‘It was just hugging’: What a senior govt manager said to Stuff that led to stand-down, investigation

Saturday, 8 March 2025

A top ACC manager on secondment to Health NZ/Te Whatu Ora says concerns about his “physical contact” with co-workers were raised by a vexatious staff member who “didn’t like people hugging each other in the office”.

John Bennett defended his behaviour to Stuff, saying “it’s not like anyone’s kissing … none of that shit. It was just hugging”.

He also said he appeared shirtless in a work video call because he was in board shorts at his mate’s place in the hot Auckland weather and “they started a meeting, and his camera was switched on me”.

A top ACC manager who is on secondment to Health NZ/Te Whatu Ora says a staff member who raised concerns about his “physical contact” with co-workers is a “really vexatious person”, defending his conduct by saying “we do that all the time, we’re f…ing Europeans”.

John Bennett has now been stood down and ACC is “investigating the issues raised,” after Stuff put a series of questions to the agency on Friday about Bennett’s comments.

Bennett took up a senior management role at ACC in September 2024, but in February was pulled across to plug gaps in senior roles at Health NZ, in a secondment scheduled to last until June this year.

Last month, Stuff reported concerns among ACC staff about Bennett’s behaviour, leading ACC Chief Executive Megan Main to confirm the department had received “written communication raising concerns about Mr Bennett’s physical contact with co-workers”.

She said ACC did not disclose the matter to Health NZ/Te Whatu Ora because it had already been addressed.

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

ACC has now taken further action, Main saying in a statement on Friday afternoon,“We are investigating the issues raised, and the employee concerned is not currently working.”

The response came after Stuff’s questions regarding comments Bennett made to the news organisation, that the physical contact concern was “a f…ing classic”, “a nonsense”, and “weird”.

“There’s a full audit trail that shows the complaint was dealt with. No story really just malice.”

Bennett then outlined a lengthy defence of his behaviour.

“Basically I had a member of staff who didn't like a lot of the Māori hugs,” he said, “didn't allow a lot of hongis, didn’t like people hugging each other in the office.”

He said the staff member raised an issue with a manager and then HR manager.

“We put in place some measures,” said Bennett. “We stopped a bunch of things that were going on. We did set up a cultural competence committee.”

He said HR manager then spoke to the staff member concerned. “She [the staff member] said ‘Yeah, that’s brilliant. Thanks very much. It’s really good’. And then an email was sent to her saying, ‘Are you happy?’ And she said ‘I’m really happy, thanks a lot’. And that was it.”

Asked about the context of the behaviour, Bennett said “people were hongi-ing, people were hugging, a lot of people hug on staff”.

“People sometimes say ‘we don’t want to hug’. But this person’s really vexatious. So it was one person that complained.

“Loads of people, loads of us hug. We do that all the time. We’re f … ing Europeans, you know what I mean?

“It’s not like anyone’s kissing or feeling anyone’s [inaudible]. None of that shit. It was just hugging, kind of like a back slap hug.”

Bennett said there had been no official complaint, but the situation was one that ACC managers decided “we need to deal with”.

“And dealt with it to everyone’s satisfaction. It didn’t become anything official, because it was dealt with.”

In response to a further issue that raised eyebrows among ACC staff, his appearing shirtless in a work video call, Bennett said the incident had happened at a friend’s house.

“I was sat on his bench, board shorts on, and they started a meeting, and his camera was switched on me.

“I was like, ‘Oh’, and they said, ‘John’, and I went ‘Oh, f…’, [and] put a T-shirt on. That was it.

“So, yeah, it's hugging staff members and someone putting a camera on me while I was sat there at nine o'clock in the morning in the hot weather in Auckland.”

The conversation with Stuff then returned to the physical contact complaint. Asked about HR’s involvement, Bennett said: “Yeah, they were involved because they helped me resolve it. We were like, ‘look, we’re really, really sad and upset that you [the complainant] feel like this. We’ll deal with it’.

“And we worked with HR on a cultural competency committee, and we dealt with it. It was dealt with before Christmas.”