Investigation into expenses leak
Speaker Trevor Mallard will ask a highpowered lawyer to investigate who leaked National leader Simon Bridges’ expense details to Newshub.
The call for an investigation came after Bridges’ expenses details were leaked early. The full expenses were scheduled to be released today but Newshub reported on them on Monday evening, criticising Bridges for spending more than $113,000 over a three-month period.
A Parliamentary Services spokeswoman said the only people who had early access to the expenses details were Parliamentary Services staffers, National party whips, and the Speaker.
Mallard said the inquiry was necessary because it was a serious security matter.
‘‘In my opinion, someone has deliberately undermined either an individual or the system. And I want us to – if at all possible – to get to the bottom of it,’’ Mallard said. ‘‘If there is a gap in the Parliamentary Service, I want it to be fixed and if there is not, I think it is appropriate for the person who leaked the documents to be identified.’’
Mallard will be approaching a top lawyer who will likely be assisted by an employment law expert and an expert in forensic IT.
Parliamentary Services has already agreed to open up the IT system to be looked through but MPs will still need to consent for their devices to be searched.
National MPs have made it clear that every MP in the party was sent the full list of expenses.
Mallard was not sure how much the inquiry would cost but said it would be ‘‘too much’’ and hoped the announcement of the inquiry might convince the person to come forward. The David Henry inquiry into the leak of a report to a Stuff reporter cost just under $50,000.
Mallard said if the person was an MP, their name would be published. However, if it was an employee of Parliamentary Services, that would be an ‘‘employment matter’’.
He wouldn’t rule out looking at the swipe card records for the Parliamentary precinct, but didn’t think that would be necessary.
On Tuesday, Mallard said the format his office received the details in was different from what Newshub received.
Given the 56 National Party MPs make up the vast majority of those who had access to the list early, many have suspected a leak from within the caucus.
However, Bridges told Stuff he was confident the leak came from outside.
His call for a full independent inquiry was supported by his MPs, he said.
‘‘This is not about me. Tomorrow everyone would have seen (these figures) anyway . . . But what is important, on reflecting about this, is people and MPs do have a confidence in the system. We want a full independent inquiry.
‘‘What I simply mean by that is let’s find out who or what is responsible here. Let’s give it the very best shot.’’
It should include the Government, Parliamentary Service and the Speaker’s office, as well as National MPs, he said.
If it was found that a National MP leaked the information he would ‘‘deal with it pretty sternly’’.
However, he was confident it was not a National MP.
Asked how that could be possible, Bridges said he was ‘‘not going to get into hearsay’’.
‘‘But the more I see about this, the more confident I am this isn’t us. Here’s the deal: we are, I hope – the ball’s in the Speaker’s court – going to have independent investigation,’’ he said.
‘‘I actually fundamentally don’t think this should be difficult. There are plenty of people with the wherewithal to work out who printed what, who’s forwarded what . . . then we’ll know, and we’ll see.’’
National has been critical of the cost of Government inquiries but Bridges said he did not see his call for an inquiry as incompatible with that.
‘‘The caucus supports it; it’s not about me, it’s not about the National Party; it’s about Parliament.
‘‘Ultimately, without getting too over the top about it . . . the people of New Zealand having confidence in all of the players here in Parliamentary Service, part of our democracy, it’s the right thing to do.’’