Ganesh Sahathevan

 by Ganesh Sahathevan  The following excerpt is from the  Sydney Local Health District 2019-2020 Annual Report:  Special Hotel Accomodation is better known as NSW hotel quarantine. The Berejiklian Government  commenced hotel quarantine on 29 March 2020; the financial year end is 30 June. In July 2020, the government started charging those it ordered into quarantine a fee.  It is not clear whether SLHD received additional SHA funding in the 20-21 financial year; financial statements for the period have not yet been published.  However, the imposition of quarantine fees by the NSW Government, which are invoiced by the SLHD for the provision of health services, does look like a case of double dipping, given the quantum of the stimulus budget payment.  Readers will recall that NSW Minister for Finance Damien Tudehope considers the fee partial recovery of costs.   However,  management of that fee by Revenue NSW and the manner in which collection is being enforced gives the impression that

 by Ganesh Sahathevan                                                                   Premier Dominic Perrotet, the former Treasurer As  previously reported on this blog: On 21 February 2021 the SMH quoting  NSW Minister For Finance and Small Business Damien Tudehope reported;  NSW Finance Minister Damien Tudehope said  your invoice for hotel quarantine includes  a contribution towards security, testing, cleaning, police, health personnel and other expenses . It has also been reported  here that   Tudehope is relying  on the  Health Services Act (HSA) to recover costs that fall outside the Act .   Invoices for the costs associated with the  quarantine program are issued by the Sydney Local Health District.That creates accounting problems at the SLHD, and NSW Health (see story below).  The revelation that the HSA is being relied on to charge and recover the costs of quarantine compounds those problems for SLHD and NSW Health would have issued invoices for costs incurred by other NSW g

 by Ganesh Sahathevan                                    Tough talking Damien Tudehope may not have the power to impose the                                   bulk of his quarantine fee, if any On 21 February 2021 the SMH quoting  NSW Minister For Finance and Small Business Damien Tudehope reported: NSW Finance Minister Damien Tudehope said hotel quarantine was a key safeguard in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and Australians returning from overseas or interstate needed to contribute to the cost. "When it comes to paying your invoice for hotel quarantine, the message is a simple one - payment of your fee is not optional," Mr Tudehope said. "Don't ignore it. If you are facing hardship or difficulty paying, contact us about making payment, entering into a payment plan, an extension to pay or other hardship measures." Mr Tudehope said the b ill was not just for the accommodation and food but also a contribution towards security, testing, cleaning, police, health per

 by Ganesh Sahathevan  On 21 February 2021 the SMH quoting  NSW Minister For Finance and Small Business Damien Tudehope reported:  The NSW government has called in debt collectors to chase $16.4 million owed by more than 7000 returning Australians for their stay in mandatory hotel quarantine in Sydney. NSW Finance Minister Damien Tudehope said hotel quarantine was a key safeguard in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and Australians returning from overseas or interstate needed to contribute to the cost. "When it comes to paying your invoice for hotel quarantine, the message is a simple one - payment of your fee is not optional," Mr Tudehope said. "Don't ignore it. If you are facing hardship or difficulty paying, contact us about making payment, entering into a payment plan, an extension to pay or other hardship measures." Mr Tudehope said the b ill was not just for the accommodation and food but also a contribution towards security, testing, cleaning, police, health

 by Ganesh Sahathevan                                       Premier Dominic Perrotet, the former Treasurer The SMH revealed in J une 2021:  The NSW government has attempted to cover up how it artificially inflated the state’s budgets by tens of billions of dollars after it shifted the rail network’s costs onto a corporation that still hasn’t been able to properly operate six years after it was launched The corporation, known as the Transport Asset Holding Entity (TAHE), was part of a plan hatched in 2014 to set up a shell corporation to shift billions of dollars of expenses off the state budget and into a new rail body. NSW Treasury was able to use the corporation, with the approval of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, to inflate the budget to help mask the government slipping into deficit in 2018. Premier Dominic Perrotet  was Treasurer from 2017 to 2021; he succeeded Gladys Berejiklian, who was Transport Minister from 2011 to 2015, and then Treasurer, before she became Premier, un

 by Ganesh Sahathevan                              SLHD CEO Teresa Anderson AM  has ultimate responsibility for signing                               off SLHD's financial statements  The refusal by  Ministers Victor Dominello and Brad Hazzard to provide any clarification of the legislation that they are relying on to collect quarantine fees means that NSW Health & Sydney Local Health District cannot record as revenue anything received from quarantined travellers. The absence of enabling legislation adds to the accounting nightmare SLHD Chief Executive Teresa Andersen must confront, given her responsibility for the preparation of the SLHD's accounts, which must then be tabled in the NSW Parliament.  Even if there is enabling legislation (and there is so far no evidence that there is) the treatment of that cash inflow is problematic given Dominello's treatment of that cash flow as a penalty or fine over which his Revenue NSW has control.  An invoice for a fee that is a pe

 by Ganesh Sahathevan  This writer has been informed in writing by  Minister for Digital Victor Dominello's Revenue NSW officers that anyone wishing to challenge Health Minister Brad Hazzard's  Quarantine Fee Invoice will be issued a statement of claim by Revenue NSW. That turns what has been described as a fee for services provided anyone who is required to be quarantined into a penalty. The invoice issued by Ministers Hazzard and Dominello for quarantine fees has therefore become much like a penalty or fine for speeding or some other traffic infringement. How NSW Health accounts for the above in its own books remains a mystery.  TO BE READ WITH  Hazzard & Dominello's Quarantine Fee caper may have created an accounting & cashflow nightmare for NSW Health, Sydney Local Health District October 01, 2021  by   Ganesh Sahathevan                                                                                                            Brad Hazzard