Reti used the chart to justify painful spending restraint at Health NZ. He now claims that therewas not one organisational chart as initially claimed, but that he was referring to an amalgam of the many Health NZ organisational charts he had seen.
Labour’s health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall told the Herald the invented chart has made Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who was standing beside Reti when he made the remarks, “look like an idiot”.
“The claims made about Health NZ in July are made up and they used those claims to justify a commissioner and cuts of $1.4 billion to the health system,” she said.
In July, Reti took to the podium in the Beehive theatrette alongside Luxon to announce Health NZ - Te Whatu Ora was staring down the barrel of a $1.4b deficit thanks to a bloated, inefficient bureaucracy.
“Look, there’s an org chart which I’ve seen which is just mind-boggling. I could not name the different layers of wayfinders, pathfinders, boundary spanners - Lord knows what else - from A to B. I could not name them for you,” Reti said.
When asked whether he could send the chart to media to prove his claim, Reti said he would approach Levy “to send around the chart and the information we have on that”.
The Herald requested the specific chat Reti had referred to in the press conference under the Official Information Act. The request was finally answered this week, with Reti’s office conceding: “In response to your request, an organisational chart that covers the entirety of Health New Zealand’s structure does not exist”.
Labour's Health Spokeswoman Ayesha Verrall said the remarks had made the prime minister look like an idiot. Photo / Mark Mitchell.
The office then attached the list of 14 job titles sent to other media.
The Herald asked Reti’s office whether he had been completely truthful when he had claimed to have seen the org chart which does not exist and when he had offered to ask Levy to send the nonexistent chart to media.
A spokesperson replied, “There is no single organisational chart covering Health New Zealand, although there are several org charts of different formats covering different parts of the agency.
“The point the minister made at post cab was focused on a number of ambiguous job titles in health which don’t clearly explain their purpose,” they said.
Verrall told the Herald she had herself asked for organisational charts from Health NZ using written Parliamentary questions. She had requested an organisational chart showing job titles and names of office holders down to tier three, meaning the chief executive, the executive leadership team, and their support staff.
This question was refused because it would have required Health NZ staff to undertake “a substantial manual collation”.
Verrall said she was concerned that the Government had yet to conclusively prove the claims used to justify sacking Health NZ’s board, inserting a commissioner, and beginning a savings exercise. This was concerning because with no board, Health NZ was no longer publishing board minutes which give an insight into how the organisation is performing.
“It matters if those claims can’t be borne out. There’s no 14 layers of management, there’s no organisational chart, the cost was not due to back-office start but due to nursing hiring. So much of what the Government built its case on has been shown to be untrue,” she said.
“New Zealanders have a right to know if these cuts are justified. The Government has had one press conference and hasn’t made the case. It has asserted there are financial problems at Health NZ. They have not released any documents to show that is the case.”
Thomas Coughlan is Deputy Political Editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the press gallery since 2018.
