The Ministry of Health has issued an apology to Associate Minister of Health Casey Costello for not informing her of a conflict of interest involving an official advising her on tobacco reform.
The official, as revealed by Winston Peters in Parliament, is the sister-in-law of Labour’s health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall.
Peters accused the official of attending meetings with Costello without disclosing this familial connection and suggested she may have had leaked information to assist Labour’s political attacks.
The Ministry acknowledged that while the official followed internal conflict of interest rules, it failed to communicate the conflict to Costello.
Peters’ allegations have intensified political tensions, with Labour denying any wrongdoing.
Verrall told media she was confident the conflict was appropriately managed, claiming that such familial connections are common in a small country like New Zealand.
Peters said the situation was “corrupt”, claiming it undermined the integrity of the health ministry’s work.
Sorry, not.
Business as usual…via nepotism, favouritism, and non-advertised jobs for others who may have better merits…!
I could never quite understand why Dr Ayesha Verrall has been consistently judging from the sidelines on the smoking topic while so many other important issues in Health should have been the priority.
Aside from her obvious incompetence as Minister of Health in the prior Govt and a significant failing to disclose the conflict ….at least we now know why!
A good lesson here for Labour in mindfulness, integrity and minding one’s business!
NZ politic and govt are a train wreck …..as for the so called MOH…..
Ayesha Verrall’s passion to eliminate the use of tobacco has UN/WEF/WHO fingerprints all over it, but she still insists it is about ‘keeping us safe’. Now we find out it is a family affair. This is corruption and should be treated as such. Verrall should be sacked. The problem is how to replace her with someone who can refuse the offer.
If smokers die when they’re 70, and non-smokers die at 90, can that really save on healthcare expenses overall? Watch for the introduction of euthanasia and some fairly stringent tests to establish mental competency.
There’s no proof that snmokers die earlier than no smokers. The average age of death in NZ being 81.5 for men and 83.5 for women the whole question is moot.
Forget about smoking and let’s focus on egtting the goddam queues down even if we have to out source cases overseas.
Simply incompetent. Our Government, MP’s and upper levels of our ministries are totally incompetent because they are being dictated too and manipulated when they squeak. This is no way to be making decisions affecting how people of a nation live their lives. Dissolve Parliament