Top ACC staffer seconded to Health NZ in spite of ‘physical contact’ complaint, topless video call

Wednesday, 26 February 2025

Health NZ/Te Whatu Ora recently headhunted ACC manager John Bennett to help fill staffing gaps at a senior level, for a five month stint.

In loaning Bennett, ACC did not tell Health NZ he was at the centre of a complaint about “physical contact with co-workers”.

ACC has also confirmed Bennett appeared shirtless in a work video call in January, but said he had been “unaware” his laptop camera was on.

A top ACC manager headhunted to help fill staffing gaps at Health NZ/Te Whatu Ora is at the centre of a complaint about “physical contact with co-workers”, but ACC did not tell Health NZ.

John Bennett was appointed to ACC last year as Deputy Chief Executive System Commissioning and Performance, taking up the role in September.

Less than six months later, earlier this month, he was pulled across to plug gaps in senior roles at Health NZ, in a secondment scheduled to last until June this year.

But Stuff has been made aware of concerns among ACC staff about aspects of Bennett’s behaviour at ACC.

In response to questions, ACC Chief Executive Megan Main confirmed the department had received “written communication raising concerns about Mr Bennett’s physical contact with co-workers”.

Stuff understands the concerns were raised in December.

“Action was immediately taken in response to the concern and no further concerns have been formally raised.”

She confirmed the matter was not disclosed to Health NZ/Te Whatu Ora when Bennett was released to take up the role.

“As the matter had been addressed, it was not raised with Health New Zealand/Te Whatu Ora.”

The first Health NZ knew about the issue was upon receiving questions from Stuff on Tuesday.

“The interim chief executive of Health NZ, Dr Dale Bramley, had not been aware of any of the issues raised in the media query,” said a spokesperson, “and spoke to the Chief Executive of ACC immediately after receiving the query.”

“The two chief executives also had a discussion last week concerning the short-term secondment and no issues were raised during that engagement. We therefore refer all further inquiries to ACC as the employer.”

A shirtless video call

In a separate issue that raised eyebrows among ACC staff, Bennett appeared in a work video call shirtless.

Asked about the incident, Main said, “At the beginning of a video call in January, Mr Bennett was not wearing a shirt. Mr Bennett stated he was unaware that the laptop’s video camera was on and immediately rectified the situation.”

Stuff sent a series of questions to Bennett, including what the “physical contact with co-workers” was, and the nature of the “action immediately taken”, as well seeking his account of the shirtless video call.

Bennett responded: “I am sorry but I don’t want to comment. Apologies for that. I hope you have a good day.”

In relation to the concerns about “physical contact with co-workers”, Stuff understands some ACC staff are dissatisfied at the level of investigation undertaken by ACC.

Stuff has asked ACC whether the complainant was included in the process, and what the “action immediately taken” was.

“As this is an employment-related matter, we cannot provide further details,” a spokesperson said.

“No further concerns have been raised either formally or informally to the Executive, leadership or our People and Culture team.

“We are satisfied the matter raised was addressed. Therefore, it was not raised with Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora (HNZ).”

Stuff has also asked Health NZ whether Mr Bennett’s secondment will continue through until June 2025, as previously specified.

“Mr Bennett remains on secondment to Health NZ from his employer ACC,” a spokesperson said. “We have no other comment to add to what we have said earlier.”

Bennett formerly held a senior role at the UK’s National Health Service and at “Big Four” consultancy firms KPMG and Director at PwC UK.

His ACC role was to take “a strategic view of New Zealand’s health and rehabilitation ecosystem”.

Main said Bennett was seconded because “HNZ are in a period of change and reform, and the Commissioner of HNZ requested Mr Bennett’s support on performance, strategy and delivery of key ministerial targets”.

“Mr Bennett has extensive experience of health system performance management. We agreed to his secondment … as his input will benefit both HNZ and ACC.”