Thank you for contacting the Hon Simeon Brown, Minister of Health,
Minister for State Owned Enterprises, and Minister for Energy.

If the topic of your correspondence falls outside of the Minister's
portfolio responsibilities, expresses a personal view, or is copied to
multiple Members of Parliament, then your email will be noted, and it may
be transferred to another Minister’s office, or there may be no further
response to you.

If your correspondence is related to a constituent matter, please get in
touch with the Minister’s electorate team by email
at[1][email address]

 

If it’s a medical emergency – call 111

This can include chest pain or tightness, difficulty breathing, choking,
severe bleeding or bleeding that won’t stop, sudden weakness or difficulty
talking, fainting or unconsciousness.

 

Associate Health Ministers

Please note that all emails are read, however please do not expect a
response from this office if your email relates to the below matters as
these responsibilities are delegated to Associate Ministers of Health.

·       Hon Matt Doocey, Minister for Mental Health and Associate Minister
of Health. If your matter relates to mental health, neurodiversity,
nutrition, or rural health, you can contact Hon Doocey by emailing
[2][email address].

·       Hon Casey Costello, Associate Minister of Health. If your matter
relates to emergency services, women’s health, aged care, or smoking and
vaping, you can contact Hon Costello by emailing
[3][email address].

·       Hon David Seymour, Associate Minister of Health. If your matter
relates to Pharmac, Medsafe, or medicines funding and supply, you can
contact Hon Seymour by emailing [4][email address].

Further delegations details of Associate Ministers of Health can be found
[5]here.

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·       If you’re concerned or not sure about something

·       If you can’t access a GP or you don’t have one

·       For advice about what’s happening for you and next steps

·       If you want advice on finding services near you visit
[6]Healthpoint.

·       If you want information on COVID-19, call the COVID-19 Healthline
on 0800 358 5453.

·       If you are feeling stressed, a bit overwhelmed or just need
someone to talk to Freecall or text 1737 any time for support from a
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·       Call the Vaccination Healthline for information about COVID-19,
flu, MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella), Boostrix (whooping cough) on 0800
28 29 26 8AM – 5:30PM Monday to Friday.

·       You can also visit: [7]bookmyvaccine.health.nz.

·       If you or your family are not happy with public health services
received, you can [8]contact Health New Zealand.

·       If you would like to raise a complaint about a health and
disability service,  you can also [9]contact the Health and Disability
Commissioner.

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[email address]
4. mailto:[email address]
5. http://www.dpmc.govt.nz/our-business-uni...
6. https://www.healthpoint.co.nz/
7. https://bookmyvaccine.health.nz/
8. https://www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/corporate...
9. https://www.hdc.org.nz/making-a-complain...

Kia ora David,

 

Thank you for your request for official information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act) to the Office of Hon Simeon Brown. You
requested:

 

“This request concerns the June 2026 leadership transition at the Medical
Council of New Zealand, including the appointment of Dr Kenneth Clark as
Chair, the appointment of Ms Ming-Chun Wu as Deputy Chair, and the
concluded terms or non-reappointment of Dr Rachelle Love and Simon Watt.

 

The purpose of this request is to understand the process, criteria,
advice, statutory reasoning and policy context for those decisions,
including any relationship to the Government’s health workforce regulatory
reform programme and the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance
Amendment Bill.

 

Time period

Please search for information created, received, sent or held from:

1 January 2025 to the date of your response.

 

Where a document created before 1 January 2025 was materially relied on in
a 2025 or 2026 decision, please include that document as well.

 

Part 1 — Medical Council appointment and non-reappointment process

 

Please provide all official information relating to the appointment,
reappointment, non-reappointment, consideration, assessment or
decision-making concerning:

Dr Rachelle Love;

Simon Watt;

Dr Kenneth Clark;

Ms Ming-Chun Wu;

any other candidate considered for Medical Council Chair, Deputy Chair or
Council membership during the relevant period.

 

Please include, but do not limit the search to:

1. appointment papers, reappointment papers, non-reappointment papers,
nomination papers, candidate assessments, shortlists, ranking documents,
interview notes, assessment matrices and due-diligence checks; 2. Cabinet
Appointments and Honours Committee papers, Cabinet papers, Cabinet
committee minutes, Cabinet committee decisions, APH minutes, APH
recommendations, Cabinet Office correspondence and any appointment-related
Cabinet material; 3. briefing notes, aide-mémoires, talking points, file
notes, ministerial advice, decision papers, cover notes, emails, letters,
text messages, Teams/Slack messages or equivalent communications; 4.
advice from the Ministry of Health, the Minister’s office, the Public
Service Commission, Cabinet Office, Crown Law, MCNZ, or any other agency
or adviser; 5. documents setting out the criteria, statutory
considerations, skills matrix, diversity considerations,
conflict-of-interest checks, appointment principles or merit assessment
applied to these appointments or non-reappointments; 6. any record of the
Minister’s reasons, preferences, concerns, instructions, expectations or
decision rationale concerning the above individuals; 7. correspondence
between the Minister, the Minister’s office, the Ministry of Health and
MCNZ concerning Council leadership, Council membership, Chair or Deputy
Chair roles, succession planning or reappointment.

 

Part 2 — Reasons for non-reappointment or change in leadership Please
provide all official information recording, describing or evidencing the
reasons why Dr Rachelle Love and Simon Watt were not reappointed, or why
their terms concluded without continuation in their previous leadership
roles.

 

Please include information addressing whether any of the following were
considered:

1. MCNZ’s cultural competence, cultural safety or hauora Māori work; 2.
MCNZ’s statements, consultations, standards, policy work or public
communications concerning Māori health, Te Tiriti, health equity or
cultural safety; 3. whether MCNZ was perceived to be acting politically,
ideologically, outside its statutory functions, or inconsistently with
Government priorities; 4. whether the Minister or officials considered
MCNZ’s independence from Government, professional independence, statutory
functions or standard-setting role; 5. whether any concern was raised
about the risk of actual or perceived political interference in a
responsible authority under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance
Act 2003.

 

Part 3 — Ministerial meetings, oral briefings and informal communications
Please provide records of all meetings, calls, oral briefings or informal
communications from 1 January 2025 to the date of your response involving
any of the following topics:

 

Medical Council appointments or reappointments; Dr Rachelle Love; Simon
Watt; Dr Kenneth Clark; Ms Ming-Chun Wu; MCNZ cultural safety, cultural
competence or hauora Māori work; responsible authority independence;
ministerial powers over health workforce regulators; HPCA reform and
regulator direction powers.

 

For each relevant meeting or oral briefing, please provide:

1. date;

2. attendees;

3. agenda;

4. minutes or notes;

5. briefing material;

6. follow-up actions;

7. any email, text message or file note recording the substance of the
discussion.

 

Where no formal minutes exist, please provide any diary entries, calendar
entries, file notes, emails, text messages, Teams messages or other
records that evidence the meeting or discussion.

 

Part 4 — HPCA reform, regulator independence and ministerial direction
powers Please provide all official information from 1 January 2025 to the
date of your response relating to the relationship between the Medical
Council appointments and the Government’s HPCA reform programme, including
but not limited to:

1. advice on the proposed increased powers for the Minister of Health to
direct workforce regulators; 2. advice on the independence of responsible
authorities under the HPCA Act; 3. advice on risks of politicisation,
actual or perceived interference, regulatory capture, loss of professional
independence or loss of public confidence; 4. advice on whether clinical,
technical, professional, cultural competence, ethical or cultural safety
standard-setting should remain with responsible authorities rather than
Ministers; 5. advice on whether appointment or non-reappointment powers
could be used, or perceived to be used, to influence a responsible
authority’s professional or regulatory stance; 6. advice on how Te Tiriti,
hauora Māori, health equity, cultural competence or cultural safety
obligations interact with HPCA reform and responsible-authority functions;
7. drafts, tracked changes, legal advice summaries, Cabinet papers,
Regulatory Impact Statements, consultation summaries, ministerial
briefings, talking points and stakeholder-response summaries concerning
these issues.

 

Part 5 — Public statements and media lines

 

Please provide all official information relating to public statements,
media lines, interviews, talking points, Q&A material or communications
plans concerning:

1. the Medical Council leadership transition announced in June 2026; 2.
the Minister’s comments on MCNZ cultural safety, cultural competence,
hauora Māori, politics, ideology or regulatory focus; 3. any media
response to allegations or concerns of political interference in MCNZ; 4.
any correspondence with MCNZ, ASMS, Te ORA, the Ministry, Health NZ,
Cabinet Office or other stakeholders about how the leadership transition
should be publicly explained; 5. any internal review of whether public
comments about MCNZ were accurate, fair, proportionate or consistent with
the Minister’s statutory role.

 

Part 6 — Searches requested

Please search information held by:

1. the Minister of Health;

2. the Minister’s office;

3. the Ministry of Health;

4. the Health Workforce directorate or equivalent policy group; 5.
appointments, governance or board-appointments teams; 6. legal teams; 7.
officials involved in the HPCA Amendment Bill; 8. officials involved in
MCNZ appointments or responsible-authority oversight; 9. any relevant
shared drives, document-management systems, email accounts, ministerial
correspondence systems, Teams channels, text-message records or calendar
systems.

 

Please use search terms including, but not limited to:

“Medical Council”

“MCNZ”

“Rachelle Love”

“Simon Watt”

“Kenneth Clark”

“Ken Clark”

“Ming-Chun Wu”

“Chair”

“Deputy Chair”

“reappointment”

“non-reappointment”

“appointment”

“responsible authority”

“HPCA”

“Health Practitioners Competence Assurance”

“cultural safety”

“cultural competence”

“hauora Māori”

“Māori health”

“Te Tiriti”

“ideological”

“politics”

“political”

“interference”

“independence”

“direction powers”

“Putting Patients First”

 

Part 7 — Format requested

Please provide the information electronically, preferably as searchable
PDFs, Word documents, Excel/CSV files or original electronic files where
available.

 

Please preserve document titles, dates, authors, recipients and
attachments.

 

Where emails are released, please include the full email chain and
attachments unless there is a lawful basis to withhold specific material.

 

Where documents are withheld in full or in part, please provide a schedule
identifying:

1. document title or description;

2. date;

3. author or originating agency;

4. recipient;

5. withholding ground relied on;

6. whether the public-interest test was considered; 7. whether partial
release was considered.

 

Part 8 — Public interest

There is a strong public interest in release because the information
concerns:

1. the independence and accountability of a statutory professional
regulator; 2. the exercise of ministerial appointment powers; 3. public
confidence in medical regulation; 4. the relationship between ministerial
policy direction and professional standard-setting; 5. Māori health,
cultural competence, cultural safety and Te Tiriti-related regulatory
functions; 6. transparency around the Government’s proposed reforms to
health workforce regulation; 7. public trust in the health system.

 

Where withholding grounds are considered, please explicitly weigh these
public-interest factors.

 

Part 9 — Narrowing and transfer

If any part of this request is likely to be refused on administrative
grounds, including substantial collation or research, please contact me
before making a decision so that I can refine the request.

 

If any part of this request is more closely connected with another agency,
Minister, office or organisation, please transfer that part of the request
as appropriate and advise me of the transfer.

 

If some information is available sooner than the rest, please release it
in tranches.”

 

The reference number for your request is: SBOIA26-1155

As required under the Official Information Act 1982, the Office will
endeavour to respond to your request no later than 20 working days after
the day your request was received. You can expect a response by 20 July
2026.

 

Under section 28(3) of the Act you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to
review any decisions made under this request. The Ombudsman may be
contacted by email at: [1][email address] or by calling 0800
802 602. 

 

Ngā mihi

 

Office of Hon Simeon Brown

Minister of Health

Minister for Energy

Minister for State Owned Enterprises
Email: [2][email address]

Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand

 

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear David,

 

Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the
Act), received on 19 June 2026.

 

Part 6 of your request, as currently worded, is broad and would require
substantial collation and research to identify, assess, and compile
relevant information. It seeks searches across multiple systems using a
wide range of commonly used keywords, which would likely return a very
large volume of material, much of which may not be relevant to your
request. Each result would need to be individually reviewed to determine
whether it falls within scope of your request, contributing to the overall
scale of the work required.

 

As Parts 1 to 5 of your request are already detailed and targeted, it is
likely that information most relevant to your areas of interest will be
identified and captured through those parts.

 

Accordingly, we invite you to consider refining Part 6 of your request.
For example, you may wish to narrow the keywords, limit the search to
particular document types or topics, or focus on specific aspects of
interest.

 

You are under no obligation to amend your request. However, requests
requiring substantial collation may be refused under section 18(f) of the
Act. This refinement is intended to avoid that outcome and to support the
provision of a response that best meets your needs.

 

Please advise by CoP Thursday 2 July whether you are willing to refine
Part 6 of your request, or if you would prefer to suggest an alternative
refinement. Once we receive your response, we will progress your request
accordingly.

 

Under section 15 of the Act, any clarification or amendment to a request
may result in the amended request being treated as a new request, and the
statutory timeframe for response restarting.

 

Kind regards,

 

[1]Image Office of Hon Simeon Brown

Minister of Health, Minister for Energy, Minister for State Owned
Enterprises
Email: [2][email address]

Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New
Zealand

From: Simeon Brown (MIN) <[email address]>
Sent: Friday, 19 June 2026 4:59 PM
To: David Robinson <[FOI #34918 email]>
Subject: RE: SBOIA26-1155: Official Information request - Official
Information Act request — Medical Council appointments, non-reappointments
and HPCA regulator-independence advice

 

Kia ora David,

 

Thank you for your request for official information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act) to the Office of Hon Simeon Brown. You
requested:

 

“This request concerns the June 2026 leadership transition at the Medical
Council of New Zealand, including the appointment of Dr Kenneth Clark as
Chair, the appointment of Ms Ming-Chun Wu as Deputy Chair, and the
concluded terms or non-reappointment of Dr Rachelle Love and Simon Watt.

 

The purpose of this request is to understand the process, criteria,
advice, statutory reasoning and policy context for those decisions,
including any relationship to the Government’s health workforce regulatory
reform programme and the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance
Amendment Bill.

 

Time period

Please search for information created, received, sent or held from:

1 January 2025 to the date of your response.

 

Where a document created before 1 January 2025 was materially relied on in
a 2025 or 2026 decision, please include that document as well.

 

Part 1 — Medical Council appointment and non-reappointment process

 

Please provide all official information relating to the appointment,
reappointment, non-reappointment, consideration, assessment or
decision-making concerning:

Dr Rachelle Love;

Simon Watt;

Dr Kenneth Clark;

Ms Ming-Chun Wu;

any other candidate considered for Medical Council Chair, Deputy Chair or
Council membership during the relevant period.

 

Please include, but do not limit the search to:

1. appointment papers, reappointment papers, non-reappointment papers,
nomination papers, candidate assessments, shortlists, ranking documents,
interview notes, assessment matrices and due-diligence checks; 2. Cabinet
Appointments and Honours Committee papers, Cabinet papers, Cabinet
committee minutes, Cabinet committee decisions, APH minutes, APH
recommendations, Cabinet Office correspondence and any appointment-related
Cabinet material; 3. briefing notes, aide-mémoires, talking points, file
notes, ministerial advice, decision papers, cover notes, emails, letters,
text messages, Teams/Slack messages or equivalent communications; 4.
advice from the Ministry of Health, the Minister’s office, the Public
Service Commission, Cabinet Office, Crown Law, MCNZ, or any other agency
or adviser; 5. documents setting out the criteria, statutory
considerations, skills matrix, diversity considerations,
conflict-of-interest checks, appointment principles or merit assessment
applied to these appointments or non-reappointments; 6. any record of the
Minister’s reasons, preferences, concerns, instructions, expectations or
decision rationale concerning the above individuals; 7. correspondence
between the Minister, the Minister’s office, the Ministry of Health and
MCNZ concerning Council leadership, Council membership, Chair or Deputy
Chair roles, succession planning or reappointment.

 

Part 2 — Reasons for non-reappointment or change in leadership Please
provide all official information recording, describing or evidencing the
reasons why Dr Rachelle Love and Simon Watt were not reappointed, or why
their terms concluded without continuation in their previous leadership
roles.

 

Please include information addressing whether any of the following were
considered:

1. MCNZ’s cultural competence, cultural safety or hauora Māori work; 2.
MCNZ’s statements, consultations, standards, policy work or public
communications concerning Māori health, Te Tiriti, health equity or
cultural safety; 3. whether MCNZ was perceived to be acting politically,
ideologically, outside its statutory functions, or inconsistently with
Government priorities; 4. whether the Minister or officials considered
MCNZ’s independence from Government, professional independence, statutory
functions or standard-setting role; 5. whether any concern was raised
about the risk of actual or perceived political interference in a
responsible authority under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance
Act 2003.

 

Part 3 — Ministerial meetings, oral briefings and informal communications
Please provide records of all meetings, calls, oral briefings or informal
communications from 1 January 2025 to the date of your response involving
any of the following topics:

 

Medical Council appointments or reappointments; Dr Rachelle Love; Simon
Watt; Dr Kenneth Clark; Ms Ming-Chun Wu; MCNZ cultural safety, cultural
competence or hauora Māori work; responsible authority independence;
ministerial powers over health workforce regulators; HPCA reform and
regulator direction powers.

 

For each relevant meeting or oral briefing, please provide:

1. date;

2. attendees;

3. agenda;

4. minutes or notes;

5. briefing material;

6. follow-up actions;

7. any email, text message or file note recording the substance of the
discussion.

 

Where no formal minutes exist, please provide any diary entries, calendar
entries, file notes, emails, text messages, Teams messages or other
records that evidence the meeting or discussion.

 

Part 4 — HPCA reform, regulator independence and ministerial direction
powers Please provide all official information from 1 January 2025 to the
date of your response relating to the relationship between the Medical
Council appointments and the Government’s HPCA reform programme, including
but not limited to:

1. advice on the proposed increased powers for the Minister of Health to
direct workforce regulators; 2. advice on the independence of responsible
authorities under the HPCA Act; 3. advice on risks of politicisation,
actual or perceived interference, regulatory capture, loss of professional
independence or loss of public confidence; 4. advice on whether clinical,
technical, professional, cultural competence, ethical or cultural safety
standard-setting should remain with responsible authorities rather than
Ministers; 5. advice on whether appointment or non-reappointment powers
could be used, or perceived to be used, to influence a responsible
authority’s professional or regulatory stance; 6. advice on how Te Tiriti,
hauora Māori, health equity, cultural competence or cultural safety
obligations interact with HPCA reform and responsible-authority functions;
7. drafts, tracked changes, legal advice summaries, Cabinet papers,
Regulatory Impact Statements, consultation summaries, ministerial
briefings, talking points and stakeholder-response summaries concerning
these issues.

 

Part 5 — Public statements and media lines

 

Please provide all official information relating to public statements,
media lines, interviews, talking points, Q&A material or communications
plans concerning:

1. the Medical Council leadership transition announced in June 2026; 2.
the Minister’s comments on MCNZ cultural safety, cultural competence,
hauora Māori, politics, ideology or regulatory focus; 3. any media
response to allegations or concerns of political interference in MCNZ; 4.
any correspondence with MCNZ, ASMS, Te ORA, the Ministry, Health NZ,
Cabinet Office or other stakeholders about how the leadership transition
should be publicly explained; 5. any internal review of whether public
comments about MCNZ were accurate, fair, proportionate or consistent with
the Minister’s statutory role.

 

Part 6 — Searches requested

Please search information held by:

1. the Minister of Health;

2. the Minister’s office;

3. the Ministry of Health;

4. the Health Workforce directorate or equivalent policy group; 5.
appointments, governance or board-appointments teams; 6. legal teams; 7.
officials involved in the HPCA Amendment Bill; 8. officials involved in
MCNZ appointments or responsible-authority oversight; 9. any relevant
shared drives, document-management systems, email accounts, ministerial
correspondence systems, Teams channels, text-message records or calendar
systems.

 

Please use search terms including, but not limited to:

“Medical Council”

“MCNZ”

“Rachelle Love”

“Simon Watt”

“Kenneth Clark”

“Ken Clark”

“Ming-Chun Wu”

“Chair”

“Deputy Chair”

“reappointment”

“non-reappointment”

“appointment”

“responsible authority”

“HPCA”

“Health Practitioners Competence Assurance”

“cultural safety”

“cultural competence”

“hauora Māori”

“Māori health”

“Te Tiriti”

“ideological”

“politics”

“political”

“interference”

“independence”

“direction powers”

“Putting Patients First”

 

Part 7 — Format requested

Please provide the information electronically, preferably as searchable
PDFs, Word documents, Excel/CSV files or original electronic files where
available.

 

Please preserve document titles, dates, authors, recipients and
attachments.

 

Where emails are released, please include the full email chain and
attachments unless there is a lawful basis to withhold specific material.

 

Where documents are withheld in full or in part, please provide a schedule
identifying:

1. document title or description;

2. date;

3. author or originating agency;

4. recipient;

5. withholding ground relied on;

6. whether the public-interest test was considered; 7. whether partial
release was considered.

 

Part 8 — Public interest

There is a strong public interest in release because the information
concerns:

1. the independence and accountability of a statutory professional
regulator; 2. the exercise of ministerial appointment powers; 3. public
confidence in medical regulation; 4. the relationship between ministerial
policy direction and professional standard-setting; 5. Māori health,
cultural competence, cultural safety and Te Tiriti-related regulatory
functions; 6. transparency around the Government’s proposed reforms to
health workforce regulation; 7. public trust in the health system.

 

Where withholding grounds are considered, please explicitly weigh these
public-interest factors.

 

Part 9 — Narrowing and transfer

If any part of this request is likely to be refused on administrative
grounds, including substantial collation or research, please contact me
before making a decision so that I can refine the request.

 

If any part of this request is more closely connected with another agency,
Minister, office or organisation, please transfer that part of the request
as appropriate and advise me of the transfer.

 

If some information is available sooner than the rest, please release it
in tranches.”

 

The reference number for your request is: SBOIA26-1155

As required under the Official Information Act 1982, the Office will
endeavour to respond to your request no later than 20 working days after
the day your request was received. You can expect a response by 20 July
2026.

 

Under section 28(3) of the Act you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to
review any decisions made under this request. The Ombudsman may be
contacted by email at: [3][email address] or by calling 0800
802 602. 

 

Ngā mihi

 

Office of Hon Simeon Brown

Minister of Health

Minister for Energy

Minister for State Owned Enterprises
Email: [4][email address]

Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand

show quoted sections

Dear David

 

Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the
Act), which was received on Wednesday, 19 June 2026.

 

This email is to advise that more time is required to make a decision on
your request. The Act requires that we advise you of our decision no later
than 20 working days after the day on which the request was received.
Unfortunately, it will not be possible to meet that timeframe, and we are
therefore extending the time limit for responding to your request until
Friday, 7 August 2026.

This extension is required under section 15A(1)(b) of the Act because
consultations necessary to make a decision on the request are such that a
proper response cannot reasonably be made within the original time limit.

Under section 28(3) of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to
review this decision. The Ombudsman may be contacted by email at
[1][email address] or by calling 0800 802 602.

 

Kind regards,

 

[2]Image Office of Hon Simeon Brown

Minister of Health, Minister for Energy, Minister for State Owned
Enterprises
Email: [3][email address]

Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New
Zealand

From: Simeon Brown (MIN) <[email address]>
Sent: Friday, 19 June 2026 4:59 PM
To: David Robinson <[FOI #34918 email]>
Subject: RE: SBOIA26-1155: Official Information request - Official
Information Act request — Medical Council appointments, non-reappointments
and HPCA regulator-independence advice

 

Kia ora David,

 

Thank you for your request for official information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act) to the Office of Hon Simeon Brown. You
requested:

 

“This request concerns the June 2026 leadership transition at the Medical
Council of New Zealand, including the appointment of Dr Kenneth Clark as
Chair, the appointment of Ms Ming-Chun Wu as Deputy Chair, and the
concluded terms or non-reappointment of Dr Rachelle Love and Simon Watt.

 

The purpose of this request is to understand the process, criteria,
advice, statutory reasoning and policy context for those decisions,
including any relationship to the Government’s health workforce regulatory
reform programme and the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance
Amendment Bill.

 

Time period

Please search for information created, received, sent or held from:

1 January 2025 to the date of your response.

 

Where a document created before 1 January 2025 was materially relied on in
a 2025 or 2026 decision, please include that document as well.

 

Part 1 — Medical Council appointment and non-reappointment process

 

Please provide all official information relating to the appointment,
reappointment, non-reappointment, consideration, assessment or
decision-making concerning:

Dr Rachelle Love;

Simon Watt;

Dr Kenneth Clark;

Ms Ming-Chun Wu;

any other candidate considered for Medical Council Chair, Deputy Chair or
Council membership during the relevant period.

 

Please include, but do not limit the search to:

1. appointment papers, reappointment papers, non-reappointment papers,
nomination papers, candidate assessments, shortlists, ranking documents,
interview notes, assessment matrices and due-diligence checks; 2. Cabinet
Appointments and Honours Committee papers, Cabinet papers, Cabinet
committee minutes, Cabinet committee decisions, APH minutes, APH
recommendations, Cabinet Office correspondence and any appointment-related
Cabinet material; 3. briefing notes, aide-mémoires, talking points, file
notes, ministerial advice, decision papers, cover notes, emails, letters,
text messages, Teams/Slack messages or equivalent communications; 4.
advice from the Ministry of Health, the Minister’s office, the Public
Service Commission, Cabinet Office, Crown Law, MCNZ, or any other agency
or adviser; 5. documents setting out the criteria, statutory
considerations, skills matrix, diversity considerations,
conflict-of-interest checks, appointment principles or merit assessment
applied to these appointments or non-reappointments; 6. any record of the
Minister’s reasons, preferences, concerns, instructions, expectations or
decision rationale concerning the above individuals; 7. correspondence
between the Minister, the Minister’s office, the Ministry of Health and
MCNZ concerning Council leadership, Council membership, Chair or Deputy
Chair roles, succession planning or reappointment.

 

Part 2 — Reasons for non-reappointment or change in leadership Please
provide all official information recording, describing or evidencing the
reasons why Dr Rachelle Love and Simon Watt were not reappointed, or why
their terms concluded without continuation in their previous leadership
roles.

 

Please include information addressing whether any of the following were
considered:

1. MCNZ’s cultural competence, cultural safety or hauora Māori work; 2.
MCNZ’s statements, consultations, standards, policy work or public
communications concerning Māori health, Te Tiriti, health equity or
cultural safety; 3. whether MCNZ was perceived to be acting politically,
ideologically, outside its statutory functions, or inconsistently with
Government priorities; 4. whether the Minister or officials considered
MCNZ’s independence from Government, professional independence, statutory
functions or standard-setting role; 5. whether any concern was raised
about the risk of actual or perceived political interference in a
responsible authority under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance
Act 2003.

 

Part 3 — Ministerial meetings, oral briefings and informal communications
Please provide records of all meetings, calls, oral briefings or informal
communications from 1 January 2025 to the date of your response involving
any of the following topics:

 

Medical Council appointments or reappointments; Dr Rachelle Love; Simon
Watt; Dr Kenneth Clark; Ms Ming-Chun Wu; MCNZ cultural safety, cultural
competence or hauora Māori work; responsible authority independence;
ministerial powers over health workforce regulators; HPCA reform and
regulator direction powers.

 

For each relevant meeting or oral briefing, please provide:

1. date;

2. attendees;

3. agenda;

4. minutes or notes;

5. briefing material;

6. follow-up actions;

7. any email, text message or file note recording the substance of the
discussion.

 

Where no formal minutes exist, please provide any diary entries, calendar
entries, file notes, emails, text messages, Teams messages or other
records that evidence the meeting or discussion.

 

Part 4 — HPCA reform, regulator independence and ministerial direction
powers Please provide all official information from 1 January 2025 to the
date of your response relating to the relationship between the Medical
Council appointments and the Government’s HPCA reform programme, including
but not limited to:

1. advice on the proposed increased powers for the Minister of Health to
direct workforce regulators; 2. advice on the independence of responsible
authorities under the HPCA Act; 3. advice on risks of politicisation,
actual or perceived interference, regulatory capture, loss of professional
independence or loss of public confidence; 4. advice on whether clinical,
technical, professional, cultural competence, ethical or cultural safety
standard-setting should remain with responsible authorities rather than
Ministers; 5. advice on whether appointment or non-reappointment powers
could be used, or perceived to be used, to influence a responsible
authority’s professional or regulatory stance; 6. advice on how Te Tiriti,
hauora Māori, health equity, cultural competence or cultural safety
obligations interact with HPCA reform and responsible-authority functions;
7. drafts, tracked changes, legal advice summaries, Cabinet papers,
Regulatory Impact Statements, consultation summaries, ministerial
briefings, talking points and stakeholder-response summaries concerning
these issues.

 

Part 5 — Public statements and media lines

 

Please provide all official information relating to public statements,
media lines, interviews, talking points, Q&A material or communications
plans concerning:

1. the Medical Council leadership transition announced in June 2026; 2.
the Minister’s comments on MCNZ cultural safety, cultural competence,
hauora Māori, politics, ideology or regulatory focus; 3. any media
response to allegations or concerns of political interference in MCNZ; 4.
any correspondence with MCNZ, ASMS, Te ORA, the Ministry, Health NZ,
Cabinet Office or other stakeholders about how the leadership transition
should be publicly explained; 5. any internal review of whether public
comments about MCNZ were accurate, fair, proportionate or consistent with
the Minister’s statutory role.

 

Part 6 — Searches requested

Please search information held by:

1. the Minister of Health;

2. the Minister’s office;

3. the Ministry of Health;

4. the Health Workforce directorate or equivalent policy group; 5.
appointments, governance or board-appointments teams; 6. legal teams; 7.
officials involved in the HPCA Amendment Bill; 8. officials involved in
MCNZ appointments or responsible-authority oversight; 9. any relevant
shared drives, document-management systems, email accounts, ministerial
correspondence systems, Teams channels, text-message records or calendar
systems.

 

Please use search terms including, but not limited to:

“Medical Council”

“MCNZ”

“Rachelle Love”

“Simon Watt”

“Kenneth Clark”

“Ken Clark”

“Ming-Chun Wu”

“Chair”

“Deputy Chair”

“reappointment”

“non-reappointment”

“appointment”

“responsible authority”

“HPCA”

“Health Practitioners Competence Assurance”

“cultural safety”

“cultural competence”

“hauora Māori”

“Māori health”

“Te Tiriti”

“ideological”

“politics”

“political”

“interference”

“independence”

“direction powers”

“Putting Patients First”

 

Part 7 — Format requested

Please provide the information electronically, preferably as searchable
PDFs, Word documents, Excel/CSV files or original electronic files where
available.

 

Please preserve document titles, dates, authors, recipients and
attachments.

 

Where emails are released, please include the full email chain and
attachments unless there is a lawful basis to withhold specific material.

 

Where documents are withheld in full or in part, please provide a schedule
identifying:

1. document title or description;

2. date;

3. author or originating agency;

4. recipient;

5. withholding ground relied on;

6. whether the public-interest test was considered; 7. whether partial
release was considered.

 

Part 8 — Public interest

There is a strong public interest in release because the information
concerns:

1. the independence and accountability of a statutory professional
regulator; 2. the exercise of ministerial appointment powers; 3. public
confidence in medical regulation; 4. the relationship between ministerial
policy direction and professional standard-setting; 5. Māori health,
cultural competence, cultural safety and Te Tiriti-related regulatory
functions; 6. transparency around the Government’s proposed reforms to
health workforce regulation; 7. public trust in the health system.

 

Where withholding grounds are considered, please explicitly weigh these
public-interest factors.

 

Part 9 — Narrowing and transfer

If any part of this request is likely to be refused on administrative
grounds, including substantial collation or research, please contact me
before making a decision so that I can refine the request.

 

If any part of this request is more closely connected with another agency,
Minister, office or organisation, please transfer that part of the request
as appropriate and advise me of the transfer.

 

If some information is available sooner than the rest, please release it
in tranches.”

 

The reference number for your request is: SBOIA26-1155

As required under the Official Information Act 1982, the Office will
endeavour to respond to your request no later than 20 working days after
the day your request was received. You can expect a response by 20 July
2026.

 

Under section 28(3) of the Act you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to
review any decisions made under this request. The Ombudsman may be
contacted by email at: [4][email address] or by calling 0800
802 602. 

 

Ngā mihi

 

Office of Hon Simeon Brown

Minister of Health

Minister for Energy

Minister for State Owned Enterprises
Email: [5][email address]

Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand

 

 

 

 

 

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