Immigration inquiry doesn't satisfy Opposition

1.00pm

The Government has welcomed a report clearing the Immigration Service of wrongdoing over the leaked "guinea pig" letter but the National Party says it left questions unanswered.

The two-month inquiry by Auckland barrister Kit Toogood QC investigated the leaking of a letter written to a deported Sri Lankan girl by her lawyer. The letter came to be known as the "guinea pig letter" after the lawyer, Carole Curtis, sketched the animal on it, along with ideas on how the girl's case could be handled.

The letter reached the then immigration minister, Lianne Dalziel, who had it leaked to TV3 in February in a bid to discredit lawyers acting for the girl.

Ms Dalziel resigned after it was revealed she lied to the New Zealand Press Association (NZPA) over whether she knew how TV3 got the letter.

Mr Toogood was asked by the State Services Commission to find out how the letter reached Prime Minister Helen Clark's electorate office, from where it was sent to the Beehive.

In his report, he said it was not sent to the electorate office by immigration officials and he also cleared Helen Clark's office staff of any responsibility.

Immigration Minister Paul Swain said he was pleased the inquiry cleared his department's staff, and Helen Clark told NZPA she was pleased the "false and damaging" allegations against the service and her electorate office staff had not been substantiated.

However, National Party MP Judith Collins, who persistently raised the issue in Parliament, said she was not satisfied with the report.

"It confirms my belief that the terms of reference for this inquiry were always going to be too narrow, and the findings leave many questions unanswered," she said.

"The actions of ministers and their staff, including those who leaked the guinea pig letter to the media, were conveniently excluded from the inquiry."

Ms Collins said she thought that restricting the terms of reference was a deliberate attempt to keep the full details from being made public.

"If the Government had been serious about uncovering the truth, it would not have tied the hands of those doing the investigation from the very start," she said.

Ms Curtis was also unhappy with the report.

She did not agree with conclusions over how the letter reached Ms Dalziel.

"I believe that Mr Toogood did his best with the information that he had. Unfortunately he didn't have enough information," she told National Radio.

"I am really concerned that the Immigration seems to have walked out of this without any blemish whatsoever."

Mr Toogood had not spoken to her client, who was interviewed in Sri Lanka by a staff member from the New Zealand High Commission in New Delhi.

She insisted her client had never had the guinea pig letter copied.

- NZPA

Christopher Toogood QC:

Report for the State Services Commissioner on Inquiry Into Actions of Employees of the Immigration Service and the Parliamentary Service

re leaking of the "guinea pig" letter to the media [PDF]