There is a yawning gap between what Gabriel Makhlouf said on Tuesday last week and what occurred on Thursday. Photo / Greg Bowker
There is a yawning gap between what Gabriel Makhlouf said on Tuesday last week and what occurred on Thursday. Photo / Greg Bowker
COMMENT:
It is not before time that State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes has launched an inquiry into the actions of Treasury Secretary Gabriel Makhlouf.
National has been baying for it. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has made it plain that she wanted it.
The facts demanded it, namely the yawning gapbetween what Makhlouf said on Tuesday night about referring a case of deliberate and systematic hacking of Treasury to the police on the advice of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and Thursday morning when the police found the opposite.
Instead, on Thursday morning, we received pre-dawn synchronised statements from Makhlouf and Peter Hughes.
Makhlouf declared the police had found no evidence of unlawful access to Treasury but his statement included lots of finger-wagging about the wanton use of a Treasury search bar.
Hughes said Makhlouf had invited the Commissioner to inquire into the adequacy of Treasury policies, systems and processes for managing Budget security and he was considering his options.
The agreement of Makhlouf's employer, Hughes, to put out their statements together gave Makhlouf some temporary cover.
But on Friday, once the palaver around the Budget delivery was over, it was clear that the Government was as interested as the Opposition in finding out who knew what and when.
Gabriel Makhlouf is due to leave his job on June 27. Photo / Greg Bowker
Finance Minister Grant Robertson was left with egg on his face after having issued his own statement last week strongly linking National to criminal hacking.
Robertson has said he was only acting on the advice he had received from Treasury. That may be true, but it was churlish of Robertson not to apologise to National or at least express some regret for maligning it.
National did not help itself, however, preferring to spend another day trying to drag the Government deeper into the mire than proving its innocence.
Ardern and Robertson should agree to be interviewed by the reviewer, Deputy State Services Commissioner John Ombler, and volunteer to hand over their own correspondence last week about the Budget breach.
In my opinion, there is no doubt that the public and probably Robertson and Ardern were misled by Makhlouf.
In Makhlouf's defence, it is possible that he was misled by his own officials.
If that is the case, he should be given the courtesy of being allowed to resign early rather than being sacked.
But the reputational stakes in this fiasco were so high for so many involved that heads must roll.
Everyone wants answers before Makhlouf leaves his post on June 27 to run the Central Bank of Ireland - not least the Government which is due to host a long-scheduled farewell function for him next week.
