KEY POINTS:
Extracts of a suppressed draft report into what went wrong at the Hawkes Bay District Health Board have been read out in Parliament, in a day of drama that also saw the man at the centre of conflict-of-interest allegations break his silence.
National Party health spokesman Tony Ryall
yesterday quoted parts of the independent draft report during question time, just days before the final version of the report is due to be publicly released.
The move follows suggestions that the first and second drafts of the independent review into conflict-of-interest allegations involving board member Peter Hausmann are significantly different.
The entire Hawkes Bay board was sacked by Health Minister David Cunliffe just over two weeks ago after a lengthy saga which included a breakdown of relations between Mr Hausmann and his colleagues.
The problems began when Mr Hausmann was accused of knowing more about a proposed tender process that his own company was involved with than he should have.
A court order has prevented media from reporting contents of the leaked first draft report into the conflict-of- interest allegations, but Mr Ryall yesterday selected parts and quoted them during questions to Mr Cunliffe.
"Would the minister be concerned to hear that leaked findings of the review team's version one report say: 'There were significant barriers to a vendor other than Healthcare New Zealand succeeding with the proposal. Healthcare New Zealand and Peter Hausmann, on the other hand, knew what was required as it had seen the February 2005 board paper, which set out what the Hawkes Bay District Health Board wanted'?"
Mr Cunliffe suggested Mr Ryall was breaching a Speaker's ruling relating to the use of parliamentary privilege, but Speaker Margaret Wilson reminded the House that it was up to individual MPs to judge what they said or did.
Mr Ryall later asked another pointed question relating to the draft report.
"Would the minister be concerned if the leaked findings from the review team say of Annette King's appointee: 'Peter Hausmann did not provide adequate disclosures to the board of his interest in the community services initiative', and in particular that 'he assisted in drafting both the RFP [Request for Proposal] itself and the board paper that recommended that the initiative should be adopted'?"
Mr Cunliffe said Mr Hausmann was accountable for his actions and he was not seeking to protect him.
Mr Hausmann has said very little as the review into the management of his conflict of interest has proceeded, but after yesterday's events in Parliament he issued a statement which went far further than he has previously.
In it, Mr Hausmann said he had faced "inaccurate, incorrect and unsubstantiated criticism" relating to his role on the board.
He said he was confident the review panel's final report would vindicate him and clearly explain his position.
Mr Hausmann said that when he was appointed to the board he was "horrified" to find it was "not a professional operation at all".
"Instead, it was a place where some board members were behaving poorly towards very competent management and medical staff."
