Griffin rebuffs voicemail request

Radio New Zealand board chairman Richard Griffin says he’s ‘‘not interested’’ in releasing a voicemail Broadcasting Minister Clare Curran left on his phone, despite MPs formally requesting it.

The voicemail, left last Thursday by the embattled minister, was the latest piece of evidence in the evolving saga which has seen Carol Hirschfeld resign as the state broadcaster’s head of content and Curran apologise to the prime minister.

It was formally requested by a select committee, who could ask the Speaker of the House to legally demand it if they were refused.

The exact nature of the voicemail was disputed by Curran and Griffin. Griffin had said the message implied Curran wanted him to write to the committee to correct an earlier incorrect submission, rather than show up to be questioned. Curran had said she was just telling him that if he couldn’t show up, a written submission would suffice.

Griffin said yesterday morning that he was ‘‘sticking to his guns’’ and was not keen to release the voicemail.

‘‘I think the issue has come to an end as far as I’m concerned,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s my recording and I’m not too interested in handing it over. I’m not too interested in this continuing and it’s become a farce. I really find the whole thing quite distressful.’’

A spokesman for Radio New Zealand said the state broadcaster was ‘‘doing what is needed to comply with the formal select committee’s requirements’’.

Griffin wouldn’t comment on whether or not the message was deleted, saying that was immaterial. It’s understood that the message has been deleted and work is under way to recover it.

The matter all stemmed Griffin and Radio New Zealand chief executive Paul Thompson inadvertently misleading the Economic Development Science and Innovation committee on March 1 by saying a meeting between thenemployee Hirschfeld and Curran was not planned.

It later emerged that Hirschfeld herself had been misleading her bosses and thus Griffin had inadvertently misled the committee – a serious charge.

Griffin and Thompson immediately told media they would seek to correct the record but, in the end, the pair did not come to the select committee immediately after Hirschfeld resigned, instead attending on Thursday April 5.

Their attendance at the select committee was the subject of the disputed voicemail.

Griffin told the committee the voicemail implied he should write to the select committee to correct the record instead of showing up – saying Curran was under the impression he couldn’t make it last Thursday.

He said he still held the voicemail but refused to play it.

‘‘The implication was, as far as I was concerned, that it would be far more satisfactory to all concerned to just put the letter on the table and leave it at that,’’ Griffin said.

Curran said she left the voicemail to say he should write to the committee only if he could not make it in order to correct the record as soon as possible.

"It’s my recording and I’m not too interested in handing it over. I’m not too interested in this continuing and it’s become a farce."

Radio New Zealand board chairman Richard Griffin