PAC chairman Julian Robinson warns hospital CEO's no-show undermines parliamentary accountability

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Julian Robinson has raised alarm over what he described as an unprecedented breach of parliamentary oversight, after a substantive hospital chief executive officer failed to appear before the committee despite an invitation and a subsequent summons.

Robinson, who has chaired a Public Service Commission panel for six years and served on similar bodies before, said this was the first time he had encountered such defiance. He warned that the conduct sent the wrong message about how seriously public officials must treat Parliament's authority.

The committee's scrutiny followed a report that Robinson said delivered a damning indictment of management at the hospital. The CEO in question, he noted, holds a substantive post and draws a salary from the public purse, yet showed what he called a high level of disregard for the committee's work.

Robinson said an invitation was issued and the official did not attend. A summons was then served, and the person still failed to appear. He argued that Parliament cannot function as a meaningful check on the executive if committees are treated as bodies with no real power to demand answers.

Colleague Peter Bunting, he noted, had described the behaviour as contemptuous of Parliament's role. Robinson echoed calls from fellow members that a clear signal must be sent. Without firm consequences, he said, other public officials might simply pay a small fine and carry on as though nothing had happened.

"Cannot work so," Robinson stressed, repeating that such an approach would undermine good governance and accountability across the public sector.