The government has been accused of a "blatant disregard for transparency" as unanswered questions continue to mount while the South waits for a decision on the new Dunedin hospital.
In September last year, the government announced a seismic shift to the hospital project, replacing it with either a scaled-back version or retro-fitting the existing hospital amid reports of budget blowouts.
At the time, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti and Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop said a decision would be made "in a matter of weeks" and they received options from Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora (HNZ) for the $1.8 billion project in late December.
The Otago Daily Times has made multiple OIA requests which have been rejected by Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand (HNZ) and Treasury.
These include reports that have been made available to the government as part of its decision-making processes leading up the September announcements and data relating to the existing Dunedin Hospital such as number of present ICU and ward and mental health beds.
Many of the requests, which date back to as early as October last year, were declined on the basis the information would soon be published online.
Months later, this has still not happened.
Labour spokeswoman for health infrastructure Tracey McLellan said she had similar experiences with her own information requests about the hospital project.
"Withholding information sought in October on the basis that it will be released soon — but then isn't — is totally unacceptable," she said.
"To add insult, the information that was recently released failed to address the specifics of my requests — is a blatant disregard for transparency."
Ms McLellan said she had been denied access to critical information on the basis it would be released soon.
"Months later when information is eventually released, it fails to address the specifics of my request — this is a blatant attempt to hide information".
HNZ did not respond to criticism from Ms McLellan, saying it anticipated documents relating to the new Dunedin hospital would be "proactively released soon".
A spokesperson for ministers Reti and Bishop declined to comment on Ms McLellan’s accusations or whether ministers had been involved in discussions about when information on the hospital project would be released.
"Ministers stand by their commitment to make a decision as soon as is possible, because we all look forward to getting on with the job of delivering a great hospital for Dunedin and the South.
"While we have no updates at this time, we understand there is high interest from the community and will be making announcements in due course," the spokesperson said.
