Premier Campbell Newman hands down Queensland Health payroll system inquiry QUEENSLAND'S Health Minister Lawrence Springborg says the State Government is considering whether it can take any action against public servants adversely named in the Queensland Health payroll system inquiry report, including those no longer employed by the State. "With regards to actions that may be taken against individuals, it is now in the hands of the Government," Mr Springborg said. Certainly there are disciplinary options which are available to the Government with regards to public servants which continue to be employed by the Government. It's not impossible that action can be taken or should be taken against those people that have left the employee of the various government departments. He said the Government would look at the disciplinary options available following the tabling of the report in Parliament today. "What this (report) says is that there was a major failure in the area of contracting, that there was a lack of probity, that there was dishonesty, that there was unconscionable conduct," Mr Springborg said. The action we may take against those public servants in a disciplinary context or otherwise, the referral of others that have actually left is a matter that will now have to be considered by the authorities. Mr Springborg denied the inquiry was simply a political exercise. He said the inquiry's report would be used to chart a course for the future, which could include upgrading the health payroll system or scrapping it all together. Earlier it was reported, Queensland's payroll debacle is one of the greatest failures in public administration in Australia yet no charges are expected to be laid and no money will be reclaimed, after a $5 million inquiry. Premier Campbell Newman handed down the Queensland Health payroll system inquiry report in parliament on Tuesday. The report by Commissioner Richard Chesterman QC has cleared former Labor Premier Anna Bligh, former health minister Paul Lucas and former public works minister Robert Schwarten of any blame. But the report found the former Bligh Government was concerned about its own "political fortunes" when it settled with global tech giant IBM after the collapse of the health payroll. The report also contains some pointed criticisms of Ms Bligh, including that she provided contradictory evidence. IBM delivered the flawed payroll system in 2010. It resulted in thousands of health workers being underpaid, overpaid or not paid at all. The system, which was meant to be largely automated and cost-effective, continues to be labour-intensive and costly to operate. Mr Chesterman's report says the former Labor government should have terminated its contract with IBM. Instead, the Bligh government gave IBM and iron-clad agreement it would not terminate the contract and relinquished all rights to take legal action. Mr Newman says the inquiry has found the settlement is binding and the state cannot take any action to reclaim any money. Mr Chesterman's report says the settlement was driven by assumptions that without IBM there was a substantial risk the payroll system would fail. ``And that if the state insisted upon its contractual right to terminate, IBM would disregard its disengagement obligations and refuse to assist with the remediation and improvement of the system," he said. He said this assumption was wrong and the ministers never tested it. He also criticised the state's response after it became clear IBM had rolled out a seriously flawed system. ``Its attempts to recover any recompense for the delivery of a malfunctioning payroll system were ineffectual," he said. ``The information and advice available at the time were enough to indicate that the settlement should not have been agreed. Mr Chesterman has put the financial debacle in the front ranks of the great failures in public administration in Australia. "It may be the worst," he wrote. He said former director general of public works Mal Grierson was directly to blame for this decision. During a meeting with IBM in August 2010, Mr Grierson gave the company the best chance of securing a release from liability, he said. ``That bad decision was compounded by Mr Grierson's capitulation in the negotiations on August 19, 2010," he said. He said former Queensland Health director general Mick Reid was also to blame because he was charged with ensuring the settlement was in the best interests of the state. ``He did not examine any of the assumptions on which the recommendation was based but gave it his endorsement, knowing it would be relied on by his minister," he said. But the commissioner cleared former Labor premier Anna Bligh, former health minister Paul Lucas and former public works minister Robert Schwarten of any blame. He said they were entitled to act on the advice of Mr Grierson and Mr Reid. Mr Chesterman makes a series of recommendations to improve processes to prevent such a payroll disaster again. However, he does not recommend referring anyone to the Department of Public Prosecutions. The report noted Ms Bligh provided two contrary versions of evidence on why her government elected to settle with IBM, and potentially deny the state millions of dollars in compensation. The report states in oral evidence Ms Bligh denied she was attempting to protect the political fortunes of the government by settling and avoiding a long and potentially damaging legal battle. But in her the former Labor Government's own written submissions to the inquiry there are suggestions the decision had a political aspect. "The concession that a factor (in the government's decision to settle) was the political fortunes of the government is contrary to the evidence given by Ms Bligh that the decision was made without reference to what might benefit the government at the time," Mr Chesterman wrote. Queensland Nurses Union secretary Beth Mohle said she did not believe the health payroll inquiry findings offered much in the way of new information, labelling the exercise a $5 million distraction. There's not too much that's new. This is just a distraction from what the government is doing in other areas like slashing jobs and services," she said. Ms Mohle said the payroll system was still causing problems, describing it as fragile. But she was not sure introducing whole new system was the answer. The prospect of starting again with a new pay system does actually make our blood run cold. We wouldn't necessarily want to go through that again," Ms Mohle said.