Statutory Committees Part 5

Frank's memoirs

Health Sub-committee

Under the new Health set-up introduced by the Clark Government, to replace CHEs by District Health Boards (ie back to the old Area Health Board idea), advisory committees were set up for three areas and I was appointed to the Community and Public Health Advisory Committee. I was not particularly impressed with this process: I don’t think the committees were given clear enough terms of reference or job description. However, there were some good people on the committee, like Tiki Raumati, former vicar of Stratford, and Peter Holst, from Wellington, Alison Holst’s husband and a very experienced and wise GP. We had some good discussions on important matters as we struggled to come to terms with the developments in the health services.

Lotteries 

In 2006 I was approached to become a member of the Lotteries Distribution Committee for Taranaki. These committees are administered by the Department of Internal Affairs on very strict guidelines to control conflicts of interest and such problems, so that the system is transparent and clearly above suspicion. I think it works well.  My only complaint was that it seemed to take an age for the Departmental system to appoint new members when there was a vacancy; I took this up with the new MP, Jonathan Young. 

After a year, the Chair, Mike Mulqueen, vacated that position and I was elected to replace him.  This involved travelling to Wellington from time to time to meet with other chairs and representatives of the Lotteries Board to discuss policies and procedures. 

At the end of my three-year term, there was a change of government and the new administration preferred my colleague and old acquaintance, Heather Dodunski – which I was quite happy with.  

I think the Lotteries Distribution system is an important method of providing community support for a raft of community organisations; many people who regularly take Lotto tickets do so at least in part because of this contribution to worthy causes. It is pity that more serious forms of gambling, like betting and pokies, do not have to make so great a contribution in this way.

 

I guess one improvement might be to include an experienced gambler on each committee! Most of the people I met were certainly not the kind one would expect to haunt the roulette tables every night.

 

Conclusion

 

As a result of my experience on these committees I am a great supporter of our democratic, community-centred systems of governance for these various segments of our activity. By and large the systems are well-managed, and make good decisions. The hundreds of people all over the country who work hard to keep the systems going deserve everyone's thanks.

 

And there are lots more: watching Margaret working as a JP, and talking with friends who are involved in organisations like Coastguard, and above all our experience with Restorative Justice, underlines that conclusion.