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SA premier to implement Oakden changes

The South Australian government will work to implement all the recommendations of a report into the shameful Oakden nursing home.

2 min read

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Source: AAP


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The South Australian government has pledged to implement all the recommendations from an investigation into Adelaide's scandal-plagued Oakden nursing home and do even more to protect people in state-run facilities..

The government says it accepts all 13 recommendations proposed by Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Bruce Lander which include more spot checks on homes without notice.

But, as his government strives to put the issue behind it during the state election campaign, Premier Jay Weatherill says it will do more to ensure what happened at Oakden can never happen again.

"Having met with the families of Oakden residents yesterday, I feel we need to go further than the recommendations in the report," Mr Weatherill said.

This includes establishing a dedicated investigative unit to look at unresolved allegations against staff, and installing CCTV cameras in common areas of other state-run facilities.

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Mr Lander declared the Oakden affair a "shameful chapter in the state's history".

"Every South Australian should be outraged at the way in which these consumers were treated," he said in his report.

In his reponse, SA-BEST Leader Nick Xenophon called for an increase in the ICAC's powers to allow the commissioner to subpoena cabinet documents.

"It is an absolute disgrace that the government refused Mr Lander's request for cabinet documents in an inquiry involving the starving, neglect and abuse of highly vulnerable elderly South Australians," Mr Xenophon said.

The former senator also wants the legal definition of maladministration widened to prevent ministers from using ignorance of events as a defence.


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