A report released by the State Services Commission today shows that Finance Minister Grant Robertson is ultimately responsible for a failure to keep Budget sensitive information secure, National’s Finance spokesperson Paul Goldsmith says.

“The State Services Commission has today found that there were extensive failures from the Treasury around Budget security.

“Grant Robertson is the Minister in charge of Treasury. Although he’s tried to distance himself from the Botched Budget – the buck stops with him.

“Mr Robertson put out a statement at the time claiming that ‘Treasury said they have sufficient evidence that indicates the material is a result of a systematic hack and is now subject to a police investigation.’

“Mr Robertson swallowed the lines of his agency. He accepted their excuses, didn’t ask the right questions and even when it became clear he was wrong – he then doubled down.

“This is one of the biggest failures in Treasury’s history and it happened under his watch.

“State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes was right when he said ‘This should not have happened.’

“It’s time for Grant Robertson to accept responsibility for what happened and to apologise to National for implying we were involved in illegal activity. The reality is we were doing what a good Opposition does – highlighting the Government’s failures.”

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