Tuesday, 15 October 2019

 Ms CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:27): My question is to the Minister for Health. Minister, on Thursday, 3 October, 96 charges against I Cook Foods were dropped. As you are aware, in February the business was shut down by health officials who claimed it was linked to a listeria-related death. In May of this year Victoria’s chief health officer, Dr Brett Sutton, said that the investigation identified, and I quote:

… some failures of process and some failures of the state of the kitchen.

As all 96 charges have now been dismissed, has an internal investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services been undertaken, given this monumental failure of your department’s processes, which shut down a legitimate business, costing them $26 million and the loss of 41 jobs? A yes or no will suffice.

 Ms MIKAKOS (Northern Metropolitan—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services) (12:28): Well, in fact, if the member was aware of the statement that my department issued after that action was taken by Dandenong council, the department made very clear that it stands by the action that it took in protecting vulnerable Victorians. Let us not forget that the investigation followed the death of an 86-year-old woman from listeriosis and there was in fact evidence that the source of the listeria was linked to this food manufacturer. I am advised that the testing of the food samples produced by the premises at I Cook Foods was positive for not one but four strains of listeria. I am advised that the deceased patient’s sample contained a strain of listeria monocytogenes highly genetically related to that found on the premises of I Cook Foods.

The chief health officer acted quickly by issuing a closure order under the Food Act 1984, which was served on the food manufacturer in the early hours of 22 February. The aim of this order was to stop any further production of food and to prevent potentially contaminated food products from being distributed to vulnerable Victorians in hospitals, in aged-care facilities and via Meals on Wheels services. My department has worked very closely with I Cook to ensure proper safety measures were in place before the order was lifted, and there have been no further human cases of listeriosis linked to this investigation.

So the department makes no apology for taking the action that it took to keep patients and vulnerable Victorians safe from the threat of deadly infectious diseases, as you would expect. That is the role of the department—to ensure that vulnerable Victorians can be protected under the powers of the Food Act and that the chief health officer can act accordingly. Vulnerable Victorians who are served food in our hospitals and in our aged-care facilities need to be protected.

So the council is able to make its decision as to whether it wants to proceed with a prosecution, quite independently, as you would expect, of the department. That is a decision for them. But there has been some, as I understand it, discussion by the food manufacturer about taking this matter further. That is a matter for them. But the clear advice that I have got is that there were in fact clear links from the deceased patient’s sample to the food premises.

 Ms CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:30): Well, from that answer, which she did not answer, I take it that there is no internal review.

Ms Mikakos interjected.

Ms CROZIER: No, you did not say. The question I asked was—

Ms Mikakos interjected.

Ms CROZIER: President, if I could ask my supplementary without the minister interrupting me—

Ms Mikakos interjected.

The PRESIDENT: Order!

Ms CROZIER: Thank you, President. Again, as I said, the minister failed to answer whether an internal review is taking place. So I ask the minister: given there are claims that health officials planted evidence which led to the closure of the business, why hasn’t the department and your government taken on the responsibility of fixing this injustice and ordering an immediate review?

 Ms MIKAKOS (Northern Metropolitan—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services) (12:31): I make it very clear that there has been absolutely no suggestion that anyone from my department has planted evidence. I categorically reject the implication that you have made in that supplementary question, because that is the inference you have just made in your supplementary question.

Ms Crozier: On a point of order, President, the minister is verballing me. I did not say ‘from her department’; I said ‘health officials’. Could she please correct the record. And I would ask again could she come back to answering the question.

The PRESIDENT: There is no point of order.

Ms MIKAKOS: What we have got here is the member quite deliberately seeking to cast aspersions. I absolutely reject that there is any link or any suggestion whatsoever that anyone from my department was involved in planting evidence or fabricating evidence. In fact, as I have already explained in response to the substantive question, the advice that I have is that the department’s evidence was gathered independently of that of the council. It is up to the council what they have decided to do in terms of the prosecution. If people want to complain about the council’s conduct, then they are entitled to put those complaints— (Time expired)