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Alan Hulse: Employment Advocate says if whistleblowers didn't stand up for what's right the census report would've never happened · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, it's a very damning inquiry, wasn't it. And
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: it found that public service agencies shared Kiwi's personal information
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: with third party agencies. Now, this inquiry followed allegations that
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: census and COVID vaccination data collected at Manyawa Marai was
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: used to target Maori voters and the Tumma Chemikodo electorate.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: So the report says STATS New Zealand had insufficient safeguards
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: in place to protect the personal data. You know this
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  Speaker 1: is serious because the boss of Stats New Zealand, the
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: big Boss, fell on his sword immediately. Health New Zealand
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: and the Ministry of Health were also criticized for their
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  Speaker 1: roles in sharing the data. Now, Alan Holds is an
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: employment advocate who represented six Marai workers and one MSD
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: in the inquiry and joins me.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Now, hello Allen, good morning Andrew.
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  Speaker 1: So what does this outcome mean for say, the whistleblowers.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Vindication? And I guess what it means is that the
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: abuse that has suffered probably for eighteen months has been vindicated.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: I think the real sad part about the entire story
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  Speaker 2: is that the whistle blowers were telling the truth the
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  Speaker 2: entire time, and without their bravery. And I'm talking about
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  Speaker 2: bravery because all of them are faced retaliation and in
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: different ways abused in public, discredited publicly. I've been discredited
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  Speaker 2: publicly on multiple occasions for actually standing up and telling
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  Speaker 2: the truth. And without the whistle blowers, we wouldn't have
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: this report. And I think it's a bit disappointing that
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: the Prime Minister and the people involved having said thank you,
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  Speaker 2: brave whistle browers for bringing this evidence to us in
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  Speaker 2: the format that we could understand. Now.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, but surely, surely the westse want we want more,
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  Speaker 1: because while this inquiry says it should not have been
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: it doesn't actually say what the information was in leased
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: to do. So it seems incomplete in terms of the
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: total misuse of it. There's there's a lot that is unfocused.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: I think it's pretty clear the report, and I've read
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  Speaker 2: the sixty eight page report, it sees that information was
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  Speaker 2: shared private information of New Zealanders, A completed census form
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  Speaker 2: was shared with people that it shouldn't have been shared
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: with and is a complete breach of privacy.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Yes, so how contentious does that Tommikimikodo seat result seem?
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  Speaker 1: Now to you?
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  Speaker 2: I think a number of us have believed for some
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  Speaker 2: time that that if it wasn't for the data being
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  Speaker 2: excess by Dupai Mary, that would be a different person
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  Speaker 2: in Parliament right now in that seat.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: How much distrusted is this causing.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: I think all it's doing is is proving what a
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  Speaker 2: lot of people have thought for a long time about
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  Speaker 2: some of the processes that have operated, that there isn't
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: the confidence in the public service. And I say that
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  Speaker 2: because this particular case is only the tip of the iceberg.
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  Speaker 2: We have so many more whistle blower cases within the
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  Speaker 2: public Service of serious wrongdoing and that's what we're talking about,
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  Speaker 2: and the report this is only the initial stage where
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: they're actually saying what the Public Service investigator found.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: A thank you for your work, thank you for your
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: time this morning. That's Allen wholesou represented the whistleblowers.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: For more from Earlily Edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live
• 3:57
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• 4:00
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