Hague Kevin: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Hague Kevin: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:678;Page:1506] 
10. 
KEVIN HAGUE (Green) 
 to the  
Minister for ACC 
: What advice has she received about when ACC Board Chairman John Judge first became aware of the issues that were the subject of the December meeting between senior ACC managers Bronwyn Pullar and Michelle Boag; and if she hasn’t asked for that advice why not? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister for ACC) 
: 
 That particular meeting that the member is referring to is I know the subject of a matter that ACC has referred to the New Zealand Police. However I can refer the member to the written report from ACC for me that was placed on its website on 16 March this year and I can read from that. It says: “The client who received the file contacted an ACC Board member to discuss matters pertaining to her specific case. No specific reference was made to the data held or the breach of privacy. As is normal practice the Director referred the matter to the Chairman who in turn referred the matter to senior ACC management who confirmed the matter would be dealt with at an operational level.”  
Kevin Hague 
: Has she been briefed on all the correspondence between Ms Pullar and John Judge prior to that December meeting and what was she told?  
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: Well I do not know whether I have been because I do not know what all the correspondence is. I have received some correspondence which is the ministerial file which is held in the Minister for ACC’s office. There may well be other correspondence that I have not seen and therefore have not been briefed on.  
Kevin Hague 
: Does she believe that two senior managers from ACC met with Ms Pullar and Ms Boag on 1 December at a meeting arranged by an ACC board member with the knowledge of the ACC board chair during which they learnt of serious concerns about ACC processes and risk to the organisation yet apparently did not then report those concerns to either the chief executive officer or the board chair?  
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: What happened in that meeting is as I have said forming part of a matter that ACC has referred to the New Zealand Police. But I do know that it related as well to a massive breach of privacy and I would also like to take the opportunity to congratulate that member when those same documents were sent to him on referring them straight back to ACC.  
Kevin Hague 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I know a bit about what the content of that meeting was but that was not my question. My question is about whether given what we know about the meeting how it was set up and the level of the risk to ACC that was exposed in that meeting the Minister believes the account that those senior managers reported that to no one.  
Mr SPEAKER 
: The Minister has been asked for an opinion on that matter and it would be helpful if the Minister was able to express an opinion without compromising any—I call the Hon Judith Collins.  
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: If I am told a matter by people then I accept their word unless I have evidence—real evidence—to the contrary.  
Kevin Hague 
: Given what she now knows of John Judge’s management of all the issues concerning the Pullar case does he retain her full confidence and does she believe he should remain chair of ACC?  
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: I do not know yet until the investigations have been completed as to who knew what in the Pullar matter. I do have confidence that the board of ACC has done an excellent job around the finances of ACC but I have on numerous occasions said that I am not yet satisfied that all of the provisions relating to privacy are in fact where I would like them to be. That is one of the reasons why ACC is working with the Privacy Commissioner and other independent people to make sure that it gets those processes right. 
Grant Robertson 
: Why did she forward the email from Michelle Boag to John Judge when she explicitly agreed with Ms Boag that that email would not be forwarded to anyone else? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: The member’s assumption is quite incorrect.