Treasury chief executive Gabriel Makhlouf says a media lock-up for the Budget will go ahead as usual but the practice could be reviewed in future.
Mr Makhlouf has written to media, saying he had "taken stock" of Treasury's stance on the three-and-a-half-hour media "lock-up" before the Budget after the Reserve Bank announced it was cancelling all lock-ups following the discovery of a leak of information by Newshub, which is owned by MediaWorks.
Mr Makhlouf said he had decided the briefing for the Budget on May 26 would continue as usual. "However, I will continue to review both the overall status of future Budget briefings, and the ability of organisations to attend, in light of the adherence to lock-up conditions."
He warned media of the importance of the embargo rules, saying a "high degree of trust" was placed in media at the lock-ups. The Budget lock-up is held at Parliament and attended by media, commentators and analysts. Under the lock-up rules nobody can receive or transmit information from outside the room until the Budget is formally released at 2pm. Treasury warns it will monitor compliance with that.
Mr Makhlouf, who signed his email "regards, Gabs", said such briefings "play an important role in enabling open and transparent government, so that the public can receive timely and accurate information about the Budget.
