HEALTH Minister Michelle O'Byrne has defended the appointment of her campaign manager to the board of the new Tasmanian Health Organisation for the North.
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A managing partner in Launceston legal firm Rae and Partners, Ross Hart recently expressed interest in running for the vacancy left by retiring state Labor senator Nick Sherry.
He also ran for ALP state president in April.
Yesterday in Parliament, Bass Liberal MHA Michael Ferguson accused Ms O'Byrne of appointing Mr Hart because he had worked on her election campaign.
But Ms O'Byrne said the appointment was recommended by an independent panel that assessed and interviewed 80 applicants for the three regional governing bodies.
"That panel made recommendations to me as minister and to the Treasurer as the other minister responsible and the recommendations went to cabinet,'' she said.
THO governing council chairman Graeme Houghton said any apparent conflicts of interest for board members had ``just got to be managed'', and said he had hoped Mr Hart's appointment would not become a political issue.
``It's useful to some extent to have someone that understands the political process,'' he said.
``We were really trying to get a mix of clinicians (and others).''
Mr Hart declined to comment on the matter, except to say he was looking forward to the challenges of the position, and working with the people of Northern Tasmania.
The three other Northern board members were named on Wednesday as Mark Scanlon, Professor Denise Fassett and Dr Alasdair MacDonald.
Former Tasmanian Perpetual Trustees managing director Mr Scanlon is a non-executive director of the Motor Accident Insurance Board, and chairman of the Credit Ombudsman Service based in Sydney.
``I think (the THO post) is a great opportunity to undertake changes to the way health services are delivered in Tasmania,'' he said.
LGH director of medicine Alasdair MacDonald said he looked forward to influencing the direction of the THO, by providing a connection with the ``clinical shop floor''.
``There is always some conflict of interest where it's an employee of the organisation (on the board), but I think that's manageable,'' he said.
Professor Denise Fassett is Acting Dean of the faculty of Health Science at the University of Tasmania, and was unavailable for comment yesterday.
The Northern board members will be inducted today at the Launceston General Hospital, along with some members of the North-West and Southern boards.
A second induction session will be held next Fridayin Hobart.
The induction will be chaired by Mr Houghton.
