Exministers defend investigators

FORMER National Party ministers are being forced to defend the activities of private investigators under their watch, saying they did not know of any unethical activity.

The State Services Commission delivered a damning report into the use of security companies such as Thompson and Clark (TCIL) to carry out surveillance on protesters, activists and other members of the public, as well as inappropriately close relationships between investigators and some public servants.

Commissioner Peter Hughes described the way some agencies allowed some

New Zealanders to be targeted by investigators as an affront to democracy.

The report has already claimed its first casualty.

Ross Butler quit as chairman of government insurance agency Southern Response on Tuesday night before his meeting with the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Minister Megan Woods.

The insurer broke its code of conduct, and possibly the law, when it used TCIL to secretly record meetings of earthquake victims.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was asked yesterday if more heads would roll in the public service.

‘‘This has happened over a period of 10 years. There has been considerable movement in some cases in each of those areas, so we need to make sure we put in place, yes, accountability for those who are still able to be held to account and prevent it from happening in the future.’’

National MP and former earthquake recovery minister Gerry Brownlee said the departure of Mr Butler was a disgrace.

He took issue with the report. ‘‘It’s written in a way that has a degree of inflammatory language that’s designed to make the big cost of it more palatable and I think it’s just a great tragedy that a great gentleman like Mr Butler has been treated in the way he has.’’

But Dr Woods said Mr Brownlee should take some responsibility, as he knew about Southern Response’s use of private investigators, as shown through his answers to written questions in 2016.

‘‘Nobody is questioning the right of Southern Response to protect its staff at the beginning, the way this work began,’’ she said.

‘‘Where it ended up is not something any minister should tolerate; Mr Brownlee when he was minister knew about the use of Thompson and Clark in 2016.’’

Two agencies for which National Party leader Simon Bridges had ministerial responsibility in the last government featured in the report — the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and the NZ Transport Agency.

It found TCIL was portraying ‘‘issue motivated groups’’ including Greenpeace, the Green Party and iwi groups, as security threats.

And the transport agency has tightened controls on the motor vehicle and driver licence registers, following serious breaches. TCIL did more than 4000 numberplate searches targeting Greenpeace over six years.

Mr Bridges said he had no knowledge of any unethical behaviour under his watch.

‘‘I never had anything to do with this. My sole focus was on growing our economy, our export opportunities . . . all of that stuff was operational. But if anyone should be answering it, it’s Peter Hughes.’’ Mr Hughes has set new guidelines for how agencies gather information for compliance and enforcement, with the clear expectation the public service should be fully compliant by next April.

He has laid a complaint with the police regarding to the potentially illegal recording of meetings by TCIL and a complaint about the company’s conduct with the Private Security Personnel Licensing Authority. — RNZ

❛ Where it ended up is not something any minister should tolerate; Mr Brownlee when he was minister knew about the use of Thompson and Clark in 2016