
 
 
We are currently going through a recruitment process and I intend to finalise it soon; then the new 
CEO, whoever he or she may be, will be part of the team that will select the senior positions. On the 
other hand, as you are well aware, I made clear my intention that it might be an idea to separate the 
departments, and I will be considering that view the outcome of the inquiry. I think it is fair to wait for 
the inquiry outcome before we decide who to recruit, because we might have to recruit another 
director of the new department.
 
 
Ms CARNEY: It has been a long time, though. When you talk about leadership in the department, and 
I am sure, clearly, the acting directors or CEO are doing a good job, but you are the minister, you 
have been the minister for some time. The CEO resigned in February, Jenny Scott resigned in 
November; that does seem to be a significantly long period, and there does not seem to be very much 
hope on the horizon. Recruitment has started, but when will it end?
 
 
Mr VATSKALIS: I have been the minister for this department for seven months, including Children’s 
Services. Dr Ashbridge resigned in February, that is about three months ago, and I think we have to 
wait until his position is filled, because of leave provisions and everything else, before we start 
recruiting. We have put a very good team together to select a new CEO, and I think the process is at 
the interview stage, and very soon we will know the recommended person.
 
 
Ms CARNEY: In your interview on 18 February, you said and I quote: ‘How can we actually get 
people to work in such a sensitive area without providing adequate support’. What support have you 
provided to people who work in this sensitive area since you have made those comments?
 
 
Mr VATSKALIS: First of all we provided a leader - a new director, we have also provided training, 
and we have provided tools like the structure - decision making tools, and we have provided people. 
The other thing is extra staff. One of the things we find amazing is we have many professional staff 
supported by a very small number of admin staff who are capable of maintaining an office. I know 
from my own experience, sometimes capable admin staff makes or breaks an office.
 
 
Ms CARNEY: In your interview on 18 February, you said: ‘We will employ child nurses in our 
department now to take with us when we go to assess children. At least a specialist can have a look 
at the child and assess if it is sick or not’. How many child nurses have been employed since you 
made those comments?
 
 

---

ESTIMATES COMMITTEE PROCEEDINGS – 17 JUNE 2010 
Mr VATSKALIS: It is still my intention to do that one. However …
 
 
Ms CARNEY: Another one you will get to!
 
 
Mr VATSKALIS: You hear my interviews - read my interviews, at least - it says we have a broad 
inquiry at the moment, and we should await the recommendations before we act on these kind of 
decisions. It is my intention to have someone in the department who can monitor children’s health, 
however, I will wait for the inquiry to be finalised before we proceed with change.
 
 
Ms CARNEY: When you made those comments on 18 February, you did not know the inquiry was 
going to seek two extensions. You did not know it would be September until the inquiry releases its 
recommendations. Do you think it is good enough to say to the public on radio, you are going to do 
this, you are going to do that, and then not do anything and wait for someone else to tell you how? Is 
that appropriate?
 
 
Mr VATSKALIS: Let us be fair. At the time we believed the inquiry would finish at the end of April. 
There was an extension, Dr Bath and the panel saw me again saying because of the overwhelming 
volume of material they received, and the personal interviews and input, they would need more time 
to evaluate it. I would rather have a good inquiry which considered all evidence, rather than one which 
has to finish because we say it has to finish at that time. 
 
 
I think it is fair to provide the extension - it was provided by the Chief Minister. I am very, very happy 
to wait the extra month or two months to have an inquiry which is comprehensive, and provides good 
recommendations.
 
 
Ms CARNEY: I know the member for Macdonnell has several questions, however I want to finish this 
section before going to another one. In your chest-beating interview on 18 February, you said: 
‘Nothing is going to be fixed unless we have got a department that functions properly’. Minister, the 
system was described by you, and others, as in crisis six months ago. Can you say to this committee 
that the department is functioning properly?
 
 
Mr VATSKALIS: The department functions better than it was functioning before, but I do not think the 
department is at the level we want it to operate. The pressures are enormous - significant pressure 
from out-of-urban centres, significant pressures relating to Indigenous children. We try our best to 
recruit people; we do our best to improve the tools, and to improve the processes. I think the directors 
do a tremendous job, and also because it (inaudible) the department has responded. I would not say 
we are perfect, I would not say we are very, very good; I will say we are doing better than we were 
doing before.
 
 
Ms CARNEY: In a ministerial statement on 24 August 2004, minister Scrymgour said, and I quote: 
‘We will take bold action when required to protect children’. When will that bold action to protect 
children start?
 
 
Mr VATSKALIS: It started when minister Scrymgour was minister, because she was the one who first 
increased the budget, she is the one who first recruited people after the failure of the previous 
government in the 1990s to address the issue of child protection. It is not new; it did not happen from 
2001 onwards; it has been happening for years. 
 
 
It is very easy to ignore what happened in the past. Admittedly you were not a member of the 
previous government. At the same time, you cannot blame our government for mistakes made for 
many, many years where we had to pick up the pieces and fix things.
 
 
Ms CARNEY: In parliament on 14 June 2006, minister Lawrie, another failed minister in this area, 
said: 
 
 

---