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Thoroughly buried were the crucial concerns raised by the Ombudsman, regarding the untrue claims in Ms Mason's

letter, dated 25 May 1998, and Mr Brady's verdict

that Ms Mason had not made those claims.

Unfortunately, Ms Simpson was unable to test the cover-up:

On 13 February I wrote again to Ms Simpson:


“ Because my local MP is completely unwilling to represent me and pursue the secrecy surrounding the Ombudsman’s list of concerns, and Mr McArdle has decisively refused to enter into any dialogue regarding the Health Minister’s investigation, I would be most grateful if you would assist by using your position to follow-up with the Health Minister, his resolution to refuse to remark on...the concerns specifically raised with his Department by the Ombudsman…”


Ms Simpson did not respond.


On 23 February 2009 I sought the assistance of an independent MP, Mr R Messenger:


“…please follow up on an investigation which, in April 2008, the Health Minister, Mr S Robertson, notified me he had appointed his Department to carry out, on my behalf, into why the Director-General’s office refused...an explanation as to why his office ignored 26 items of concern raised on my behalf by the QLD Ombudsman…My request for you to discover the status of that investigation is made to you because my request, directly to the Health Minister, has been ignored...as has my request to the Shadow health Minister, Mr M McArdle..."


Mr Messenger did not respond.


A new Attorney-General and Minister for Health are appointed by the premier.


On 26 March 2009, after a Cabinet reshuffle by Ms Anna Bligh, the Queensland Premier, Mr Paul Lucas, the Deputy Premier, was allocated the additional position of the Queensland Minister for Health.


Mr Cameron Dick was appointed the new Attorney-General.



On 16 June I sought the assistance of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health:

I also raised my concerns with the newly appointed Attorney-General:

Mr Watt, the Parliamentary Secretary for the Minister for Health responded:

The Minister for Health did not respond to Mr Watts referral.



Five weeks later, on 18 August 2009, I wrote again to Mr Watt:


“…I wish to advise that your referral of my concerns to the Minister for Health, the Hon P Lucas, has not been responded to and request you use your powers to compel Queensland Health to be transparent and disclose whatever evidence they have to show how and when they responded to 26 items of concern raised by the Ombudsman…I would appreciate your candid advice on who, or which body the Government established since the recommendations of the Bundaberg Royal Commission, specifically for whistle blowers.”



Almost three months had passed without word from Mr Lucas, Mr Dick or Mr Watt when Mrs Pratt, an Independent Member of Parliament, kindly agreed to table a Parliamentary Question on Notice to Mr Lucas, the Minister for Health:

I sent a shortened version of the Question I hoped would compel the Minister for Health to finally acknowledge the existence of the Ombudsman's "Extract of Complaint".



The Attorney-General finally responded:  

Without acknowledging my concerns regarding Queensland Health's dismissal of the Ombudsman's concerns, the Attorney-General revealed the inadequacies of the investigative powers provided by Parliament to the overseer of the Ombudsman, which fully protects the Ombudsman from any accountability for protecting Queensland Health from addressing any one of the 26 items of concern, raised in his “Extract of Complaint”.



I was still waiting for Mr Paul Lucas, the Minister for Health Deputy Premier, to respond to Mr Watts referral of my letter dated 16 June and did not feel confident he would respond to Mr Dick's referral.



I was extremely disappointed with the referral when I asked Attorney-General for further guidance: 

Mrs Pratt advised she had forwarded my Parliamentary Question On Notice directly to Mr Paul Lucas, in his capacity of Minister for Health:

The attached letter requested:

I wrote again to Mr Watt regarding his referral of my correspondence to Mr Paul Lucas on 16 June:

On 19 October I followed the advice of the Attorney-General to make general inquiries of the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee's functions regarding the overseeing of the integrity of CMC investigations.



I then received a response from the office of Mr Paul Lucas, the Minister for Health, in his capacity of Deputy Premier:

Unbeknownst to me Mrs Pratt had put forward my Question on Notice to Mr Paul Lucas on 28 October:

The answer was wrong, Dr Youngman had not acknowledged the'Extract of Complaint' or addressed any one of the 26 items of concerns listed by the Ombudsman.



I received a response to my inquiries made with the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee:

I again asked my local representative to represent me and put forward similar Questions to those previously asked of Mr Lucas by Mrs Pratt, which had remained unanswered:

I sought general information regarding the powers of the Premier in the capacity of overseer of the Public Service Commission:

On 4 November Mrs Pratt received a receipt of her letter sent to Mr Paul Lucas on 9 October:

On 13 November 2009, on behalf of the Premier and Minister for Health, Mr P Lucas, the Office of the Premier responded to the referral of my letter in June by Mr C Dick, the Attorney-General:

On 4 December, following her Question on Notice to the Minister for Health, I responded to Mrs Pratt:


“Thank you for tabling my question…and for forwarding his answer…If it is not too much of an imposition and you find the time, please table another question for me so that the essence of 26 items of concern, raised on my behalf with Queensland Health by the Ombudsman, might finally be accounted for by Queensland Health…”



Ms Pratt advised she was unable to table another Question on Notice but had written on my behalf to the Hon P Lucas: 

On 29 December Mrs Pratt forwarded her response from the Minister for Health, including an attached letter:

The attached letter was the same received in October from Mr Lucas, which, because it falsely claimed Dr Youngman had addressed the Ombudsman’s ‘Extract of Complaint, I had forwarded to Mrs Pratt MP, Ms V Darling MP, Mr R Watt MP, and the Attorney-General, Mr C Dick MP; explaining Dr J Youngman had not even acknowledged the existence of the Ombudsman's 'Extract of Complaint', or addressed the listed items of concern.

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