KEY POINTS:
State Services Commissioner Mark Prebble says he will not stand aside from an inquiry into the public service's handling of the Madeleine Setchell case despite admitting he knew about vital details as long as two months ago.
However, Dr Prebble said it was likely he would get someone from outside the State Services Commission (SSC) to look at its role in the affair as part of the inquiry.
Speculation Dr Prebble would stand aside had been growing after Prime Minister Helen Clark's office said he was considering whether someone outside the commission should conduct the inquiry.
That followed Dr Prebble admitting yesterday he knew of the vital conversation between David Benson-Pope and Environment Ministry chief executive Hugh Logan, where Mr Benson-Pope said he would be less than "free and frank" with Ms Setchell two months ago.
Mr Benson-Pope's initial denials of that conversation eventually led to him being forced out of Cabinet for misleading the public.
Both Mr Logan and Dr Prebble failed to tell deputy State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie of the conversation, before he briefed State Services Minister Annette King on the matter.
National have called for Dr Prebble to stand aside from the inquiry.
Dr Prebble today said he had a legal obligation to oversee the inquiry as he was the ultimate employer of public service chief executives like Mr Logan.
"I can't pass it to someone else - eventually I'm the employer. I must do this job," he said on Radio New Zealand.
"What I can do is make sure the process of establishing the facts is as impartial, open and clear as possible ... and in doing that I can retain someone to assist in the collection of facts."
Dr Prebble yesterday released terms of reference for the inquiry, which will look at how senior public servants dealt with Ms Setchell, who was forced out of her job as communications manager at the Environment Ministry.
Ms Setchell was sidelined from the ministry shortly after she started her job, after an adviser from Mr Benson-Pope's office told Mr Logan there could be problems working with Ms Setchell.
Ms Setchell is the partner of National leader John Key's chief press secretary, Kevin Taylor.
- NZPA
