12. Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay of Plenty) Link to this
to the Minister of Health
Does he stand by his statement regarding the conflict of interest allegations at the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board: “the district health board has looked at it and found no material advantage”?
Hon PETE HODGSON (Minister of Health) Link to this
Yes, I do. The contract at the centre of the review has been examined already by the audit committee of the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board. Its legal advice is that Mr Hausmann’s company did not receive any particular advantage. However, rumours continue, and at the request of Mr Hausmann himself I have decided we should have a fresh look.
Why did the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board cancel the tender process for the community services contract?
It was well before a tender process, I can assure the member. I think it was a request for proposal process; it was very early on in the process. There was no tender. There was no contract. There was a request for proposal process, which legal advice said should start again in case it was unsafe.
The matters that have been the subject of continual conjecture by the member and by other folk for the past 2 weeks, even though the review to take a look at these issues got under way before the National Party had ever heard about it.
If the process was cancelled because of matters that are being raised in the House, and if the matters being raised in the House are those that the whistleblower revealed, how can there be no connection between those claims and the cancelling of the request for proposal process?
There is a very convoluted question sitting in there somewhere. Let me tell members what the answer is. In January 2006, now 18 months ago, the chair of the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board rang me and said he had concerns because he had—[ Interruption] He rang me—he did. He rang me and said he had concerns about a request for proposal process, and that one of the staff members of the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board had raised those concerns with him. I discussed this matter with him for some time. He went on to take advice from lawyers, the Ministry of Health, and others, and, as a result, the audit committee said that the request for proposal process should cease in case it lead to an unsafe outcome. That was 18 months ago. Rumours persist, and because the person against whom they persist, Mr Hausmann, has written to me asking that the issue be looked at afresh, I have decided to look at it afresh.