Whaitiri probe can’t find leaker

The Government has failed to hunt out the person who leaked a report into an incident between disgraced former minister Meka Whaitiri and an employee.

The Department of Internal Affairs has released the results of its investigation into the unauthorised disclosure of the Patten report to the media. It failed to pinpoint the leaker but it outlined ‘‘poor information security and management’’ practices.

NZME reported in September that a former staff member was allegedly left with bruising on her arm following an altercation with the minister.

The details came from the leaked report of Wellington lawyer David Patten, who conducted the inquiry for Ministerial Services and found on the balance of probabilities that the staff member’s version was a more likely explanation than Whaitiri’s.

Following weeks of intense scrutiny of Whaitiri’s behaviour, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern removed her from her ministerial roles. While the Government later released a public version of the Patten inquiry, the PM also initiated an investigation into the leak of the unvetted report to media.