Jacinda Ardern promised to be the most open and transparent government we have ever seen. That was at the same time she dishonestly told us she never lied. Both were of course lies, and are now being shown as such on an almost weekly basis.
The latest example of willful disregard for the law is the Ministry of Health which has been hauled over the coals for their illegal intransigence in not replying to Official Information Requests:
The Health Ministry’s top lawyer has apologised for “unreasonable” delays and refusals to release information relating to supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Newshub made a request for information under the Official Information Act (OIA) in May 2020. More than 17 months later, after an investigation by the Ombudsman, the Ministry has finally been forced to release the information and say sorry.
“The Ministry would also like to apologise for the delay in providing you this information,” the Ministry’s chief legal adviser Phil Knipe said.
The 17-month delay in providing the information is another worrying example of how the Official Information Act is being circumvented. This information should have been released as per the law – within 20 working days.
The final determination of the Chief Ombudsman, Peter Boshier, who investigated Newshub’s complaint, also appears to point to manipulation of the process.
When the Ministry initially said it needed to extend the timeframe to respond, Boshier found the Ministry had already drafted its response.
“There was not a substantial amount of information to be searched through or collated. Further, the only ‘consultations’ that have been identified to me are internal ones,” he said.
Boshier found workload pressures at the Ministry were “not a reason” to drag out the OIA process which was determined to be “unreasonable”.
This is fundamentally part of the problem. Journalists and the public for that matter have no way of knowing whether notifications of extensions or refusals are legitimate, unless of course the Ombudsman gets involved.
The OIA is a critically important part of a democratic society and it ensures those in power can be held accountable. But in the middle of the pandemic when the government is implementing such sweeping powers, transparency is severely lacking.
Newshub
So the Ministry deliberately delayed, made up false excuses and still dragged their feet in responding. Just delay, after delay, after delay.
And who runs the Ministry of Health? Well, none other than the proven liar, Dr Ashley Bloomfield. No doubt he will use his tried and true excuse of mis-speaking. You really can’t fault the Ministry, they are just following the lead of the Director-General of Health.
This problem is systemic with this Government. I currently have two complaints with the Ombudsman for precisely the same reason.
But what is not covered by this story, mainly because of the lengthy delay in reporting, is that the information supplied proves that the Ministry of Health was lying to the public about supplies of PPE. Moreover, it now makes perfect sense why the Government and their paid shills were telling us all that masks were useless, and there was no need for them.
They were lying to you. Presumably so as to not panic the public, but a lie nonetheless. The lie was to protect supply, but it was still a lie.
Which makes you wonder what else they have lied about?
I suspect the answer is ‘a great deal’.
Will anyone be held to account for this? Of course not. The letter from the Ministry of Health is just a fancy way of saying sorry in the precise manner that Father Jack used in Father Ted:
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