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Committee's report

The committee tabled its report on 10 September 2020. The committee noted that it is satisfied the issues identified by the Auditor-General in the reports are being addressed in a structured and timely way by departments.

The committee did not resolve to hold further inquiries into these audit reports and made no recommendations to the Legislative Assembly. 

View:     Report No 41, 56^th Parliament - Annual Report 2019-20
View:     Auditor-General Report 4: 2018-19 – Managing transfers in pharmacy ownership

Overview

Role of the Auditor-General

The role of the Auditor-General is to provide Parliament with independent assurance of public sector accountability and performance. This is achieved through reporting to Parliament on the results of its financial and performance audits.

About the Auditor-General Report

The purpose of the report is to present a summary of the findings of an audit that assessed whether the Department of Health (the department) ensured transfers of pharmacy ownership in Queensland complied with the requirements of the Pharmacy Business Ownership Act 2001

The report recommended that the Department of Health:

• clarifies its role and obligations in the administration of the Pharmacy Business Ownership Act 2001 (the Act) and the skills and resources it needs to fulfil its functions effectively
• re-designs its internal controls so it can effectively administer the Act. This should include:
  • revising the Pharmacy Ownership Business Rules document and the notification checklist to include all relevant information relating to the notification process
  • determining whether decision support tools such as the Monitoring of Drugs of Dependence System (MODDS) database can be modified to better support its notification process or if new tools are required
  • defining checks to detect whether pharmacists have undeclared ownership interests in a pharmacy through a corporation.
• better defines the type of documents pharmacy owners need to provide to support the notification process. This should include:
  • requiring owners to provide documents that allow the department to thoroughly test all ownership requirements of the Act, including circumstances under which ownership of pharmacies can be made not legally binding due to control issues (139I)
  • requesting all relevant documentation at the time of the notification submission, including information to validate an individual’s identity such as date of birth
  • keeping sufficient records to enable process validation.
• implements a process to monitor pharmacies’ ongoing compliance with the Act. This should include establishing a monitoring and compliance program to review pharmacy ownership at regular intervals, for example, conducting random inspections of pharmacies at the department’s discretion.
• develops and implements a risk-based strategy for testing that existing commercial arrangements comply with sections 139B, 139H and 139I of the Act.

The report also recommended that the Health, Communities, Disability Services and Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Committee recommends to the Minister for Health to seek amendments to the Act to enable the department to more effectively manage the pharmacy ownership notification process. This should include defining the legal implication if a commercial arrangement does not meet section 139I of the Act (Certain arrangements about control of pharmacy business void).

Referral to Committee 

Standing Order 194B provides that the Committee of the Legislative Assembly shall as soon as practicable after a report of the Auditor-General is tabled in the Assembly refer that report to the relevant portfolio committee(s) for consideration. 

The committee is responsible under section 94 of the Parliament of Queensland Act 2001 for assessing the integrity, economy, efficiency and effectiveness of government financial management by examining government financial documents and considering reports of the Auditor-General.

The Committee of the Legislative Assembly referred this Auditor-General’s report to the committee on 18 October 2018.