4. Health Minister—Counties Manukau District Health BoardJAMI-LEE ROSS (National—Botany) to the Minister of HealthHealth Minister—Counties Manukau District Health Board4. JAMI-LEE ROSS (National—Botany) to the Minister of Health: Does he stand by his answer yesterday when he said I reject the premise of that question" when asked why he allowed "his office to put pressure on the CEO of the Counties Manukau DHB not to release documents that would have contradicted his own public statements"; if so how does he reconcile that with the Counties Manukau DHB CEO emailing board members saying "unfortunately we are under some pressure from the Minister's office about what we can and cannot say"?Hon Dr DAVID CLARK (Minister of Health): Yes and in response to the second leg of the member's question I'm not responsible for what the acting CEO of the Counties Manukau District Health Board (DHB) does and doesn't say.Jami-Lee Ross: Why did he damage the reputations of the Counties Manukau District Health Board chair and CEO by putting them in a position where his office pressured them not to respond when he was told in text messages and phone calls repeatedly that his public statements were wrong?Hon Dr DAVID CLARK: I did not damage the reputation of those people.Jami-Lee Ross: When Rabin Rabindran texted him and said "I take strong exception to the connection between the state of the buildings and your knowledge of them and my removal from the board which is damaging my reputation" why did he not publicly apologise then to Rabin Rabindran?Hon Dr DAVID CLARK: Ministers appoint the chairs of DHBs. That is the Minister's prerogative. I appointed a chair that I believe has the right skill set to address the nine years of neglect that that DHB has suffered—the nine years in which we got rot and mould in the walls of the buildings. That will take a long time to repair and I have the job as Minister to select the team that I think will best be able to address that historical legacy of underfunding in the health sector.Jami-Lee Ross: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I don't believe the Minister did answer my question.SPEAKER: Well I think he did.Jami-Lee Ross: Why did his draft press release announcing the sacking of Rabin Rabindran further damage his reputation by stating the decision had come "after revelations about the state of some of Middlemore's buildings" when he told Rabin Rabindran privately that Middlemore Hospital's issues had happened before Mr Rabindran's time?Hon Dr DAVID CLARK: I've been absolutely explicit that the reason for Mr Rabindran's departure was not due to anything about his performance; it was due to the historical situation we inherited of underfunding. That is what we needed to have refreshed leadership about. The other point I'd make to the House is that that was a draft press release not released into the public except by that member opposite.Jami-Lee Ross: Why did he have his office draft the press release after his voicemail message to Rabin Rabindran attempting to gag him from speaking publicly and at the same time offering to appoint him to further positions?Hon Dr DAVID CLARK: I reject the idea that Mr Rabindran was ever gagged and I would also note that the DHB fronted media regularly both with statements and with interviews.Jami-Lee Ross: Point of order.SPEAKER: A point of order Jami-Lee Ross—with a bit of a warning.Jami-Lee Ross: I seek leave to table a draft press release from the Hon Dr David Clark around the changes at Counties Manukau District Health Board which contains the statements that I just read out.SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that document being tabled? There is.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. A draft press release that wasn't released is not a press release.SPEAKER: Well that's almost certainly true but it's also not a point of order.Jami-Lee Ross: I seek leave to table a transcript of a voice mail message given to Rabin Rabindran by Dr David Clark on 18 April at 2.24 p.m.SPEAKER: I want to ask—I mean I know it's a transcript that I have seen—is it in general circulation?Jami-Lee Ross: Point of order.SPEAKER: Well has the member released it to the media or anything like that?Jami-Lee Ross: A transcript hasn't been released by me to the media.Hon Chris Hipkins: It's been published in the paper.SPEAKER: I don't know that that's absolutely the case. I will put it to the House. Is there any objection to that being tabled? Yes there is.Jami-Lee Ross: I seek leave to table the Microsoft Word document properties of that draft press release which shows it was created on 18 April at 2.53 p.m.SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that document being tabled? There appears to be none. It may be tabled.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House."