Assurances are being made that it wasn't the ACC minister who leaked the identity of the whistleblower in the ACC privacy breach scandal.© 2012 The Radio Network
Former National Party official Bronwyn Pullar's been named as the person ACC accidentally sent confidential file details on seven thousands of ACC clients to.
The Prime Minister says Ms Pullar's name didn't come from ACC Minister Judith Collins or her office. "I have asked her just as a matter of course and she's given me an absolute assurance that she didn't."
John Key says information from Ms Pullar was sent to Ms Collins and one of her staffers, as well as ACC's chief executive and its chairman.
Two investigations are still being carried out into just how it happened but Mr Key admits more steps should have been taken once ACC was told of the breach in December. "One option obviously could have been to proactively engage with those that were on the file. Another certainly could have been to refer it to the police straight away who would have the power to intervene and get that information back before it came into the public domain," he says.
Those affected were only told last week.
The Law Commission recommended last year that mandatory guidelines be introduced when privacy is breached, in cases like those affecting ACC. But the Government hasn't acted on those.
Meanwhile Nick Smith has confirmed he wrote Bronwyn Pullar a reference in July last year, as she was trying to secure entitlements from the corporation. The former ACC Minister says he wrote the letter for Ms Pullar so it could be given to her medical assessors following a bike accident. It's not known whether she used the letter while pursuing her claim with ACC.
Dr Smith says he wrote the letter as a friend, to provide evidence of his knowledge of her state of health before her accident.
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/news/1675829706-ACC-minister-didn-t-leak-whisteblower-s-name
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