PM press conference on Peter Dunne's resignation

Peter Dunne has resigned as minister after being implicated in the leak of the Kitteridge report on the GCSB to Dominion Post reporter Andrea Vance.

When David Henry investigated the disclosure of the Kitteridge report, Dunne refused to comply with requests to see the 86 emails exchanged between Vance and himself. Since he was not prepared to comply with the report, Key accepted his request to resign. Key held a press conference this afternoon to address questions from reporters about Dunne's resignation.

Several questions were asked about whether Key believed Dunne's denial of responsibility for the leak, to which Key replied that he would like to believe him but cannot since he doesn't have all the available information. It is unclear to Key, for example, of what Mr Dunne's motivations could have been for leaking the report to Ms Vance. He denies any speculations that Dunne was romantically interested in Vance, and said their relationship was purely professional.

Despite his resignation, Dunne is still involved in a confidence and supply agreement with the government, who can also count on support from the Maori Party and ACT. As such, Key dismissed questions about the possibility of a snap election. Key said that Dunne's resignation would not affect any legislation in process.

ENDS

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