KEY POINTS:
National leader John Key has written to the State Services Commissioner seeking a new inquiry on government appointments after revelations a minister suggested a Labour Party person fill a contract.
The release of an investigation into the employment of Madeleine Setchell - who lost her job because her partner is Mr Key's chief press secretary Kevin Taylor - has been followed by revelations that the ministry hired Labour Party activist Clare Curran after Climate Change Minister David Parker suggested she could provide communications help.
Mr Key wrote to State Services Commissioner Mark Prebble yesterday asking him to re-engage Don Hunn, who conducted the independent inquiry into the Setchell affair, to look at the new information.
Mr Parker said he had known Ms Curran long before she joined the Labour Party through her work with her company, Inzight Communications.
He said he did not recommend the ministry hire Ms Curran as that would be inappropriate.
"But the Ministry for the Environment were searching around what they needed to do in respect of communications. It's pretty obvious that they've had problems in the communications field ... " Mr Parker said. "I would have floated her name as a possibility. I certainly would have never told them to engage her."
Mr Key said in his letter National did not accept this argument.
"Ministers must know that any such comments they make to officials, no matter how casual they seem, carry the potential inference of ministerial wishes and will influence officials."
He said confidence in the public service's neutrality needed to be rebuilt.
"I request that you re-engage Dr Hunn with the specific brief of investigating the facts in that matter.
"At the moment a reasonable interpretation of Mr Parker's involvement was that he sought to influence the recruitment process. Mr Parker denies that. The best course is to have Mr Hunn come in and check the facts and report those to the public."
Ms Curran is the Otago-Southland representative on the Labour's Party ruling council - but was not at the time of the appointment. She is contesting former Environment Minister David Benson-Pope's nomination to be Labour's candidate in Dunedin South.
In Parliament, National asked questions over how it was possible for the ministry to employ a Labour Party activist and find no conflict of interest but dismiss a person over a perceived conflict because her partner was employed by the National opposition - a reference to Ms Setchell, now communications manager at Victoria University.
A spokeswoman for Mr Parker said there was no further comment.
A spokesman for Dr Prebble said the letter had been received and would be considered. He said such matters were taken "very, very seriously".
- NZPA
