Dame Paula Rebstock has learnt to ignore the criticism that comes with the job

An article from Stuff by Jo Moir

Public servant Paula Rebstock has been recognised for her services to the state by being made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Jo Moir spoke to her about her most challenging roles, the sacrifices and how she deals with, often negative, public scrutiny. Money-hungry, a patchy performer, unqualified for your job: for most people, having those insults hurled your way would make 2015 an annus horribilis.
For Paula Rebstock, however, the barbs were nothing compared to some of the darkest days in her career.
When a lone gunman walked into a Work and Income office in Ashburton in September 2014, killing two staff and leaving a third seriously injured, Rebstock - chairwoman of the Work and Income board - stood alongside workers and the community as they struggled to make sense of the tragedy.
"The senseless loss of life of staff, those things are the things that are truly hard to deal with, and those things put life in perspective."
Now, her appointment as a Dame Companion of the NZ Order of Merit has provided a new perspective on her years of work. On New Year's Eve, Rebstock, her husband and two daughters will take up glasses of bubbles from their holiday home in the Bay of Islands, toasting a successful year rounded off with a "surprising" honour that brought her to tears.
Standing in the kitchen with her husband while opening the mail, Rebstock thought nothing of a letter from Government House, assuming it was her annual invite to Waitangi Day commemorations.
"I opened it and was really quite taken back. My husband said to me, 'What is wrong with you?' and I handed him the letter with tears running down my face. He looked at me and said, 'Oh God'."
Rebstock's two daughters, aged 20 and 24, have made "a lot of allowances for the certain work schedule their mother keeps" so she was straight on the phone to tell them the news.
"It was a special family moment, no question."
This isn't Rebstock's first award: after completely revamping the Commerce Commission, she was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2009.
Rebstock, originally from Montana in the United States, moved to New Zealand in 1987 and says the honour helped her to feel at home.
"For me it was something about being accepted in this country and really being a New Zealander like everyone else."
First employed by Treasury as an economist, she then served in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet before moving to the Commerce Commission, where she became chair in 2003.
"When I left the Commerce Commission I always thought that would be the thing in my career I'd most feel proud of because we really did shift the work of the Commerce Commission to be far more productive."
On leaving the Commission in 2009, Rebstock was asked to lead an expert panel on probation services, which at the time was "really in a state of crisis".
"They were an agency under siege."
After cleaning up that mess, Rebstock moved onto ACC where her first experience on the board was a "terrible privacy breach". Details of thousands of ACC clients, some who fell under sensitive claims, were accidentally sent to ACC claimant Bronwyn Pullar.
"It really rocked the organisation...it involved a fairly large transformation in order to earn back the trust and confidence of our customers."
Most recently, Rebstock has been chairing a review of Child Youth and Family - a government department that has endured years of overhauls but no real change.
"If I'm honest I don't think I realised how big a challenge it was going to be...we've not done well by children who come into the care of the state."
Labour leader Andrew Little was scathing about her $2000-a-day salary for the review, saying she was "in it for herself" in what he described as a "pretty patchy career".
Rebstock is not new to criticism of her work, singling out "relentless" scrutiny while at the Commerce Commission, but says she does not let the political jibes get the best of her.
"These things are political processes and it's part of the game...it would be crazy if I allowed myself to get caught up in that - that's not to say at the time I didn't think, 'Gosh, why am I doing this again?'."
For now, it's Christmas at home, then a month at the beach and much excitement at the news her elderly parents and sister plan to travel to New Zealand in the New Year to celebrate her honour.
"People have to make a lot of allowances for you in their life when you get involved in a lot of these things and my family have always done that."

© 2016 Fairfax New Zealand Ltd

www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/75403036/Dame-Paula-Rebstock-has-learnt-to-ignore-the-criticism-that-comes-with-the-job

ACC reined in over waiver

An article from Stuff

The Privacy Commissioner's office has again reined in ACC after it asked clients to sign a form accepting their personal files may be lost, then claimed such a form gave it indemnity.
The waiver forms were introduced after a series of client privacy breaches, including emailing of the personal details of more than 6700 clients to claimant Bronwyn Pullar.
ACC used to send sensitive files to claimants' houses via courier. It has now asked clients to sign a contract accepting the files may not reach their destination. The form states the client accepts risks, including "non-delivery, delivery to an unauthorised person, or interception by an unauthorised person".
Outgoing ACC chief executive Ralph Stewart told TVNZ: "They need to indemnify us, just in case it does go to the wrong place and they haven't used the options we've offered them."
But the Privacy Commissioner's office contacted ACC to put him right after TVNZ approached it about the comments. Mr Stewart later said the corporation would take responsibility for its mistakes.

© 2012 Fairfax NZ News

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7772012/ACC-reined-in-over-waiver

ACC to consider individual privacy complaints

A news report from Radio New Zealand

The head of the Accident Compensation Corporation says it will consider each case of sensitive claimants whose private details were released to see whether further compensation is required.
The corporation offered in June to pay $250 to each of 200 claimants in compensation for mistakenly emailing their information to another claimant, Bronwyn Pullar.
A lawyer specialising in ACC matters, John Miller, says the offer is insulting and he intends to take action on behalf of about 100 of the claimants.
Another lawyer, Hazel Armstrong, has warned that those who seek greater damages may face a costly battle.
Ms Armstrong says they will have to prove they've suffered emotional harm because of the privacy breach.
"Possibly depending on how far ACC pushes it, they might have to show a level of significance that would have to be measured by a psychiatrist, and a psychiatrist's report can cost anything between $2000 and $7000."
ACC chief executive Ralph Stewart told Radio New Zealand's Morning Report programme the $250 offered is to recognise that the corporation had made a mistake.
"If the individual concerned is not happy we want to talk to them here about that and consider their own individual position."
Claimants not satisfied with this process have the option of going to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner or the Human Rights Tribunal.
Mr Miller is confident the case is strong and says his firm will take action on a pro bono basis.
He says he will go to the Human Rights Tribunal only if negotiations with ACC and the Privacy Commissioner fail.

© 2012 Radio New Zealand

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/117041/acc-to-consider-individual-privacy-complaints

Privacy breach victims to sue ACC

An article from the Sunday Star Times by David Gadd and Marika Hill

Sex abuse survivors are planning to sue ACC to force a significantly boosted payout for breaching their privacy in the ongoing Bronwyn Pullar whistleblower saga.
ACC sent apology letters in June to sensitive-claims clients and offered to pay them $250 if they agreed to stay silent, after one of New Zealand's biggest privacy breaches in August last year. The "insulting" offer came after ACC mistakenly released the names and details of 6500 claimants, including 250 sensitive-claims clients who are victims of sexual abuse and violent crimes, to claimant Pullar.
Wellington lawyer John Miller, a specialist in taking on ACC, said more than 100 claimants affected by the massive Pullar breach had approached him to take the case. He said those wanting to pursue ACC were sensitive claimants who generally had long simmering feelings of being poorly treated by the ACC system. Although a claimant with a normal injury could shrug off the privacy breach, for sensitive claimants "this is the last straw".
"It's a corrosive environment they are in with ACC, frankly. The people I have spoken to, they are insulted by $250, it is a derisory amount for the torment they have gone through."
Worse was ACC's requirement that claimants sign a confidentially agreement if they took the payment. "They feel they are being told ‘now go away and shut up and sign a document to say you are going to shut up forever more'."
He said that although technically class action claims were not possible in New Zealand, the process worked with one claim taken and if it won it set a precedent. ACC would be asked to settle with everyone, or face losing case after case with legal costs compounding the settlement payouts. He said the process had worked before and usually ACC saw sense.
Miller would not be drawn on what level of compensation would satisfy claimants, but said past privacy breaches had won payouts of anything from $2000 to $40,000. It depended on the severity of the consequences. In 2003 he said ACC paid $8000 for sending a man's earnings details to his wife, resulting in divorce because he had kept his income secret from her.
The Dominion Post revealed in July that ACC paid out almost $50,000 for eight privacy breaches in the past three years.
However, the government agency refused to divulge the amount of each payment.
Following an investigation in the Pullar blunder, the privacy commissioner found that systemic weaknesses at ACC and an "almost cavalier" attitude towards claimants' information led to the breach. The privacy breach led to ACC introducing strict privacy policies and saw an exodus of top staff.
ACC chairman John Judge, chief executive Ralph Stewart and board members John McCliskie, Rob Campbell and Murray Hilder all departed from the agency.
ACC has so far refused to comment publicly on the financial settlement payments.

© 2012 Fairfax NZ News

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/7748139/Privacy-breach-victims-to-sue-ACC

Question to Minister

Question 4: Kevin Hague to the Minister for ACC: Does she agree with Peter Trapski's recommendation in his 1994 Report of that "the Corporation must ensure that the opinions it obtains from medical practitioners are independent, not only of the claimant, but also of the Corporation, and that they are seen to be so"?



Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister for ACC): Yes.
Kevin Hague: Is she concerned that just four of ACC’s favourite specialist medical advisers— Dr Martin C Robb, Dr Vic du Plessis, Dr Bill Turner, and Dr David Beaumont—are collectively paid up to $2 million a year from ACC for services rendered?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I believe that the member is referring to a TV3 report on Sunday evening—oh, no, he is not. When it comes to saying that people are paid up to an amount, it is not particularly helpful, because it is anything under that amount. But I have been advised by ACC that for medical case reviews, it has 338 doctors who can carry out those assessments, for initial medical assessments the number is 97, for vocational initial medical assessments it is 62, and for impairment assessments it has got 59, and that, on average, the four particular doctors who were discussed on the 60 Minutes programme, whom I thought he was referring to, actually conduct between 8.7 and 4.7 percent of those particular reviews. So I hope that is helpful to the member.
Kevin Hague: Does she believe that an ordinary person would consider it possible that medical advisers like Dr du Plessis, Dr Turner, Dr Beaumont, and Dr Robb could remain independent of ACC, when it pays them between $300,000 and $500,000 each per year?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I think that that is an issue that needs to be considered, and I have spoken to ACC about it. The member will be aware that there is a new board now put in place. I will be meeting with the board and discussing—obviously not the individual cases or the matters— how we can end up with a system that, obviously, achieves good, robust, and independent medical reports and assessments, and that can be seen as independent by both the claimants or clients of ACC and ACC. I also note that even back in the year 2000—12 years ago—the same lawyers for ACC clients were claiming exactly the same issues around what they said were non-independent medical assessments. So I do not think much has changed, but I am happy to work with the member to try to get things to change.
Kevin Hague: Does she agree that an ordinary person would find it unbelievable that ACC would continue to fly these doctors around the country and pay them an average of almost $1,700 for each client they see if they were not acting as “hit men”, to use the phrase that Laurie Gluckman was described as according to Judge Trapski, in targeting the exit of long-term claimants, which ACC has referred to as low-hanging fruit?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I think it is absolutely right that people who are not highly trained skilled medical professionals, just like people who are not highly trained, very skilled legal professionals, find the fees that are charged outrageous, but that is actually something that I think most people in New Zealand would say around this area. I do not know for certain and I cannot tell the House that the medical professionals he is referring to are paid any differently from any other medical professionals—
Hon Ruth Dyson: So that makes it all right.
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: —with that degree of expertise, and I am surprised that the former Minister for ACC, who left the job so abruptly, should want to call out about this issue.
Kevin Hague: Does she accept that there is a risk that the assessments performed by a doctor who earns up to half a million dollars a year working part-time for ACC could be affected by that doctor’s desire to continue receiving such lucrative contracts from the corporation?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Well, I think that there is always that perception. Whether the perception is reality is a different matter, because as I understand it, these very highly trained, experienced medical professionals are in great demand all over the world. What we do know is that in a country the size of New Zealand, which, of course, has a fabulous health system, thanks in good part to this Government, it is thanks also to the level of qualifications and experience and the work attitude of many of the medical professionals he is referring to.
Kevin Hague: Does she agree that contracting for specialist medical assessments with district health boards or professional colleges would help ensure that they are independent and are seen to be so, as Judge Trapski says they must be?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I think the member has raised a very good point, and he has privately raised that matter with me. It is certainly one that I have raised with ACC, and now that the new board is in place I wish to take that matter further and see whether or not that is a realistic situation that we should consider.
Kevin Hague: What are the instructions she has given the reconstituted ACC board about specialist medical assessments?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I have not yet met with the board. It has only been in place a few days, but I will be attending the first board meeting to discuss some of these issues with the board members and ask them whether they can start considering these matters. I have, however, met with the chief executive, raised those issues, and asked for some suggestions. I think it is a very important issue that the member has raised.
Barbara Stewart: Will ACC cap the annual amount it spends on any individual medical assessor to avoid the risk of incentivising advisers to provide reports that ACC wants rather than independent advice?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I am not sure that that would be a good idea, particularly if, for instance, there may be only two or three specialists with the level of expertise in the country. So I think that might be a bit of a blunt instrument, but I can undertake to look at all those considerations.

http://inthehouse.co.nz/node/15035

Independent medical assessments must be a top priority

A press release from the Green Party by Kevin Hague

The newly constituted ACC Board needs to demonstrate its commitment to culture change in the organisation by immediately changing the way it commissions the services of specialist medical assessors, Green Party ACC spokesperson Kevin Hague said today.
Melanie Read's 60 Minutes story, which screened earlier this evening, has revealed to the public what ACC advocates, long term claimants, and the Green Party have known for some time: that ACC is selectively contracting favoured medical assessors who deliver the assessments that ACC needs to end the entitlements of long-term claimants.
"There is no doubt that ACC has a standard practice of using specialist medical assessors who are likely to make an assessment favourable to ACC,” said Mr Hague.
“The many claimants' stories I have on file show, in particular, it is common for ACC medical assessors to have views which are unusual in their specialty, and who are willing to offer opinions outside of their recognized scope of practice.
“Dr Du Plessis, who was interviewed in Melanie Reid's story is far from unique.
“This is not a new problem. The review of ACC claims management undertaken by Judge Trapski in the wake of the scandal in which Dr. Laurie Gluckman was used by ACC to give opinions in ACC's favour, recommended in 1994 that specialist medical assessments should be genuinely independent of both the claimants and ACC itself.
"It is scandalous that ACC is still engaging in these unethical practices. It is yet another illustration of the sick culture of disentitlement that has taken hold of the organisation,” said Mr Hague.
“It will be an important test of the Minister and the new Board whether urgent action is now taken to introduce truly independent assessments.
"The Green Party has suggested several ways of doing this to the Minister. One is to engage with the specialists' professional colleges to have them appoint medical assessors. Another is simply to extend the contracts ACC already has with District Health Boards so that DHB specialists make the assessments,” said Mr Hague.
Mr Hague has also raised with the Minister ACC's intention to now exercise greater control of the clinical "gateway" into the scheme.
"ACC is now extending the methods they have used to 'exit' long term claimants to the processes by which accident victims are referred into the scheme by general practitioners. The Minister has indicated that our grave concern about these practices will be considered by the new Board. This can't come soon enough,” said Mr Hague.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1209/S00112/independent-medical-assessments-must-be-a-top-priority.htm

ACC pays millions to send its 'hatchets'

An article from the Dominion Post by Phil Kitchin

ACC is spending millions of dollars flying doctors around New Zealand to assess long-term clients who have already been assessed by other doctors.
The policy has been slammed by John Miller - one of the country's top lawyers specialising in ACC legislation - who said the so-called “independence” of some assessors was a sham.
ACC lawyers, advocates and claimant groups know those doctors as “hatchet men and women”, Mr Miller said.
“They are not independent, as a substantial part of their income comes from ACC,” he said.
ACC figures reveal the corporation pays millions of dollars a year to a group of “independent assessors”, often flying them to towns or cities where other doctors with suitable qualifications already practise. In some cases the ACC assessors are flown from the South Island to North Island cities.
At least $3 million was spent last year on airfares and assessment fees for a group of less than 12 doctors.
Mr Miller said medical professionals had expressed serious concerns to him about the issue. Because some assessors earned virtually all their income from ACC it was “inevitable” they would tend to “provide reports ACC wants".
“The old saying of ‘he who pays the piper calls the tune' definitely applies with ACC assessors. The use of such assessors actually damages and diminishes ACC's reputation,” Mr Miller said. “ACC knows the assessors who have particular fixed medical views, for example on degeneration . . . and they keep sending injured claimants to be assessed by those assessors as they know they will receive reports they want.”
Mr Miller said ACC advocates know when clients are sent for assessments by “the same usual suspects ... there will be an adverse outcome for the injured claimant”.
ACC has seen a drop in the number of cases it is winning as claimants fight assessments. The corporation won 77 per cent of cases challenged by clients in 2009 but in the year to date that figure has dropped to 56 per cent.
Mr Miller said his firm had experienced cases where independent assessors such as occupational therapists for seriously injured clients refused to provide reports “for us in ACC disputes".
“They fear that it will affect their livelihood from ACC contracts,” he said.
“It confirms in people's minds it is an organisation more concerned with removing claimants from ACC assistance this way rather than being concerned with properly rehabilitating injured claimants off the scheme.”
Mr Miller said the solution would be for ACC to start using a group of trusted assessors who could “be used by both sides."
ACC's claims management acting general manager Phil Riley said ACC chose appropriate providers, but if clients did not want to see them because of genuine concerns, a choice of two alternative providers was offered. If clients chose not to see a local assessor, ACC could arrange for a specialist from another area to travel to their location.
"For practicality purposes, we try to send specialists to other areas when there are a number of clients to see in that area. This is why ACC flies specialist medical professionals to other regions, to hold ‘day clinics' for ACC clients."
ACC paid specialists at market rates, Mr Riley said.
ACC Minister Judith Collins said changes she made to ACC's board include new priorities for the corporation to ensure entitlements were delivered transparently. She said ACC must follow a fair process for assessments and provide best practice and lawful services to preserve public trust.
However ACC would not be a soft touch for people trying to take advantage of it, Ms Collins said.

© 2012 Fairfax NZ News

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7637014/ACC-pays-millions-to-send-its-hatchets

ACC culture must be more fair and open

An editorial from the New Zealand Herald

The need for a culture change at the Accident Compensation Corporation has prompted the departure of the chairman, two board members, the chief executive and several officials. With the decks cleared, much of the responsibility for turning the ship around will lie with the board appointees announced by the ACC Minister, Judith Collins, this week. Unsurprisingly, the interim chairwoman, Paula Rebstock, will reprise her fix-it role at the table's head for the next three years. Other new appointments see Trevor Janes in the deputy chairman's chair and Professor Des Gorman and Kirsty McDonald, QC, on the board.
Ms Collins says these choices "underline the Government's commitment to genuine culture change, and will lead to a more balanced and comprehensive approach to the governance and operation of ACC". It is on that basis that the appointments will be scrutinised. Labour's ACC spokesman, Andrew Little, was quick to talk of "a sharp lurch to the right" and to zero in on Professor Gorman. The professor, head of the Auckland School of Medicine, had, he said, been a senior medical adviser to the ACC for many years, and "given some of the most retrograde advice on claimants' files I've known".
He said the professor had been the subject of many complaints over his advice about occupational overuse syndrome in the 1990s.
That raises questions about the precise nature of the culture that will be implanted at the ACC. The first priority, in the wake of the privacy breach which saw details of 6700 ACC claimants emailed to Bronwyn Pullar, is no longer said to be cost containment. Rather, it is trust and confidence. But the criticism of Professor Gorman over OOS advice has had a recent echo in the stricter enforcement of the ACC's policy of declining to pay for surgery for "pre-existing conditions". To save money, the ACC seized on age-related degeneration of claimants' bodies to unjustifiably reject their claims for surgery after an injury.
On appeal, too many rejections of such claims were reversed. Understandably, this led to accusations that the ACC was too hard-nosed. The corporation, after an internal review, conceded as much, yet comments this year by the previous chairman, John Judge, suggested nothing much had changed. The ACC was still not getting the balance right in its decision-making.
An early task for Ms Rebstock must, therefore, be to respond to the criticism of Professor Gorman's appointment and to spell out exactly what it signifies. When the stricter policy for pre-existing conditions was introduced, there was no public notification of why it was necessary or how it would be applied. That lack of transparency is not sustainable. More broadly, the new culture must include a clear explanation of exactly where the ACC is headed under the new board.
The corporation should be involving claimants' surgeons more in its decision-making and applying extra expertise where necessary. It should also be explaining the reasons for its decisions more clearly to people. The "almost cavalier" attitude identified by official inquiries into the Pullar case cannot continue. But the changes to the way the ACC approaches its job, notably in keeping costs under control, should be kept in proportion. There can, for example, be no question of unworthy claims for surgery being approved with few questions asked.
The lessons of the Pullar case are that the ACC must be more sensitive, fair and open in its dealings with people. That culture change will not have to be as drastic as that needed at the top level to achieve it.

© 2012 APN Holdings NZ Ltd

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10832252

Rebstock’s appointment highlights opportunity for ACC

A press release from the Green Party

The appointment of Paula Rebstock as permanent chair of ACC is an opportunity to steer the corporation back towards the role and principles it was founded on, the Green party said today.
Ms Rebstock has been interim chair of ACC since John Judge stood down and today was appointed chairperson.
“Ms Rebstock has a huge responsibility to turn the ACC ship around,” Green Party ACC spokesperson Kevin Hague said today.
“Recent reports into ACC by the Auditor General and the Privacy Commissioner have called for major top-level change at the corporation.
“New Zealanders will expect a very different performance and attitude from ACC than they saw when Ms Rebstock was a board member under John Judge and the previous ACC minister Nick Smith.
“Her dual roles in both ACC and Work and Income will require her to be particularly conscious that it is not acceptable to exit people from ACC only to have them end up on WINZ benefits.
“Ordinary New Zealanders don’t like the profit-driven, privacy-abandoning organisation that ACC has become and want it to return to the principals it was founded on.
“It’s pretty basic really. Kiwis gave up the right to sue for a no-fault system that guaranteed them proper compensation and rehabilitation when they were hurt and injured. Its about giving injured New Zealanders the chance of a good life and a fair future.
“Ms Rebstock has a huge job to lead the top-level change that’s needed to make that happen,” Mr Hague said.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1209/S00033/rebstocks-appointment-highlights-opportunity-for-acc.htm

Minister fumes as ACC fails yet again

An article from the Dominion Post by Shane Cowlishaw

ACC'S privacy practices have again been exposed after it sent information about an elderly client to the wrong person, and then took six weeks to tell her about it.
The corporation also failed to inform ACC Minister Judith Collins about the breach. She was unaware of it until told on Friday by The Dominion Post.
Mrs Collins has weekly meetings with the organisation and has demanded a zero-tolerance approach to privacy violations. She said the latest breach was "totally unacceptable" and called for a full explanation from outgoing chief executive Ralph Stewart.
The information, which included details about Auckland resident Diane Hawke's injury, compensation and complaints about ACC, was sent to a client in the corporation's sensitive claims unit in a bundle of documents at the end of March - just weeks after the privacy breach involving whistleblower Bronwyn Pullar was revealed.
All correspondence with sensitive claims unit clients is supposed to go through more thorough security checks.
The mistake was not discovered until July, when the recipient, who has had her own privacy breached by ACC several times, finally found time to look at all the information she was sent. Incensed, she emailed and called ACC several times. She was shocked to discover six weeks later that Mrs Hawke had still not been told of the breach.
Both Mrs Hawke and the sensitive claims unit client were among the 7000 people whose details were inadvertently sent to Ms Pullar.
The fallout from Ms Pullar's revelations claimed the scalps of Cabinet minister Nick Smith, ACC chairman John Judge and several board members.
Last week a damning independent report into the breach vindicated Ms Pullar and highlighted a poor privacy culture at ACC.
The sensitive claimant said she was "mortified" at receiving Mrs Hawke's details, but her shock quickly turned to anger when she learnt how ACC had handled it.
"Look, I was just shattered that their strategy in the media is ‘We take it seriously'. This took them six weeks to get serious about. It's a bad, sick joke, and it's simply not good enough."
The breach raised several issues, including how historical information from a standard ACC claimant had been mixed up in current documents prepared for one handled by the sensitive claims unit, she said.
Mrs Hawke, who has been sent another person's details in the past, said she was angry to learn about the delay in informing her. "I thought ... here we go again, because I have no confidence in their privacy or anything else."
Ms Collins said Mr Stewart would report on how the breach happened and what was done to ensure it never happens again.
ACC spokeswoman Stephanie Melville said the six-week delay was too long, and ACC apologised. An inquiry was under way and no decision had been made on possible compensation. The findings of the privacy commissioner's report had been accepted and all recommendations would be implemented in full, she said.

TIMELINE
March 29: ACC sends the sensitive claimant a bundle of documents relating to her case.
July 11: Claimant, who regularly receives large volumes of documents from ACC, notices the March package contains nine pages of Diane Hawke's information, dated 2008.
July 11: Sensitive claimant emails her case manager over breach.
July 12, 16: Claimant rings ACC complaints office and customer support service manager Kerry Dow over breach.
July 18-22: She and Mr Dow exchange emails about breach and whether the documents have been destroyed.
August 15: After speaking to Mrs Hawke, sensitive claimant learns ACC has yet to tell her of the breach. She calls ACC again.
August 16: Mr Dow calls Mrs Hawke to tell her of the breach and emails sensitive claimant, informing her he has done so.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7597898/Minister-fumes-as-ACC-fails-yet-again

© 2012 Fairfax NZ News

Privacy breach a warning for others

An article from the Nelson Mail by Laura Basham

In a chilling revelation, an inquiry into the case of ACC emailing sensitive details about more than 6000 claimants to the wrong person reveals it could have happened to any big government agency.
A spreadsheet containing details of the 6000-plus claimants - including more than 200 handled by the ACC's sensitive claims unit dealing with rape and sexual abuse victims - was emailed to Auckland woman Bronwyn Pullar after an ACC staffer mistakenly clicked on it and sent it as an attachment without noticing.
An inquiry yesterday found simple human error was to blame for the breach, which has so far claimed the scalps of a government minister, the chairman and chief executive of ACC and could yet claim further victims as the hunt continues for the person who leaked an email from Pullar support person, former National Party president Michelle Boag, to ACC Minister Judith Collins.
Former ACC minister and Nelson MP Nick Smith said today he was pleased that the reports concluded that Ms Pullar did not receive any extra entitlements or benefits as a consequence of her friendship with him or that she was known through the pipfruit industry and to former ACC director John McCliskie. The inquiries were initiated out of allegations that because Ms Pullar had been involved with the National Party, she had received entitlements, he said.
"These reports show that is not true and that both myself and the board were very clear Bronwyn Pullar should not be treated in any way differently from any other claimant," said Dr Smith.
However, he said he still regretted writing the letter attesting to Ms Pullar's health prior to her accident, that ultimately triggered his resignation from his ministerial portfolios in March.
Dr Smith also noted that the system issue that led to the accidental email of a large file of client information could happen to other government agencies, and said there needed to be a broader review of systems to ensure that did not happen.
The release of the reports concludes the investigations on the ACC issues, but Dr Smith would not be drawn on the issue of his potential return to Cabinet, saying it was up to Prime Minister John Key. "We'll just have to see how it goes."
The report released yesterday remains silent on whether ACC was justified in going to police over claims that Ms Pullar tried to use the data breach to guarantee her benefit for two years - despite four members of the independent review team listening to a tape recording of the meeting where the blackmail threat was alleged to have been made. Police later tossed out the complaint because of a lack of evidence but ACC has so far refused to apologise to Ms Pullar over the claim.
The head of the review team, former Australian privacy commissioner Malcolm Crompton, said the blackmail allegation was outside the inquiry's terms of reference.
The inquiry, commissioned by the Privacy Commissioner and ACC, was one of two reports released yesterday into the mass privacy breach. The second was by Auditor General Lyn Provost. Both reports call for a culture change at ACC, which acting chairwoman Paula Rebstock promised yesterday would occur after the privacy breach raised "profound questions about our management of private information".
Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff said the breach threw the spotlight on the use of personal information by government agencies.
"Public sector agencies collect information from us on a very large scale, often by compulsion, in a situation where we really have no alternative but to provide it. The information is held these days in vast electronic databases. That information is the necessary lifeblood of those agencies and a major business asset for those agencies. But the bargain for us, the citizens, the clients, is we need to be able to trust those agencies to protect our information and not to misuse it or lose it."
Both reports released yesterday raise questions not just about the privacy breach, but also over the treatment received by Ms Pullar, who was a former high-flying business woman and moved in National Party circles. Mrs Provost found Ms Pullar received special treatment after she approached a former business associate, Mr McCliskie, who was on the ACC board, over her case and he set up a meeting with senior managers.
"Although meetings with such senior ACC officials are not without precedent, few claimants have that opportunity," she noted.

© 2012 Fairfax NZ News

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/7541881/Privacy-breach-a-warning-for-others

ACC privacy report may lead to wider overhaul

An article from the New Zealand Herald by Adam Bennett

All government agencies' handling of private data may be reviewed after an independent inquiry into the ACC privacy breach found it could have happened in any department.
The report by former Australian Privacy Commissioner Malcolm Crompton and accountancy firm KPMG examined what led to a spreadsheet containing details about 6748 clients being emailed to claimant and former National Party insider Bronwyn Pullar last year, and ACC's response when it learned of the breach in December.
It concluded that the breach, which was disclosed to the public, senior management and ACC Minister Judith Collins only when Ms Pullar went to the media with the information in March, was down to "a genuine human error".
However, "such an error was more likely to occur because of systemic weaknesses within ACC's culture, systems and processes".
The report also found ACC's subsequent response process could have been better "if appropriate policies, practices, escalation protocols and the right culture were in place".
It made a series of recommendations to improve privacy handling at the corporation.
Acting ACC chairwoman Paula Rebstock said the corporation would be implementing the review's recommendations in full.
Speaking to reporters, Mr Crompton said Ms Pullar had done the public "a service by making sure that we pay attention to the proper governance of personal information".
"Most organisations should be taking great note of the fact that it could have been them."
State Services Commissioner Ian Rennie said the report was "a dramatic reminder of the need for all government agencies to treat private information with the utmost care and respect".
"To this end, I am considering that state sector chief executives review their systems for handling private information. Any stocktake would initially be targeted on areas of greatest potential risk."
But Labour's ACC spokesman, Andrew Little, said he did not believe Mr Crompton's claim it was bad luck that the breach occurred at ACC rather than another department.
"There is nowhere else in the Government where there has been the apparent sloppiness in the approach to managing that information as at ACC."
Mr Little said the National Government on coming to power had painted a picture of an organisation in financial crisis that therefore needed to focus on cutting costs.
"That is at least one explanation for the more cavalier attitude towards claimants, their issues and their privacy. I don't think the Government can disown responsibility for it having got to this point."
Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff, who commissioned yesterday's report, said it appeared ACC staff had been under pressure and "a failure in systems processes and perhaps leadership has led to them developing a somewhat cavalier attitude towards people's information and that needs to change".
Mr Little called for Ms Collins to be replaced as ACC Minister to allow the culture change required. Ms Collins dismissed that call, and Mr Little, as "silly".
A report by Auditor-General Lyn Provost into whether Ms Pullar gained any advantage in the way her claim was treated because of her connections with former board member John McCliskie, which was also released yesterday, found no evidence that was the case.
But the report did raise concerns Mr McCliskie and then-chairman John Judge failed to recognise wider allegations of illegality and fraud at the corporation brought to their attention by Ms Pullar late last year.

© 2012 APN Holdings NZ Ltd

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10829060

Culture of fear at ACC

An article from the Dominion Post by Phil Kitchin

Further action could yet be taken against senior ACC managers who failed to act on whistleblower Bronwyn Pullar's first warnings of a massive privacy breach.
As a damning independent report into the breach was published yesterday, ACC Minister Judith Collins has revealed that senior management were operating in a culture of fear at the time.
The report vindicates Ms Pullar, who revealed the breach after making repeated complaints to ACC management, board and staff members about privacy and other alleged breaches of the corporation's codes and laws.
Ms Pullar, an ACC client, was inadvertently sent private details of 6500 fellow clients. The information contained names and details of hundreds of people from ACC's sensitive claims unit, including rape and incest victims.
Since The Dominion Post revealed the privacy breach in March, the fallout from the scandal has included the resignations of Cabinet minister Nick Smith and chief executive Ralph Stewart, and the departure from ACC's board of chairman John Judge and directors John McCliskie and Rob Campbell.
Ms Collins said yesterday she had been told by Mr Stewart that, when he arrived in August last year, "even senior management worked in a culture of fear ... people felt they could not tell others about what had happened".
Asked whether she believed ACC should take action against senior managers involved in the case, she said it was difficult to comment on individual staff.
Interim ACC chairwoman Paula Rebstock said yesterday that she could not talk about individual managers either, but ACC would look at performance issues and take appropriate action. The corporation accepted it had a poor culture on privacy and would accept a string of recommendations to change that culture, she said.
Ms Collins said she expressed concerns about ACC's culture to Mr Judge on more than one occasion, and said she wanted clients treated with respect, courtesy and professionalism. The board did not seem to understand "just how important privacy was", and in June she dumped Mr Judge, Mr McCliskie and Mr Campbell by not renewing their directorships. She said it was a serious error of leadership by the board not to tell Mr Stewart of a list of serious allegations made by Ms Pullar at a meeting with ACC senior managers Philip Murch and Hans Verberne in December.
An ACC report of that meeting, given to Ms Collins three days after The Dominion Post exposed the privacy breach, said Ms Pullar threatened to go to the media and would withhold details of the breach unless she was given a guaranteed benefit. But a tape recording Ms Pullar made at the meeting showed the allegations were false, as was the statement by ACC that no specific details on the breach were given to the managers.
The report to Ms Collins also said that, given the serious nature of the breach, the details should have been escalated to more senior ACC management but were not.
Inquiries by police and the auditor-general later showed that statement was also wrong, and that the two managers at the meeting informed two superior managers and the board secretary about it.
Ms Rebstock said yesterday that, if any allegations in the report to Ms Collins were incorrect, "we will correct it". The original report was still on ACC's website yesterday.
Ms Pullar said she was pleased the report had vindicated concerns she had been trying to raise for years, and she was heartened that Ms Collins said all its recommendations were accepted. She said changes would provide better and fairer outcomes for everyone dealing with ACC.

© 2012 Fairfax New Zealand Ltd

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7538313/Culture-of-fear-at-ACC

Privacy Commissioner urges ACC culture change

A press release from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner

The Privacy Commissioner says a culture change starting at the top of ACC is vital if further data security breaches are to be prevented.
Marie Shroff is commenting on the findings and recommendations of the Independent Review of ACC Privacy and Security of Information that were released today.
The report was commissioned jointly by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) and the ACC Board following the unauthorized disclosure of details of 6,748 clients.
"The review has found the breach was a genuine error and I accept that. But it also shows the error happened because of systemic weaknesses within ACC's culture, systems and processes," says Ms Shroff.
"The reviewers noted a good level of privacy awareness especially at branch level. But the review also highlights a culture that, according to stakeholder feedback to the reviewers, has at times "an almost cavalier" attitude towards its clients and to the protection of their private information.
"The review shows that information stewardship is low level and defensive and focuses on breaches and complaints rather than taking strong leadership that emphasises respect for clients and their information.
"That is not good enough particularly in this digital age. Personal information is the lifeblood of ACC and it is vital that ACC treats that information with respect - the trust of its clients and, in many respects, the success of its operations depends on it."
Ms Shroff says the report shows that ACC lacks a comprehensive strategy for protecting and managing its client information.
"This sort of data is a major business asset with associated risks that have to be managed.
"While ACC has elements of privacy protection and security, these are not up to the standard expected of a responsible public sector agency that holds highly sensitive information on a large number of people.
"Changing that is essential. And the changes, which must include a culture change, have to start right at the top."
The review recommends that an independent audit of how ACC has implemented the changes is undertaken every two years and provided to the Privacy Commissioner.
Marie Shroff welcomes the recommendation.
"It's evident from the report that a lot needs to change before public confidence in ACC can be restored. I believe it can be done, but only if ACC takes the review's findings and recommendations seriously and gives its many good and committed staff the support they need to implement the necessary changes.
"The review provides a strong set of proposals. I will closely monitor ACC's progress as it implements these changes."
Ms Shroff says the data security breach at ACC has provided a timely warning to both public and private sector organisations.
"Agencies that hold large amounts of personal information should be taking note of what has happened at ACC and learn from its mistakes. Many organisations will recognise it could just as easily be them in the headlines."

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1208/S00359/privacy-commissioner-urges-acc-culture-change.htm

Inquiry into aspects of ACC's board-level governance

A press release from the Controller and Auditor-General

In April 2012, I decided to inquire into aspects of the interaction between the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) and one of its claimants, Bronwyn Pullar. I wanted to know whether the ACC Board had policies and procedures for managing interaction between Board members and individual claimants who might be known to them. I wanted to be sure that a claimant could not gain any advantage by approaching a Board member.
My inquiry found no evidence that Ms Pullar's approach to one of ACC's Board members affected her claim to ACC. However, the Board had no formal policy to guide Board members on communication with individual claimants, a deficiency it is rectifying. The handling of the matter depended on the long experience in governance of ACC's Chairman and Deputy Chairman, who were the two Board members concerned.
Of greater concern was ACC's failure to recognise Ms Pullar's wider allegations of illegality and fraud as risks to the organisation. I have no view as to whether there is any justification to the allegations, because that was not the subject of my inquiry. However, a public entity should always take allegations that threaten public trust in the organisation seriously. ACC is one of New Zealand's largest public entities and an important part of public services for New Zealanders.
My inquiry team concluded that ACC management and the Board members concerned failed to appreciate the risk that those allegations presented. It seems that the Board and ACC management were so focused on the appropriate separation of governance and operational matters that they did not recognise these issues as possible symptoms of systemic failure.
The events that gave rise to my inquiry occurred when the Board was relatively new and there was extensive change in senior management. Change in ACC will continue, because it will have a new Chairperson, several new Board members, and a new chief executive in the next few months. I consider that a new Board member, even if that person is an experienced director, will take two to three years to understand key actuarial and financial aspects of ACC, as well as its culture.
I asked my Deputy, Phillippa Smith, to carry out my inquiry. Because my inquiry concerned issues of practical governance, we engaged James Ogden, an experienced company director, to advise her on those matters. I am grateful to Mr Ogden for his assistance. I also thank the ACC personnel we interviewed and Ms Pullar, for their assistance with my inquiry.

accboardlevelgovernance.pdf

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1208/S00357/inquiry-into-aspects-of-accs-board-level-governance.htm

ACC chair on independent review of ACC privacy

A press release from ACC by Paula Rebstock

ACC and the Board want to thank the authors for the work they have done and the considered way they have presented the findings.
We will be implementing the recommendations made in full.
On behalf of the Board and ACC, I undertake that we will respond to the challenge before us.
ACC has a clear sense of purpose which is to help individuals, communities and businesses return to independence after accidents. The events over the last six months have raised profound questions about our management of information.
ACC must show customers and stakeholders that change is occurring, that we are responding quickly and that we can demonstrate that people’s personal information is being treated with the care and respect it deserves.
We need processes that help minimise errors with safeguards to provide checks and back-ups. If something does go wrong, we must have systems to respond quickly and appropriately, and just as importantly, we need to find out what went wrong so we can try to prevent it happening again.
The responsibility for this sits with the Board and Management of ACC to provide our people with the environment, tools and processes they need to manage information appropriately.
The review outlines seven broad areas for improving systems and processes with a series of detailed recommendations under each. Just as important, we need strong leadership, the right culture and unquestionable commitment to privacy – and that starts with the Board.
I would also like to acknowledge the work of the Auditor General and the Inquiry Report that was released today into aspects of ACC’s Board-level governance following the breach.
The OAG report recognises the critical importance of having clear and detailed protocols for dealing with communication between Board members and clients.
We accept the conclusions and will incorporate all the OAG recommendations to ensure our practices, training and Governance Manual underpin and support sound governance practice. This includes how the Board and management address any allegations of improper conduct.
The Board is clear about its responsibility and has undertaken to implement the measures in the Auditor General’s report.
Both the Independent Review of ACC and the Auditor General’s report will form part of a programme of work against which ACC can be measured.
We have put in place a structure to lead this work, and we will engage external specialist advice to help plan and prioritise the work ahead of us.
ACC will work closely with the Privacy Commissioner to measure and monitor progress on implementing the recommendations which include regular public reporting of results.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1208/S00352/acc-chair-on-independent-review-of-acc-privacy.htm

Independent review of ACC privacy and information security

A press release from KPMG by the Independent Review Team

A review of the Privacy and Security of Information at the Accident Compensation Corporation was released by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and ACC’s Board today following a comprehensive review by an Independent Review Team comprising KPMG and Information Integrity Solutions Pty Limited.
The review examined the circumstances relating to a major data breach involving the inadvertent release of personal details of 6,748 ACC clients, and the appropriateness and effectiveness of ACC’s privacy and security policies and practices.
“Information is arguably the most critical asset in any organisation today. The challenge of protecting personal information has never been greater.” says Malcolm Crompton, former Australian Privacy Commissioner and Managing Director of Information Integrity Solutions Pty Limited. “While ACC has suffered a significant data breach, other organisations, both public and private, could face the same.”
The Independent Review Team concluded that the breach that occurred was a genuine human error, but that such an error was more likely to occur because of systemic weaknesses within ACC’s culture, systems and processes. ACC’s subsequent response process could also have been better if appropriate policies, practices, escalation protocols and the right culture were in place to allow for transparency of breach handling at the appropriate levels, in an appropriate manner.
The Recommendations of the Review Team are comprehensive:

• ACC needs to put in place clear policies that create a positive privacy mindset as part of rebuilding customer trust and establishing a ‘firm but also seen as fair’ image in the minds of the public.
• Strengthen Board governance of personal information management.
• Strengthen privacy leadership and strategy.
• Enhance its privacy programme.
• Strengthen the organisational culture.
• Strengthen privacy accountability.
• Review and update business processes and systems.
• Provide additional resources to clear backlogs on privacy related processes.

KPMG Partner Souella Cumming commented that “An organisation’s data needs to be protected by thorough and effective risk mitigation strategies to the same or higher levels as other vital assets. Without these strategies in place, the organisation is at risk of significant reputational damage.”
Malcolm Crompton and Souella Cumming noted “We emphasise the significance of a culture and environment where personal information is valued. This must be supported by an approach to compliance with the privacy principles that is embedded within governance, leadership, business processes and systems.”
This forms the basis of the recommendations in the report of the Independent Review Team.

Independent_Review_of_ACCs_Privacy_and_Security_of_Information__August_2012.pdf

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1208/S00351/independent-review-of-acc-privacy-and-information-security.htm

Damning report expected on ACC

An article from the Dominion Post by Phil Kitchin

An independent investigation into ACC, prompted by revelations of a mass privacy breach, is expected to condemn the corporation's culture and processes.
A report due out today is expected to bolster widespread criticism of ACC's repeated breaches of thousands of its clients' privacy since the mass breach was exposed by The Dominion Post. It is also expected to criticise ACC's leadership, privacy systems and the corporation's technology for dealing with highly sensitive information.
Fallout from the March privacy breach has included the resignations of Cabinet minister Nick Smith and ACC chief executive Ralph Stewart, and the departure from the corporation's board of chairman John Judge and directors John McCliskie and Rob Campbell.
The report is being made public on the same day that another by the Auditor-General's Office, on how ACC manages risk at board level, is tabled in Parliament.
Both investigations arose after an ACC client - later identified as Bronwyn Pullar - revealed she had been sent private details of 6500 fellow clients. The information contained names and details of hundreds of people from ACC's sensitive claims unit, including rape and incest victims.
In the ensuing fallout, The Dominion Post revealed that ACC grossly misrepresented what happened at a crucial December meeting between Ms Pullar, her supporter Michelle Boag, and two senior ACC managers.
In a report to ACC Minister Judith Collins, the corporation said Ms Pullar threatened at the meeting to go to the media and to withhold details of the mass breach unless she was given a two-year guaranteed benefit. The corporation laid a blackmail complaint with police.
But a tape recording of the meeting, made by Ms Pullar and provided to ACC, made a mockery of the blackmail allegations. It showed no such threats or demands were made, and that Ms Pullar was already on weekly ACC compensation. After police were provided with a copy of the recording, they dismissed the complaint, saying no offence had been disclosed.
Today's reports are not expected to end the scandal, as Ms Collins has taken defamation action against Labour MPs Trevor Mallard and Andrew Little for suggesting her office was involved in leaking an email identifying Ms Pullar as the whistleblower.
The privacy report has been compiled by former Australian federal privacy commissioner Malcolm Crompton and accountancy firm KPMG. Ms Collins has seen the draft and has said she agrees with it. Ms Pullar and Ms Boag would not comment because they said they did not yet know what was in the final report.

© 2012 Fairfax New Zealand Ltd

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7530250/Damning-report-expected-on-ACC

Minister furious over ACC's privacy stance

An article from Stuff by John Hartevelt

ACC Minister Judith Collins wants the state insurer to start sacking staff who breach a new "zero tolerance" policy on privacy breaches.
A furious Ms Collins has revealed her astonishment at the failure of ACC to include privacy among nine of its "top priorities".
"I'm not going to sit back and let one of the most important government entities [that] we have let people down time and time again around things such as privacy.
"They have to act in the way that I expect them to act. When I go around the branches, most of the people there absolutely understand it.
"But, actually, a few are letting them down and when we have things like the audit and risk committee having nine priorities for the year and not one of them [being] privacy, how can that be acceptable given everything else that's going on?"
Ms Collins' comments come as figures from ACC show 11 staff members have been reprimanded over "serious misconduct" since 2010. The breaches involved: theft; fraud against ACC or a claimant; serious misuse of ACC property, including information and systems; dishonesty; disobeying a lawful and reasonable instruction from a manager; and any act that had the potential to bring ACC into disrepute. Nine staff were sacked as a result of the breaches and two were given final written warnings.
Ms Collins said while the serious misconduct cases were "a shame", she was pleased they were taken seriously and not covered up. "I think that they need to be - and they are now - taking on a culture of zero tolerance to privacy breaches, in particular," she said.
Police had a "zero tolerance" approach to staff accessing private details about people without good reason.
"People lose their jobs over it, and that's something that I think ACC needs to have, which is that we have people's very personal information, we should treat it with respect and should understand it's a very privileged position."
ACC has been under siege over repeated privacy breaches since March, when it was revealed the private details of 6500 clients were accidentally sent to claimant Bronwyn Pullar. The revelation sparked a string of controversies, culminating in three inquiries and the resignations of Cabinet minister Nick Smith, board chairman John Judge, chief executive Ralph Stewart and three other board members. Separate inquiries by the privacy commissioner and the auditor-general will be released within weeks.
Ms Collins said she expected the new board members, including a new chairperson, to be in place "just after that".
"When I reappoint or appoint people to the board, that has to be someone who is going to be able to spend the time necessary in bringing about the cultural change that I expect from ACC . . . We need to do an awful lot around the culture of customer service and respect towards members of the public that I know most of our staff are providing."
Green MP Kevin Hague said even basic data protection systems at ACC still appeared to be hopeless.
"When every other state agency, let alone private sector organisation, was busily doing its best to protect data and figure out how to keep people's privacy protected, how come ACC, an organisation that was dealing with some of the most sensitive information out there in the state sector, was effectively doing nothing? I suspect that their focus has been not on meeting client needs. I think their focus has been on their financial result . . . thinking about clients as liabilities rather than people to whom they owe service."

© 2012 Fairfax NZ News

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7464891/Minister-furious-over-ACCs-privacy-stance

Wiped data claim fuels war of words

An article from the Dominion POst by Phil Kitchin and Vernon Small

Tensions between ACC Minister Judith Collins and former ACC chairman John Judge have boiled over in public after claims an investigation into a leaked email had been hampered because Mr Judge had replaced his computer and wiped data.
Mr Judge yesterday described the claims as "pathetic".
Ms Collins said she did not know whether the inquiry by Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff had been delayed or hampered, and had not said that. But she would not descend to "name calling".
The war of words came after Ms Collins confirmed, in response to an Official Information Act request, that Mr Judge had destroyed or replaced his home computer in April, after an inquiry was launched into how an email, sent by former National Party president Michelle Boag to Ms Collins, was leaked. The email related to ACC whistleblower Bronwyn Pullar, who was at the centre of a mass ACC privacy breach. Ms Collins is taking defamation action against Labour MPs Trevor Mallard and Andrew Little over suggestions the leak came from her office.
Asked in the OIA if she had information that Mr Judge's computer had been destroyed, Ms Collins said: "Yes, the information I have received is that Mr Judge's home computer was replaced in April this year."
But yesterday she had received "slightly different" details.
Mr Judge said yesterday that Ms Collins was aware he had replaced his home computer before Mrs Shroff's inquiry was announced and all its data was copied to the new one. His personal computer was replaced in April as part of a routine upgrade. The replacement process began in February when he obtained quotes. As a security measure, redundant material still on his old computer was cleared, before he disposed of it.
"There is nothing untoward in what I did. I had deleted the emails received from the minister's office shortly after I received them."
It was his practice to delete emails not directly relevant to him in the future and where they were held by the organisation with which he was involved.
Mr Judge said he was also provided with an iPad by ACC, which was wiped and handed back to ACC in June. But it was not "synched" to ACC's computer systems nor to Mr Judge's personal computer. It did not receive emails related to the leak.
He had co-operated fully and his personal computer was available to the Shroff inquiry. He had not copied, printed or forwarded any email received from Ms Collins' office.
Outgoing ACC boss Ralph Stewart backed up Mr Judge.
Meanwhile, information provided by Ms Collins has revealed further tensions between her and Mr Judge in March, about the time the leak was made public. In a letter to him on March 27, she said she was concerned ACC made no reference to privacy issues in its draft plan for the year.
"I advised you that I had serious concerns about the level of commitment across ACC to protecting the privacy of claimants' information," she said.
The letter also ticked him off for seeking a law change as a precursor to privatisation.
"I have not suggested this change and made it perfectly clear to you in our meeting on 10 February, when you raised this matter, that this would not be happening."
Labour ACC spokesman Mr Little said Ms Collins was out of line commenting on the Shroff inquiry and should step aside as justice minister until it was was over.

© 2012 Fairfax NZ News

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7404841/Wiped-data-claim-fuels-war-of-words