The Department of Internal Affairs is defending the Hepatitis Foundation and says publicly shaming it does nothing to help the charity sector.
It's also defended its decision not to proactively publish a critical report, which revealed the foundation had spent more than $128,000 on travel over two years for its board chairperson, and paid for lavish dinners at top restaurants.
After more than a week of refusing to be interviewed, the deputy chief executive of Internal Affairs, Maria Robertson, sat down with RNZ political reporter Jo Moir, and told her the foundation had done the right thing in response to an investigation.
