Former ACC minister Nick Smith has admitted he wrote a letter supporting the claim of a former National Party official on a ministerial letterhead.- © Fairfax NZ News
The revelation came as Labour called on Smith to release the letter, for a woman at the centre of a massive privacy breach by the corporation.
Smith said today he now regretted doing so and it was an error of judgment. He had apologised to Prime Minister John Key this morning. The letter was addressed to ACC medical assessors. Smith was ACC minister at the time.
ACC whistleblower and former National Party figure Bronwyn Pullar was inadvertently emailed the names and details of thousands of ACC clients, including about 250 sensitive sexual abuse cases. ACC has laid a complaint over Pullar, who it has accused of threatening to go public about being sent the confidential information unless ACC promised to pay her a benefit for two years.
A spokesman for Smith this morning confirmed the minister was friends with Pullar, who was injured in a cycling accident in 2002. Smith had written a reference for Pullar last July in a personal capacity. The letter was to be used for medical assessment but Smith was unaware whether it had been used to support Pullar's case for ACC compensation.
"There is nothing in the letter apart from a statement about her state of health and work capability when he knew her prior to the accident."
However, Labour's deputy leader Grant Robertson said Smith was well aware of Pullar's ongoing case with ACC at the time.
"He must have known this would form part of her ACC case."
It was "highly inappropriate" for Smith to have written the letter, he said. It gave weight to calls for an independent inquiry into the privacy breach.
"We shouldn't forget the victims of this situation are the people's whose information has been released.
"Every day that goes by this issue gets murkier and I think an independent inquiry is now what is required, into the the whole situation, the release of the information and who was involved."
Smith's spokesman said the minister was happy for the letter to be released but because it was confidential, it could only be released with Pullar's written permission.
Pullar's name was leaked to a Sunday newspaper, along with an email from her supporter, former National Party president Michelle Boag, who was also at the meeting in which ACC claims the threat was made.
The email was from Boag to ACC Minister Judith Collins and detailed her recollection of the meeting.
Prime Minister John Key has said Collins has assured him she did not leak the email.
ACC confirmed last night it had given Collins an assurance the email was not leaked by either the chief executive or staff.
Boag yesterday insisted she had not leaked the email or Pullar's name to media.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6603029/Minister-wrote-reference-for-ACC-whistleblower
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