PQ 3. Security Intelligence Service—Release of Documents

[Sitting date: 25 November 2014. Volume:702;Page:4. Text is subject to correction.]

3. ANDREW LITTLE (Leader - Labour) to the Prime Minister : Does he stand by his statement regarding the release of NZSIS documents to Cameron Slater that “The basic claim that somehow my office was either pressuring the system, speeding up the process, injecting itself in the process, all of that is flatly incorrect, the inspector when she goes and does her work and looks at it, will, I’m totally confident, demonstrate that”?

Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister): Firstly , let me start by congratulating the Leader of the Opposition. Secondly, the answer to that question is yes, and I quote directly from the report, where it says: “The decision to release redacted copies of the meeting documents, the timing of the release and the decision to release information solely to Mr Slater were all made by NZSIS.”, without my office’s involvement.

Andrew Little : How does he reconcile that answer with the passage in paragraph 213 of the Inspector-General’s report, which states: “I did, however, find that Mr Ede had provided the details of the relevant documents to Mr Slater and was in fact speaking to Mr Slater by phone at the exact time that Mr Slater submitted his OIA request.”, showing his office was instrumental in the politicisation of information from the New Zealand SIS?

Rt Hon JOHN KEY : Well, far from it. There is obviously no doubt that Mr Ede had a discussion with Mr Slater, but, as I said, the fact that there was an Official Information Act request was not unique to Cameron Slater. It was put in by a wide range of other media outlets. The problem was that they asked them as media queries and not as Official Information Act requests, and therefore the New Zealand SIS treated them in a different way. That information was all in the public domain because of the stupid comments made by a number of people.

Andrew Little : Does he now accept, in light of the first answer he has given to my question, that denying that his office “injected itself in the process” is now demonstrably incorrect?

Rt Hon JOHN KEY : No—quite the contrary. If the member reads the report and looks at paragraph 225, he will see that it quite clearly says that the Inspector-General did not find any indication of collusion or direction to the New Zealand SIS over the request. Unfortunately for the Leader of the Opposition, this report does not stack up, and that is why his so-called mate leaked the report—

Mr SPEAKER : Order! [Interruption] Order! That is not going to help the order of this House. [Interruption] Order! The number of interjections coming from this side of the House, particularly from one very, very senior Minister, is unacceptable.

Andrew Little : When he made a political staffer the main point of contact for the SIS in his office and assigned a subordinate staffer to work with bloggers, what measures, if any, did he take to stop security agency information from being used for political purposes?

Rt Hon JOHN KEY : Well, firstly, they were not used for political purposes. That is actually quite clear. That is quite clear, and that is actually what the report finds. You see, that is the problem. That is why your mate Phil had to—

Mr SPEAKER : Order!

Hon Phil Goff : Is that an appropriate form of address for another member?

Mr SPEAKER : Order! No it is—[Interruption] Order! It is not appropriate for that address, coming from the Prime Minister, and I do not want his answers to continue concluding with those sorts of remarks directed at the Hon Phil Goff.

Andrew Little : Given his personal apology to Cameron Slater for breaching his privacy, will he now apologise to Phil Goff for the partisan political attack launched by his office and his department via the Whale Oil blog; if not, why not?

Rt Hon JOHN KEY : The really interesting question here is whether Mr Goff owes me an apology. He made a series of statements prior to the election, all of which were demonstrably wrong, and they do not stack up in the report. And Phil Goff is laughing. He is laughing because (a) he is embarrassed and (b) he knocked you, Mr Leader of the Opposition, off the news. On the day you were releasing your line-up—

Mr SPEAKER : Order! That is not going to help.

Rt Hon Winston Peters : I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. [Interruption]

Mr SPEAKER : Order! I have a point of order from the Rt Hon Winston Peters. [Interruption] Order! Before the member starts, he will resume his seat. I have a point of order from the Rt Hon Winston Peters, and I will hear it in silence. If there is an interjection from any member, that member will be leaving the Chamber.

Rt Hon Winston Peters : Mr Speaker, you told the Prime Minister that you did not want to hear him concluding his answers like that, and you referred to what he was doing that offended the House or you. He went on to the next answer and did the same thing again. What strictures are you going to apply against him?

Mr SPEAKER : Order! No, the latter part of the Prime Minister’s answer was not the same as the tone of his earlier address, whereby there was an absolute accusation that a particular member had leaked a report. That was the part that I was finding unsatisfactory, because there is no proof of that. That was not then mentioned by the Prime Minister in the last answer. [Interruption] Order! Having told the House that I do not want interjections during a point of order, I do not expect an interjection from a senior member, Winston Peters, after I have made a ruling—otherwise, I could deliver the same treatment.

Andrew Little : When will he apologise to New Zealanders for the political smear machine run out of his office and for the partisan use of security agencies?

Rt Hon JOHN KEY : I would happily apologise if that is what this report from the Inspector-General demanded. It does not. What is true—what is absolutely true—is that advisers and politicians talk to the media. If it was solely on this side of the House, fair enough. But yesterday, on the basis of a report arguing about leaking information, Phil Goff leaked information—

Mr SPEAKER : Order! [Interruption] Order! The Prime Minister will resume his seat.

Andrew Little : When will the Prime Minister commit to all New Zealanders to lift his Government out of the sleaze and the sludge and stop the abuse of State power for political ends?

Rt Hon JOHN KEY : I am very proud of the way this Government operates, and I am very, very confident that the discussions and briefings that political staffers and politicians have on this side of the House are absolutely consistent with the other side of the House. And, by the way, if they are different, here is an interesting point. When I became Prime Minister, members of the press gallery asked me whether I would be keeping up with the same level of “briefings” they got from Helen Clark.

ENDS

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