Latest news with #BolaOyetunji
Sydney Morning Herald
29-05-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Half of NSW's $222 million spend had no ‘tangible output', audit finds
NSW taxpayers spent $222 million on measures to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians but less than half led to tangible outcomes for First Nations people, a damning audit has found. The report, released on Thursday by NSW Auditor-General Bola Oyetunji, found the premier's department had inadequate oversight and a 'passive approach' to monitoring how state funding for Closing the Gap measures were being spent. The 2022 NSW budget included $222 million to deliver programs and initiatives under the Closing the Gap national agreement signed in 2020, to cover four years until 2024. But only 38 per cent of the 142 initiatives funded had a 'tangible output' in the form of grants or direct funding to improve outcomes for Indigenous people. A further 49 per cent delivered reviews or frameworks 'without clarity on how this would contribute to an outcome', the audit found. 'Some individual projects conducted under the National Agreement have established effective partnerships and are beginning to demonstrate positive results,' Oyetunji concluded. 'However … governance arrangements do not provide adequate oversight of delivery.' Loading The auditor-general questioned a $9 million government grant given to the NSW Coalition of Aboriginal Peak Organisations (NSW CAPO) to hire 22 full-time staff across the eight peak bodies it represents. When Oyetunji's office requested an update on the funding, neither the government nor NSW CAPO could say how many of the positions had been filled. NSW CAPO did not respond to specific questions about the grant. Co-chair Charles Lynch welcomed the report's recommendations as 'a chance to strengthen how we work – both internally and in partnership'.
The Age
29-05-2025
- Business
- The Age
Half of NSW's $222 million spend had no ‘tangible output', audit finds
NSW taxpayers spent $222 million on measures to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians but less than half led to tangible outcomes for First Nations people, a damning audit has found. The report, released on Thursday by NSW Auditor-General Bola Oyetunji, found the premier's department had inadequate oversight and a 'passive approach' to monitoring how state funding for Closing the Gap measures were being spent. The 2022 NSW budget included $222 million to deliver programs and initiatives under the Closing the Gap national agreement signed in 2020, to cover four years until 2024. But only 38 per cent of the 142 initiatives funded had a 'tangible output' in the form of grants or direct funding to improve outcomes for Indigenous people. A further 49 per cent delivered reviews or frameworks 'without clarity on how this would contribute to an outcome', the audit found. 'Some individual projects conducted under the National Agreement have established effective partnerships and are beginning to demonstrate positive results,' Oyetunji concluded. 'However … governance arrangements do not provide adequate oversight of delivery.' Loading The auditor-general questioned a $9 million government grant given to the NSW Coalition of Aboriginal Peak Organisations (NSW CAPO) to hire 22 full-time staff across the eight peak bodies it represents. When Oyetunji's office requested an update on the funding, neither the government nor NSW CAPO could say how many of the positions had been filled. NSW CAPO did not respond to specific questions about the grant. Co-chair Charles Lynch welcomed the report's recommendations as 'a chance to strengthen how we work – both internally and in partnership'.
The Guardian
17-04-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Sydney hospital where two children died recently is at risk of failure, scathing report finds
A controversial hospital where two children have recently died is accused of failing to meet healthcare standards and is at risk of failure. In a scathing report from the New South Wales auditor general, the operators of Sydney's Northern Beaches hospital are accused of not taking sufficient actions to stop clinical safety risks. Noting 'concerning results' for some hospital-acquired complications, NSW auditor general Bola Oyetunji said the hospital's public-private partnership created a tension between clinical outcomes and profits. It is the hospital where toddler Joe Massa collapsed and died in September 2024 after a three-hour wait in the emergency department. Newborn baby Harper Atkinson also died after treatment at the same facility, with her mother believing an hour-long wait for surgery contributed to the death. Since the two deaths at Northern Beaches, the premier, Chris Minns, has banned public-private healthcare partnerships and said hospitals should not be driven by profits. The report, tabled on Thursday morning, demands hospital operator Healthscope fix safety and quality, system and reporting issues. The audit was under way prior to the recent children's deaths. It was first suggested in 2023 by the local member for Wakehurst, Michael Regan, with a follow-up request from the federal MP for Mackellar, Dr Sophie Scamps, in April 2024. Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter It also calls on the government to consider if the public-private model at Northern Beaches hospital is the appropriate way forward for healthcare in the region. Healthscope has said it would like to return control of the hospital to public hands, citing the government's banning of the relevant partnership model. The government has set up a taskforce to run the rule over a potential sale, but leaders have repeatedly stated they will not deliver Healthscope a financial windfall. It operates 38 hospitals across the country and remains contracted to operate Northern Beaches hospital until 2038. But financial turmoil at the Canadian-controlled firm has placed its future in doubt. Sign up to Afternoon Update: Election 2025 Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key election campaign stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion On Wednesday, Harper's parents detailed the ordeal of losing their child, with mother Leah Pitman forced to wait for an on-call team to arrive to begin an emergency caesarean section, as reported by the Guardian in March. Pitman told ABC's 7.30 program she was 'incredibly angry' she had been forced to wait, rather than receiving immediate treatment that she felt could have saved her daughter. Northern Beaches hospital does not run a 24-hour theatre on weekend nights, with an on-call team required to attend within 30 minutes to meet legal and ethical guidelines. The health minister, Ryan Park, said the on-call arrangements were not uncommon on weekends, but added that a review into the incident would shed more light on their suitability. 'We want to make sure we deliver the very best health care to people, and, clearly, when we don't do that … people feel let down, and it's our opportunity to have a look at it,' he told Sydney radio 2GB.
