6. Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay of Plenty) Link to this
to the Minister of Health
Has the Ministry of Health investigated the handling of disclosures made by the whistleblower at the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board in January 2006; if so, what were the ministry’s conclusions?
Hon PETE HODGSON (Minister of Health) Link to this
No, the ministry did not. However, the chair of the board rang the ministry in January 2006, and he rang me in January 2006, to advise that he had received a complaint and that the board would respond, which it then did.
Is the Minister aware that the Ministry of Health wrote to the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board, seeking full information around the cancelled community services contract and other information associated with that under the Official Information Act; and why would one agency seek information from another Government agency under the Official Information Act if there was not going to be an investigation or a look at those matters?
I rather suspect that that is a slightly different issue—in time, anyway. I do not recall precisely the ministry doing that, but it may well have done so, and, if it did, it probably felt that was necessary because the information was not forthcoming otherwise.
Is the Minister aware that the Ministry of Health looked at that information and found “nothing remarkable”; and does the Minister believe that the events that took place involving the whistleblower were in fact nothing remarkable?
I say again to the House—and I am not sure how many times I have said it now—that the continuing innuendo around these issues in general and around Mr Hausmann in particular reached a point where Mr Hausmann, some weeks ago, said: “Despite the fact that this has been looked at at length by this body or that, I would like it to be looked at again.” As a result of that I took the unusual step of asking the director-general whether he would establish an independent review group to take a look at it. That group was formed some weeks ago and is making good progress in its independent review. It has interviewed the whistleblower in question, has looked at a wide range of other stuff, and will report in due course to the director-general, who will report to me, and I will make the information public.
Sue MoroneyHe did. He did so in writing, and he did so at the outset. He also indicated how he intended to manage his conflicts of interest, and he did that in writing, as well. That contrasts dramatically with the actions of Dr Tony Bierre of the Auckland District Health Board, who kept his board colleagues in the dark and sought to enrich himself accordingly. He is, of course, a member of the National Party and a good mate of Dr Jackie Blue of this House.
Was the Minister aware that his officials in the Ministry of Health, Mr McKernan and Mr Hill, in fact met with representatives of the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board to discuss the full set of documents made available to them regarding this matter, and that they advised they had found nothing remarkable—was the Minister aware of that investigation?
I am aware that there have been a number of conversations between the Ministry of Health and the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board, and I am sure that they have included the two gentlemen involved—
Hon Dr Nick SmithCould the member just draw breath; I am trying to—[ Interruption] OK, the member should not draw breath. The ministry has been interested in issues around the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board for some time. Amongst the many meetings there will have been, I am sure, meetings involving the deputy director-general of funding and planning and the director-general himself. In fact, I think I recall reports of those meetings—whether they were given orally or in writing, I am not sure. However, the fact of the matter does not really change: so far, the audit committee of the board has found that the issues around the contract in question did not occasion Mr Hausmann any particular advantage. That was its legal advice. Because the issues have not gone away, Mr Hausmann himself wrote to me, saying: “Please investigate me further.”, and I agreed to do that.
Does he think the whistleblower’s being bullied and threatened that management had power in terms of her future job security was “nothing remarkable”, and how accurate can that conclusion be in light of those comments?
I feel that all those comments first came to my attention in a Sunday paper, probably about 5 or 6 weeks ago, and from memory the comments were made by the whistleblower herself. In other words, they were her view of what an interview was about. That same person has been interviewed by the independent review team, and I am sure other people around the issue have also been interviewed by the team, though I do not know all of the people who have been interviewed. I can assure the member that the independent review team will report to the director-general soon. I do not know when that will be, but it will probably be when the investigation is finished. Its investigations will be reasonably thorough, fair, quiet, reasoned, and reasonable, and I think the member should take comfort from that. Let us see what the review team has to say.
Is the Minister aware that within months of the whistleblower having her job security threatened by district health board managers, the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board undertook a staff restructure, and, lo and behold, the whistleblower was the only person in the entire district health board to lose her job; does he think that was “nothing remarkable”?
The member makes an assertion that may or may not be true. He makes an assertion that the whistleblower was threatened. There is another assertion made by the whistleblower, which is that she felt threatened. Let us see what the independent review team would like to make of those two things, and let us see whether the independent review team thinks that the restructuring was reasoned and reasonable, or whether it was not reasonable. I think that team is likely to get to the truth of the matter, and I am quite keen to find that out. I do not think we should use this place as some sort of kangaroo court to try to sort things out beforehand.
I seek leave to table the Official Information Act request—something the Minister was unaware of—from the ministry to the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board.
Madam SPEAKERI seek leave to table an email from the chairman of the audit committee of the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board, reporting on the view of the ministry.