Bridges leak stakes high

The list of suspects in the leaking of National Party leader Simon Bridges’ travel bill has been whittled down, and the culprit, if discovered, faces a hefty penalty, reports Jane Patterson, of RNZ.

IF a National Party MP is named as the source of the leaking of Simon Bridges’ travel bill their political career will come to an abrupt end.

If it is found to be someone employed by Parliamentary Service, they will be marched out the door.

It does not look like this was a breach made in error, such as an email being sent to the wrong person.

Speaker Trevor Mallard is treating it as a deliberate act and ordered a ‘‘forensic’’ investigation into all the activity carried out on Parliament’s servers, includes any printing or photocopying.

National shadow leader of the House Gerry Brownlee thinks the perpetrator will ‘‘almost certainly’’ be found and named.

The wheels of political reporting are greased by selective leaks but there are two dynamics here that have elevated this into a formal inquiry: the chance, however slim, that a parliamentary staffer — strictly bound by confidentiality — was involved, and National’s active support for an inquiry.

The list of possible suspects has been whittled down and no MP from another party is in the frame.

There are still experienced heads in the caucus and they have obviously decided the possibility of flushing out the leak, and the fallout if it is one of their own is worth the risk of finding out who it is.

If the person is found to be a National MP, that would be clear grounds for expulsion from the caucus.

It is still before the House but if it is passed before the completion of the inquiry and a National MP is named, that law would ensure any MP expelled from their caucus automatically loses their seat in Parliament.

Despite National’s criticisms of the imminent law change, it could end up helping that party because at the moment expelled MPs are free to stay around at least until the next election. The wakajumping law, once in place, would make short work of any MP finding themselves out of favour.

But there is another fundamental issue at play — the protection of journalistic sources.

As a result, Parliamentary Service was given a serve, reminded about the protection of journalistic sources and that consent should always be sought first.

Mr Mallard assured the journalist who received the Bridges leak this latest inquiry is not about coming after them; Parliamentary Service will have also learnt the lesson of 2014 as this new investigation gets under way.

It holds an extraordinary amount of information about the movements and communications of everyone within the precinct, but there are high expectations similar information would not be handed over without question as happened in 2014.

The Speaker does not expect the inquiry into the Bridges leak to take long, and like Gerry Brownlee, expects the culprit to be caught.

If it does turn out to be an MP, hold on for the ride.