Police boss's 39-day overseas trip questioned

Police Commissioner Rob Robinson

Police Commissioner Rob Robinson announced his retirement the day he returned from a 39-day taxpayer-funded trip, prompting National to ask if it was a farewell junket.

National MP Murray McCully yesterday released limited details of the trip, supplied in an answer to a parliamentary question by Police Minister Annette King.

It showed Mr Robinson, who retires at the end of this week - two months since he returned - visited Suva, Berlin, London, Washington and Honolulu. The trip was all work-related, included no holiday time and cost $17,398.

In Suva, Mr Robinson attended an annual Pacific Island regional chiefs of police conference. He then went to Berlin for the annual Interpol general assembly meeting and then to Washington and London to visit New Zealand liaison offices.

In Honolulu he attended an intelligence inter-agency taskforce meeting.

Mr Robinson returned on October 16, the parliamentary question says, the same day he announced his retirement.

Mr McCully said: "It is not normal in taxpayer-funded service jobs to spend six weeks trotting around the globe and then return in order to announce your retirement.

"If we are going to have a practice of six weeks' globe-trotting ... for all public service chief executives before they quit their jobs, this needs to be demonstrated as a trip that was required in the public interest. Were they essential public engagements to go to or was this a little swan song being paid for by the taxpayer?"

A police spokesman refuted Mr McCully's claims yesterday, saying it was "very much business as usual".

The trip had been planned for months and almost all of the meetings had been attended by the commissioner annually for several years.

Date changes had resulted in two usually separate trips being combined into one long trip.

Mrs King refused to comment yesterday, saying she was awaiting advice on other questions being asked by Mr McCully.

Mr Robinson's office referred questions about whether the minister knew about the resignation in advance of the trip to Mrs King's office. The commissioner spent 62 days overseas this year at a total cost of $33,545.



Travel diary

* February
Indonesia, Thailand
Tsunami-related mission
Cost: $6518.90

* March
Australia
Police Commissioners' Annual Conference Brisbane
Cost: $3912.92

Samoa
Bilateral meeting
Cost: $1541

* July
Solomon Islands
Cost: $2173

* August
Australia
Senior officers group conference, Brisbane
Cost: $2000

* September - October
Fiji, Germany, Britain, US (Interpol General Assembly; London, Washington Liaison Offices).
Cost: $17,398.49