Courts would be unlikely to interfere in the politically charged process of a minister removing a district health board chairman unless "something really stinks", senior lecturer in public law at Victoria University Dean Knight says.
A minister would have to be shown to not be acting in good faith and there was a really high threshold for that.
"It's important to remember this is a matter of political judgement and courts aren't designed to second-guess that type of decision. Ultimately, the minister is held accountable in the court of public opinion."
Mr Knight was asked to comment on the protocols surrounding the situation where a health minister might wish to dismiss a health board chairman.
Health ministers have the statutory power to appoint and dismiss board chairmen and any such power can be subjected to a judicial review.
In exercising the power to remove a chairman, the minister would be required to have an open mind and not have predetermined the matter before completing his consultation with the board (as required under the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act).
An open mind, however, did not mean an empty mind.
Even canvassing possible replacements for a chairman was not necessarily problematic as it could be seen as exploring the options before making a decision.
There was no requirement for the minister to take notice of what came out of the consultation process.
Nor did there appear to be any mandatory requirement for the minister to set out explicit reasons for a dismissal, although if actions were not explained, there was always the risk people could draw the conclusion the minister had ulterior reasons for the action.
Mr Knight said it needed to be realised that district health boards were a strange hybrid of local democracy and central government power.
In that mix, there were elected members and ministerial appointed chairmen, with the minister having the prerogative to both appoint and remove members.
Ministers could remove whole boards.
Interventions where ministers acted to remove members were never "tidy and nice".
ODHB chairman Richard Thomson is under threat of dismissal by Health Minister Tony Ryall over the $16.9 million fraud of the board between 2000 and 2006.
Mr Ryall is considering removing Mr Thomson from the job because his confidence in the governance of the board and its leadership has been affected by the fraud.
He is also concerned fraud control measures at the board between 2001 and 2006 were inadequate.
