Clark doesn't know contents of leak report

Prime Minister Helen Clark said a report into who leaked a Cabinet paper to Telecom would be out later in the week but she had not been briefed about its contents.

"I don't expect anything today," she told TV One's Breakfast programme.

On Friday State Services Commissioner Mark Prebble said the mole had been identified and was now facing employment action.

He expected to be able to release his report this week.

Miss Clark said she had not asked for any more detail.

"I don't think its appropriate for me to be feeding speculation about who, what, where when.

"I don't expect the report today I expect it at sometime during the week given what he (Prebble) said on Friday."

Last week National deputy leader Gerry Brownlee said the SSC should at least say where the mole worked and said its silence gave the appearance of complicity in Government attempts to keep the story out of headlines in the lead-up to the budget.

He also believed the way the announcement had been handled and the "silence" of the prime minister and ministers "definitely point to the likelihood of it being a minister's office from which the leak occurred".

Meanwhile Telecom chairman Roderick Deane confirmed at the weekend he would be standing down from the company within the next 12 months.

Dr Deane said the timing of his resignation would depend on the board's succession planning and he had informed the board "a considerable period of time ago" of his wish to retire.

Asked about the announcement in light of the leak scandal Miss Clark said Dr Deane's resignation was part of a "normal course of events".

"Dr Deane is very well-known throughout New Zealand, he was state services commissioner, he has held many, many prominent positions, so he's had a very, very long career and I think his weekend commentary had indicated that he was looking in the normal course of events to have been moving on from his broad commitments sometime soon," she said.

- NZPA