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A top official has taken the fall for a foreign policy "cock-up" but it was revealed today that officials in several ministers' offices knew about it.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade chief executive Simon Murdoch has apologised for not telling the Government about plans for controversial Air New Zealand flights to the Iraqi border, but Parliament was told this afternoon that other officials - including in Prime Minister Helen Clark's office and Foreign Minister Winston Peters' office - did not pass the information on either.
The Government opposes the war in Iraq and has made political capital against National, claiming it would have sent Kiwi troops, so the opposition today gleefully seized on the case.
In a report to Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters, Mr Murdoch said he had been provided only partial information about the charter flights taking troops to Kuwait but still should have passed it to the minister.
"I had the opportunity to pass it on to the Minister of Foreign Affairs by way of a heads up and I did not do so. That was an error on my part for which I now apologise."
He also took personal responsibility for the "informal steer" he gave to Air NZ about its plans.
"At the time I did not recognise that the contract if concluded could become a matter of sensitivity for ministers in so far as the charter to Kuwait might be associating New Zealand with stabilisation operations in Iraq to an inappropriate degree."
Mr Peters has backed Mr Murdoch praising his integrity and accepting his apology but Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen appears more willing to throw him to the wolves.
Mr Murdoch was given a heads-up by Air NZ about the proposed June flights taking Aussie troops to Kuwait - where they transited to Iraq - in mid-January and gave Air NZ initial advice there were no diplomatic or policy problems.
Dr Cullen said Air NZ's decision to provide the charter flights was wrong but said they had sought advice from Mfat which was the body responsible.
"What is absolutely clear is that indeed ministers were not informed," he said in Parliament.
"This is cock up by officials, not a conspiracy by ministers."
Dr Cullen expected the State Services Commission to take the incident into account when conducting Mr Murdoch's next performance review.
"I think this is a very serious error of judgement on Mr Murdoch's part," he told reporters.
Dr Cullen said New Zealand's policy on Iraq was clear and it was obvious shuttling troops had political implications.
"I find it strange that a range of officials didn't seem to think that this was a matter which would have a degree of political sensitivity about it."
Mr Peters backed Mr Murdoch and said it was human to make mistakes and consequences were not always predictable.
"The question is in January was this discussion happening in a forecastable way where alarm bells should have been ringing, Mr Murdoch apologises he didn't see or hear the alarm bells but I am not going to make a judgement whether he should have or not."
Yesterday, when the story broke, Air NZ was criticised by Defence Minister Phil Goff and others for failing to tell the Government.
Air NZ chairman John Palmer today met ministers before telling reporters he felt the company had met its "no surprises" obligation to the Government and had kept Mfat in the loop.
"The reality is also that if Mfat had given us different advice or raised serious concerns that would likely have led to us making a different decision."
The Government is a majority shareholder in Air NZ so Mr Palmer and Dr Cullen, as shareholding minister, meet regularly and he admitted it would have been good to have informed Dr Cullen but had not because Mfat had not seemed concerned.
Dr Cullen said he expected Air NZ to better inform him in future but said it had acted properly.
National Party deputy leader Bill English was stunned officials that sat on a security committee had known about the flights but had not told ministers.
"Not only were (Mfat) officials advised and didn't tell their minister but that officials in the department of prime minister and cabinet were aware of these flights and did not inform any politician," he said.
Dr Cullen said the responsibility was Mfat's and Mr Murdoch said his signal that the matter was not sensitive was picked up by other officials.
Act MP Heather Roy said Air NZ should be allowed to carry out its commercial operations without interference.
Green MP Keith Locke said Mr Murdoch was shouldering the blame but the Government and Air NZ were also responsible - the latter had violated its guiding principles and the Government's failure to be outspoken on Iraq led to complacency.
Mr Peters said the flights were inappropriate but were only two out of 42 approved by the Civil Aviation Authority.
Australia is yet to get back to Mr Peters about what role the troops had in Iraq but its defence force website shows no reconstruction operations.
- NZPA
