Stewart Barbara: Urgent Debates — Hawke’s Bay District Health Board—Conflicts of Interest Report 
Stewart Barbara: Urgent Debates — Hawke’s Bay District Health Board—Conflicts of Interest Report 
[Volume:646;Page:14985] 
BARBARA STEWART (NZ First) 
: 
 On behalf of New Zealand First I am delighted to speak in this debate. The Hawke’s Bay District Health Board got a very unhealthy report—a report that we do not want to see repeated in any other district health board in the country. New Zealand First members do not think it is a whitewash; the problem has been explored and recommendations have actually arisen from this particular report. All in all the report did show that the Minister’s decision to sack the board was warranted. We know that that was very drastic action and we were all quite surprised at that action but such actions are never ever taken lightly. The board was obviously not functioning. Cronyism conflicts of interest and financial debt cannot be tolerated by any board and district health boards in particular cannot operate in that manner. It is a prescription for disaster and we all know that there is a huge challenge ahead to get this board back on track. 
The report found that the board had failed at a very basic level of management—its management of commercial contracts. It was so amazing that this basic element could not be carried out correctly by a board. I was shocked that it was not even totally explored. We know that the review panel found a culture of mistrust and dysfunction between the board and senior management and this is always a very significant road block to any performance of any board. There was also the fact that there were no basic procedures for the conflict-of-interest management we had all heard about and we heard that those conflicts had been wide-ranging. We all know even here in this Parliament that any conflicts of interest have to be disclosed. Why the members of this board thought they could get away without disclosing them will never cease to amaze most of us. 
We all know that if we have inadequate systems they need to be identified and some recommendations and actions taken to correct them. In New Zealand First we are very pleased to hear that some action will be taken to ensure that the recommendations are implemented district health board - wide right throughout New Zealand. There is no doubt as the Minister has pointed out that other district health boards can learn very valuable lessons from this debacle we have had. 
Of course there will need to be follow-up and the board will need to be monitored to ensure that the recommendations are followed through. When we consider it we realise that it shows the inadequate level of training that board members actually have when they come on to a board and that needs to be rectified. One cannot afford to have friends in this particular role; it has to be managed according to the rules and it has to be absolutely straight. These are very serious issues for a board to work through because basically this is not the way to do business. 
I think we have to be very aware that this entire fiasco will have had a significant cost to the public health system and the people of Hawke’s Bay. It is timely now as the Minister said today in question time to ensure that elections are held as soon as possible so that the people of Hawke’s Bay can have a properly appointed functional district health board that gets on with the job of looking after the region’s health. It is important too I believe to ensure that the people of Hawke’s Bay can have confidence in their district health board. At this particular level to have these types of allegations will result in a fair degree of mistrust. So New Zealand First believes that now that the report has come out into the open and that recommendations have been made it is timely to move on and to ensure that the recommendations are acted upon quite quickly. 
I was very interested to hear that the Opposition has promised that this questioning and debate will continue ad nauseam; we have already had an awful lot of time devoted to this particular issue. The Minister is leading from the front on this issue and I think it is important that he is. We hold him responsible for looking over the health system and it is important that he does lead on this issue. 
In New Zealand First we believe it is timely now for the people of Hawke’s Bay and their district health board to get on and do the job we expect them to do. Health dollars are scarce and they must be used according to the rules. There are no exceptions. If they are not being used appropriately then something needs to be done. It is a sorry state of affairs that needs correcting and it is only now after this report that there is an opportunity to do so. We hope that this whole fiasco is over and we do not want to see it repeated in other district health boards around the country.