27 September 2001 Media Statement

Anderton welcomes report on leaks

Jim Anderton welcomed the release of the Oughton report revealing the source of the leaks in CCMAU.

"It is pleasing to know that hardworking and honest public servants in Treasury and the Crown Company Monitoring Unit have now been cleared and we can have confidence in the confidentiality of the core public service in general and CCMAU advice in particular," said Jim Anderton.

"It is a significant threat to the integrity of New Zealand's Government if business and the public can't trust officials to be impartial and loyal to the elected Government.

"It is also unfortunate that a supposed professional could have so little regard for the reputation and confidence of key public sector organisations.

"I want to thank Alan Bollard and staff at Treasury and CCMAU for their hard work and co-operation over what was clearly a difficult time.

"It is ironic that it Rodney Hide may have helped reveal the source of the leaks through his injudicious rush to send draft, confidential, financially sensitive material to media.

"The Protected Disclosures Act 2000 which I supported, protects public servants who genuinely believe that revealing a document is in the national interest, because it would facilitate the investigation of serious wrong doing. But there was never any suggestion of wrong doing in this case.

"This was simply political point scoring which threatened the financial interests of a state owned enterprise," said Jim Anderton.

ENDS

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