Turia Tariana: Official Information (Openness of District  Health Boards New Zealand) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Turia Tariana: Official Information (Openness of District  Health Boards New Zealand) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:633;Page:5267] 
TARIANA TURIA (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
 Tena koe Madam Assistant Speaker. Tena tatou katoa. The Maori Party is happy to take a call on the Official Information (Openness of District Health Boards New Zealand) Amendment Bill. We support the purpose of this bill which we understand as amending the Official Information Act to bring District Health Boards New Zealand—known as DHBNZ—under the Act. 
District Health Boards New Zealand was set up to carry out the business of the 21 health boards and to coordinate selective activities. As such it is an entity that is funded by public money through financial contributions from the 21 district health boards which should in a way be focusing their money on waiting-list reduction. The Maori Party has always considered that transparency and accountability of the State to the public is critical and this bill applies these values to District Health Boards New Zealand and we commend that. 
District Health Boards New Zealand as a body undertakes negotiations develops strategies generates guidelines and issues advice on behalf of all the 21 district health boards. As such one would think that District Health Boards New Zealand as an agent for the district health boards would welcome public accountability. As the central engine room of our health industry it makes decisions that impact on all New Zealanders yet it is somewhat bizarre that the information it holds is not accessible because it was set up as an incorporated society and it falls outside the Official Information Act. In essence it means that public resources are used by District Health Boards New Zealand yet it is not accountable in terms of releasing public information. It is also frustrating if anyone wants to aggregate data from all 21 district health boards that the 21 boards have to be gone to individually for the same information. 
The current situation is clearly an anomaly. Agencies that use public money should be accountable and open to scrutiny. An amendment to the Act which is the focus of this bill will mean that any person will now be able to have proper access to official information held by district health boards and their representatives. The amendment will also enable information requests of aggregated data to be sought and obtained from District Health Boards New Zealand without people having to make individual requests. The amendment provides certainty and clarity to the public and to Maori that they can in fact request official information from district health boards. Currently in the corridors of the health bureaucracy isolated Official Information Act requests from members of the public for information get pushed out to the ministry which then passes them back to the district health boards. 
The Maori Party is concerned that District Health Boards New Zealand creates a further layer of unnecessary bureaucracy the work of which could be carried out by the Ministry of Health. These layers of bureaucracy deny providers of health services and consumers the opportunity to have their issues addressed appropriately because they cannot get access to information. The Maori Party is well aware of the concerns of Maori providers and services about the difficulties in communication that currently exist in trying to get access to information from district health boards let alone District Health Boards New Zealand to assist in the application of policies. It is precisely this issue—this crisis of confidence—that has prompted the claim by Taitimu Maipi Tureiti Moxon Elaine Tapsell and Hakopa Paul in respect of the objectives funding and administration of primary health organisations. 
The Wai 1315 claim contends that an urgent hearing is required regarding the impact of the establishment of the primary-care strategy. In particular the claim advises that the implementation of the framework has been unfair that Maori health providers have been inadequately resourced and that the objectives funding and administration of Maori primary health organisations have been therefore placed at risk. 
The Maori Party wishes to say today in the House that we support this bill going to the Health Committee. We look forward to promoting the opportunity it provides for Maori and all other organisations to use the Official Information Act to access information that affects them. Kia ora.