Foss Craig: General Debate 
Foss Craig: General Debate 
[Volume:645;Page:14631] 
CRAIG FOSS (National—Tukituki) 
: 
 I acknowledge the previous speaker. I dedicate this speech to Deborah Houston—the whistleblower of the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board who started the inquiry. She is a woman the Minister should be thanking. She is a woman the Government should be sending accolades to and looking after. She is a woman who sought full protection under the Protected Disclosures Act to protect herself from the Crown. She asked she pleaded and look what has happened to her. She has been made redundant and pushed out of her job when she was doing the right thing. The Minister should be thanking her. The Minister should be talking to her and interviewing her. The Minister should have been speaking with her over the Christmas break between various draft reports rather than speaking to the two other people—the chief executive officer and a Government-appointed board member. The Government should be grateful to this person who tried to keep the Public Service clean who tried to look after taxpayers’ money who did the right thing and who used the tools available. 
I ask Government members to look at what they are doing now. I ask people to look at what this Government is doing. It is using the taxpayers’ full purse and the might of Crown Law to silence and to burn off this person whose funds could not match the Crown’s. She had to settle just so she could pay her own legal bills. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: That is simply not true. 
CRAIG FOSS 
: That is absolutely true and the truth will come out. 
What needs to be in the final report? We have heard about the first draft and we have heard about the second draft. Well what needs to be in the final report? The full story of the whistleblower should be in the final report. I think we all want the reputations and integrity of all people—from the Minister and the previous Minister down to this person—confirmed and adhered to. Let the truth come out. Let all information come out then we will be better off and New Zealand will be better off and we can breathe a sigh of relief. Unfortunately in hindsight that whistleblower as she sought protected disclosure from the chair of the board actually had to reveal herself as the whistleblower to the acting chief executive officer at the time who was Mr Ray Lind. She had to reveal who she was to the acting chief executive officer Mr Ray Lind—the chief executive officer was in Nelson at that time. She was made redundant and forced to settle. 
Let us make sure that the truth comes out in the full report. Let us make sure that the final report reports all the others who were made redundant. I will give the Minister notice. The Minister has used his office taxpayers’ funds Crown Law—the privileges of his office—to try to construct this story in his own right. Rather than defend this whistleblower he has gone after her. I put it on notice that I will use the privilege of my office as a member of Parliament for that area to make sure all information comes into the public forum. I set that on notice. 
What else needs to be in the final report? All associated documents need to be in the final report—all drafts I II III IV however many there are so we can all see the background papers. In the final report we must also see a list of who wanted to make representations to the various drafts and we should also see a schedule of who actually made representations to the various drafts. We must see who those people were and the changes they advocated. If that is the truth what is there to hide? It cannot be defamatory if it is the truth and if it is right. What else should be in the final report? The “secret recording of conversations by a senior staff member” should be. That is absolutely outrageous. What else should be in the final report? The “secret email exchanges between the CEO and outside parties”—all of them—should be. What else should be in the final report? There should be the “damaged back-up tapes” which as it turns out look like they are the smoking gun. What else should be in the final report? There should be the various forensic audits of various computers and back-up tapes. What else should be in the final report? There should be any reports of obstruction and of the cooperation or otherwise of all parties to this sorry sorry state of affairs. What should happen the day after the final report is released? The Auditor-General should step up to the plate once all the information is on the table and having seen what has been going on and make a judgment for the sake of the integrity of the Public Service.