Finance Minister Grant Robertson and GCSB Minister Andrew Little need to tell the truth about what information they received from the GCSB and Treasury about how sensitive Budget information had been accessed, National’s Deputy Leader Paula Bennett says.

“Reports this morning that there was a desperate 11th hour phone call to Andrew Little from the head of the GCSB to say Treasury’s website had not been hacked shows that senior Government Ministers knew they were releasing false information to the public.

“It is inconceivable that the GCSB Minister didn’t immediately phone Finance Minister Grant Robertson and the Prime Minister to give them that information.

“The fact that Grant Robertson went ahead and released a statement implying National had been releasing hacked information shows he was out to smear the National Party. He now needs to be up front about what information he had before he released that statement.

“If Mr Robertson received the information from Andrew Little after he released his statement, he should have immediately corrected it.

“We shouldn’t have to wait for the State Services Commission. Grant Robertson and Andrew Little, who claim to be part of the most open and transparent Government ever should tell us now what they knew. It’s time they stopped covering this up and let us know exactly what happened.”

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