Premier Roger Cook forced to defend secrecy of Perth Children’s Hospital lead contamination

Roger Cook has doubled down on his Government’s decision to keep secret lead contamination in the drinking water at Perth Children’s Hospital despite anger from nurses, doctors and the wider community. Eleven testing samples taken between the start of 2023 and the end of March last year from PCH returned traces of the dangerous heavy metal at levels higher than the safety benchmark set by the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. The water results were never disclosed by then Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson or the Cook Government, until exposed by The West Australian this week. The Premier has since confirmed he was aware of the issues back in 2023 and defended his decision to keep it secret. “These issues have got life in the media today in 2025 but there’s been no exceedance of any lead levels at PCH since April 2024, so this is well and truly in the rear view mirror,” Mr Cook said on Friday. “In this case, there was no risk to patients. There was no risk to staff. So it wasn’t appropriate to necessarily make a public declaration. It was appropriate for them to continue to undertake vigorous, ongoing testing and reporting.” That view isn’t shared by the Australian Medical Association which called for future health and safety issues to be clearly communicated to staff. Australian Nursing Federation State Secretary Romina Raschilla was equally concerned after finding out about the lead contamination through the media. “The ANF will urgently be seeking further clarity from the Department of Health and encourage any members with specific concerns to contact their union directly,” Ms Raschilla said. “Along with all workers, nurses and midwives are entitled to a safe work place, and the patients they care for deserve a healthy environment.” On Friday it also emerged Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, which is part of the QEII Medical Campus in Nedlands with PCH, had recorded “one minor detection” of lead above the ADWG threshold since the start of 2022. “In 2023 testing was undertaken in a utility room and was 0.002 milligrams per litre over the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines and was quickly remediated,” A spokeswoman for the North Metropolitan Health Service told The West. The Water Corporation has distanced itself from internal plumbing issues at the two hospitals. The Water Corp’s public water supply network has not recorded a single lead exceedance across WA since records of testing began more than 25 years ago. The water issues are the latest health debacle for the Cook Government, which was recently forced to stump-up an extra $50 million towards hospital maintenance after The West’s Hospital of Horrors special investigation exposed a litany of failures. Internal documents from Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital exposed reports of leaking “radioactive waste”, human excrement flowing through the intensive care unit, and costly damage to equipment as a result of deteriorating infrastructure. Vulnerable patients were also unknowingly put at risk of contracting potentially deadly legionnaires’ disease at the hospital through contaminated water. Legionella bacteria, which causes the serious pneumonia-like respiratory infection, has been found at unacceptable levels almost 60 times in the past two years. “What is this Premier’s problem with secrecy and not telling the people of Western Australia the truth,” Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas said, accusing the Government of cover-ups. “They’ve lost control of the hospital system at the moment, and they won’t come clean. “Frankly, it’s not good enough - this is not the way to govern, it’s a failure of governing.” While in opposition and serving as shadow Health Minister in 2016, Mr Cook was highly critical of the former Liberal-National Government which was forced to delay opening PCH over lead contamination at the new facility. “There can be no better display of the dysfunctionality of this government than the woeful handling of the issues surrounding the new Perth Children’s Hospital,” Mr Cook said during a speech in parliament at the time. “Once again we see this government limping from crisis to crisis as it struggles to maintain any sort of control, functionality or management. “One would have thought that any government worth its salt, any government that wanted to be open and transparent in its conduct, would have a proactive communications policy or program for keeping the public informed.” When questioned about his past comments on the issue, the Premier believed the incidents weren’t comparable. “Let’s be very clear - this is chalk and cheese. In 2016 you saw a significant outbreak across a whole range of areas of the hospital, which led to a significant piece of work to reconstruct and retrofit a whole range of different fittings, pipes and outlets,” Mr Cook said. “Eleven instances over a 17-month period across two or three specific spots which represented no risk to the public or to staff or to patients, they are worlds apart in terms of circumstances.”