Back in 2000, when George W Bush needed a Vice-Presidential candidate for his run for the Presidency, he appointed his friend Dick Cheney to find him one. Cheney obligingly reported back that the best candidate was... Dick Cheney.
Something similar seems to be going on in ACC's selection of vocational rehabilitation providers:
Tauranga-based Maureen Bray is the managing director of vocational rehabilitation service Alpha Consultants and is also the director of VocHealth NZ, which she set up last October. Ms Bray was part of an external reference group which ACC used during the design phase of the new model.So, design the programme, get the contract. It certainly smells bad. ACC of course says that everything is above board, but are hiding behind the usual wall of secrecy. Fortunately, that's exactly why we have the Official Information Act. ACC will of course try and hide behind "commercial sensitivity", but in a case where we've had an allegation of corruption and conflict of interest, the public interest in release is very high indeed.ACC awarded VocHealth a contract in January to provide rehabilitation services in much of the North Island outside of Auckland.