In today's NZ Herald Paula Oliver looks at the Hawkes Bay DHB situation. She suggests
It's hard not to feel a pang of sympathy for many of the sacked members of the Hawkes Bay District Health Board, who have now launched a potent attack on Health Minister David Cunliffe.
Unceremoniously dumped from their jobs, they feel they are the victims of an unwanted saga that was started by former Health Minister Annette King, allowed to fester by her successor Pete Hodgson, and has now been unfairly cauterised by Mr Cunliffe.
From the moment Ms King appointed Peter Hausmann to the board in 2005, things started turning pear-shaped in the region known as the fruit-bowl of New Zealand.
There were immediate concerns among other board members that Mr Hausmann's company, Healthcare of New Zealand, would probably be involved in tendering for a DHB contract worth up to $50 million.
The reminder about Annette King's role in this fiasco will be an unwelcome one for the Government.
