Street Maryan: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeStreet Maryan: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 19 February 2014. Volume:696;Page:16067. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]8.Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) to theMinister of State Services: What was the total cost of theRebstock inquiry into the leaking of internal documents from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and how much of that was paid to PaulaRebstock?Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Attorney-General) on behalf of theMinister of State Services: The Minister is advised that the cost to the State Services Commission of the inquiry is $513434.95 including litigation costs. Of this total $208916.79 has been paid to PaulaRebstock.Hon Maryan Street: Does he consider the report to have been robust and worth the expenditure?Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: It is important to note that the inquiry was initiated not by Ministers but by the commissioner in accordance with section 8 of the State Sector Act. As to whether the findings were robust yes the Minister believes they were because it confirmed that the leak had come from a former Labour Party staffer working for the State Services Commission. It found that person X had the papers that person X scanned the papers of the exact same size as the Cabinet papers when they were in his possession that person X could not explain what he had scanned or why it was saved into the system and when asked whether he gave Cabinet committee papers to someone who was not authorised to receive them he responded: “I don’t know.”Hon Maryan Street: Have any issues of natural justice or other shortcomings in the report been raised with him given a QC’s opinion that the report “is quite unfair from a legal perspective contains numerous flaws contains what we see as basic errors of fact is often misleading has omissions and was flawed and unjust.”?Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: There have been issues that have been aired in public on those particular points which could be the subject of judicial review. The Minister is sure that the Attorney-General would feel that it would be inappropriate to answer those questions but on the core issue about politicisation of the Civil Service by the Labour Party the report is very robust indeed.Hon Maryan Street: I seek leave to table a memorandum from BruceCorkill QC to DerekLeask dated 8 November 2013 which contains all of those quotations that I just mentioned to the House.Mr SPEAKER: Just to clarify—Hon Christopher Finlayson: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It would appear on the face of it that she is leaking a document that is subject to legal professional privilege. She would at least have to say in this House that MrLeask gives her permission to do so.Mr SPEAKER: I will just clarify for the benefit of the House before I put the leave to table this memorandum. Has MrLeask has given his authority for it to be tabled?Hon Maryan Street: On 27 January this year MrLeask released a public statement and attached to it was the memorandum from BruceCorkill QC.Mr SPEAKER: Then if it has been released publicly I fail to see why it is necessary for it to be tabled in the House today.Hon Maryan Street: It is not available publicly in the common understanding of things. It has been reported in the media—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The quickest way of moving this forward is to say that leave is sought to table a memorandum from a solicitor—whose name I have now forgotten—but it concerns Mr DerekLeask. Is there any objection to that memorandum being tabled? Yes there is.Hon Maryan Street: Why was the evidence presented to theRebstock inquiry by the prestigious senior civil servant SirMaartenWevers that communications from senior heads of mission to relevant departments chief executives and even Ministers was common practice appropriate and even important ignored by PaulaRebstock when the reputations and careers of two senior officials have been curtailed or seriously compromised through unfounded accusations in her report?Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: It is important to note as I said earlier that this was an investigation initiated by the commissioner. It was an independent inquiry. The findings were independent. It would be inappropriate to start commenting on it. If people have a grievance then they can always seek judicial review.Hon Maryan Street: I seek leave to table the statement by SirMaartenWevers tabled to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade investigation dated 12 February 2013.Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table the statement by SirMaartenWevers to that inquiry. Is there any objection? There is objection.Hon Maryan Street: Does the Minister uphold the need for free and frank advice from civil servants; if so how does he reconcile theRebstock report and its chilling impact on senior public officials throughout the Public Service with that fundamental principle and does he still believe that the report is worth the money spent on it?Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: Yes indeed the Minister does. The Minister also upholds the core principle that we have an independent Civil Service and it would be really good if the Labour Party could talk to its activists and tell them not to politicise the Civil Service and use TVNZ headquarters as campaign headquarters because it is their disgraceful behaviour that has caused this problem.