Simeon Brown: Health Minister on ensuring procurement rules were followed for a Health NZ contract

The Health Minister is looking to ensure procurement rules were followed in a big Health New Zealand contract. 

The agency awarded a $2 million contract to MBI Healthcare Technologies in April 2023. 

It was partly founded by ACC senior executive John Bennett, who left the company in 2020, but had been an advisor to Health New Zealand since 2022. 

Simeon Brown told Mike Hosking he also wants to ensure procurement rules are being followed today. 

He says this is taxpayers' money – they expect to be getting value for money from every dollar and every contract. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
More bumbling and competence of Health in New Zealand. As
a reviewers launched into their procurement processes, got a two
million dollar contract we told you about yesterday went to
a UK based firm MBI Healthcare Technologies. Health New Zealand
claimed MBI were the only company in the whole world
able to do this, so advertising the job wasn't necessary.
Trouble was a senior manager in Health New Zealand had
links to that company. Now the Health Minu's dissuming and

(00:21):
Brown is with us morning, good morning. This doesn't pass
the pub test, does it No?

Speaker 2 (00:26):
And that's why I've asked for a review of this.
I wasn't satisfied when Health New Zealand said that what
they said around this being the only company in the
world which could do that. I've asked for a review
to sure procurement rules were being followed at the time
back in twenty twenty three when this happened, but more
importantly to make sure that this type of practice and
procurement rules are being followed today.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
What's your gut? Is it bungling or scandal?

Speaker 2 (00:51):
I think two there's two issues here. One is where
the procurement rules being followed. The second is are they
being followed today? I think on the face of it,
what you've said is right. But what I want to
know is have it and have assurances of is that
this isn't that that we are following forcurment rules. This
is taxpayers money, MinC. This is your listener's taxpayers money.

(01:12):
They expect value for money from every single dollar and
across every single contract, and I want to make sure
that is what we're receiving.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
I can't work out what the real issue is here.
I mean to tell me that there is only one company.
I mean, what they were looking to do in that
contract wasn't wasn't remarkable, it wasn't brain surger. It was
just you know, to help you the flow of patients.
Better to insult me by saying this is there's only
one company on planet Earth that can do this is
bullshit and you know it's that.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
And that's why I've asked for a review. Senators that comment,
I've asked for a review because ultimately, you know, these are
the type of issues that taxpayers expect to be you know,
they accept good procurement policies to be followed. Look, there
are instances where you know, government agencies don't have choice,
but ultimately they need to go through a robust process
to determine that. I've asked a review to ensure that,

(01:59):
you know, taxpayers money is being respected across the contracting
process at Health New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
And that's insult number one, just telling me that when
it's so blatantly not true. But also we just happen
to have somebody in the company who's associated back in Britain.
I mean, how do you explain that?

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Well, I think that's another part of the issue here,
and that's again why I've asked for a review of
what's happened. I'm not going to get into the particular
personal issues that I think the stuff journalists have been uncovering,
but I would just point out that, you know, New
Zealand taxpayers expect to have confidence and procurement policies. There
are procurement policies for a reason, that is to ensure

(02:38):
that value for money for every tax payer dollar is spent.
And that's what I expect from Health New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Which debtails into this Deloitte report which hasn't got the
coverage it deserves, is this has there been sabotaged there
when Central says to the regions we want to do
this and they literally deliberately and overtly ignore the instructions.
You are sabotaging the system, aren't you. Well.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
I think that Deloitte report which was released last Friday,
and you're right, hasn't had the coverage that it needs.
But basically it points out the failures of the last
governments reforms of health in New Zealand. They jammed twenty
one bhbs together, put a new letter head on and
said job done. Ultimately, they then fired all of the
financial controllers. They removed that local accountability. We saw a

(03:23):
huge blowout in the budget and without the financial controllers,
as the report says, the financial system was being managed
via via Excel spreadsheet, which is which is appalling. That's
been fixed now. But this is what we're dealing with
the government is having to get this health system organized
and focused back on the patient and focused on delivery

(03:44):
with clear accountabilities right down through that organization. It's a
big job, Mike, but that's what I'm focused on as
Minister of how focusing on delivering for the patient and
making sure it's delivering within its budget.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Appreciate you telling me you have a good weekend. Simon Brown,
who is the Health Minister with us this morning. That
Deloitte report which we featured from last week, seventy seven pages,
It honestly is worth reading, if only to remind you
just how incompetently run this country was, how dangerous it became,
and for all of the sympathy we've had over this
ensuing period of the public servants getting let go. By

(04:16):
the time you've read that Deloitte report and read Brian
Roach's Report into the Public Service, you will have less sympathy,
believe me, for what's been going on in the public service.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
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