No accountability under Key

Written By: - Date published: 10:03 am, June 24th, 2016 - 63 comments
Categories: accountability, john key, scoundrels, useless - Tags: , , , , ,

What a mess:

Damning inquiry points finger at the Government, State Services Commissioner

The Government has rejected parts of a damning report into its handling of an inquiry into leaks from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Ombudsman Ron Paterson has told the Government it should compensate a former top diplomat whose career ended in tatters after he was targeted by the inquiry, which was instigated by the State Services Commission. He has also recommended a formal apology.

The 2013 inquiry has already cost taxpayers as much as $1 million, including lawyers costs and fees paid to the woman who headed it, Paula Rebstock.

This morning Key expressed his continuing confidence in Rebstock. Of course. Back to the above piece:

In his report, Paterson says the SSC acted unreasonably during the inquiry, and singled out flaws including

* the findings in relation to Leask exceeded the inquiry’s terms of reference.

* Leask was not given fair notice prior to his interview that his conduct would be examined.

* Insufficient material was provided him about the applicable standards against which his behaviour was being measured

* He was not treated fairly.

* The evidence relied upon by the inquiry did not reasonably support some of the criticisms made about him in the final report and some highly relevant evidence was not properly addressed

* The manner in which Leaks’s actions were addressed in the final report was disproportionate when compared with the comments about the actions of other senior MFAT managers.

* Publication of the report, in a manner that identified him and contained unfair criticisms of him, was unjust

* State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie’s public statement about Leask was unreasonable.

Paterson recommends Leask receive compensation for harm to his reputation caused by the deficiencies in the inquiry and publication of the report.

That is a comprehensive list of failures. Yet Key will keep using Rebstock for government work. The idea that there is any accountability under Key is a long, long distant memory.

63 comments on “No accountability under Key ”

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  1. Sabine 1
    24 June 2016 at 10:10 am

    she delivers the results that she is a. employed to deliver and b. paid to deliver.
    So of course the current National Party Government and its Leader John Key will have absolute confidence. She does as she is told to do.

  2. Enviro Gal 2
    24 June 2016 at 10:21 am

    + 100 Sabine
    shame on NZ voters

  3. M. Gray 3
    24 June 2016 at 10:22 am

    Well this is disgusting how many thousands did Rebstock get to do this work is she going to pay back the money tax payers have to fork out to fix her mess. We were promised better public services and all him( I find it hard to say his name) and his dishonest government have done is set about undermining our top public servants many who have given 20 plus years to public services now why would you do this ?

  4. Richardrawshark 4
    24 June 2016 at 10:26 am

    No one gets it.

    This piece of shit Rebstock, did and instigated the ruination of a man and his family who were completely innocent. It would have been kinder being her intent to ruin this person, to have just assassinated him, rather than what she lined up for him, disgrace. etc.

    I consider it worse than Murder, and a complete abuse of power, cinema blockbusters have been made about people doing what she did.

    For Key to not understand that just proves he’s not fit for the position he holds.

    I suggest the opposition points this out to him, he just crossed the line of decency.

    • Johan 4.1
      24 June 2016 at 1:21 pm

      Richard, John Key has given New Zealanders the middle finger salute long ago. He is not immune to drastic action considering his clean-out while in the employment of Merrill Lynch.

  5. srylands 5
    24 June 2016 at 10:27 am

    You are being vindictive. Paula has served New Zealand brilliantly. For 29 years. You folk would be happy as pigs in shit in totalitarian governments running purges. You are always spewing hate and negativity.

    I disagreed with the original report the day it was delivered. The ombudsman conclusions were inevitable. I am sure that Dame Rebstock will reflect on it.

    Honestly if the country was run along the lines you lot advocate we would have a fascist nightmare state. Luckily it won’t happen.

    • Richardrawshark 5.1
      24 June 2016 at 10:40 am

      I’m being vindictive LMAO, I would see her rotting for 15+ in Pare Max, and she deserves every second of it. Disgusting creature, What she did, was worse than physical assault, if the guy hadn’t had the brains to fight back he and his family and children would have been disgraced, shunned by his peers, unable to find work again in that field. You have no idea rylands, this transcends politics you jerk.

    • ScottGN 5.2
      24 June 2016 at 10:41 am

      Vindictive? Governments running purges? You’ve summed up the actions of McCully, Rennie and Rebstock very well.
      However well Rebstock has served her adopted country there is now an indelible stain on her career. She should resign immediately.

      • srylands 5.2.1
        24 June 2016 at 2:25 pm

        Sorry that is not going to happen.

        • ScottGN 5.2.1.1
          24 June 2016 at 6:41 pm

          Probably not. But she will never again be tasked with this level of work. Her career is effectively over.

        • Rob 5.2.1.2
          24 June 2016 at 11:40 pm

          Hopefully when the govt changes next year she can leave our country and go home and take her friend John with her to their own country

      • risildowgtn 5.2.2
        24 June 2016 at 2:33 pm

        and then be deported and barred from reentering NZ ever again

    • The Unliving 5.3
      24 June 2016 at 11:13 am

      Honestly if the country was run along the lines you lot advocate we would have a fascist nightmare state.

      What “lines” do you think are being advocated here? Would you rather Rebstock was not accountable for her actions? Should she not have “reflected” on them before smearing a civil servant? It’s a bit late now…

      And yes, I’m sure Derek Leask and his family will be greatly reassured to hear that we do not have a nightmare fascist state or a totalitarian government running purges.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 5.4
      24 June 2016 at 12:18 pm

      Leask should sue the low-life fraudulent lying trash. She lied to the Ombudsman, she destroyed a man’s career.

      Worse than that, everything she does reeks of right wing predetermination and conflict of interest, just like you, S Rylands.

    • TC 5.5
      24 June 2016 at 12:59 pm

      Yes dear

    • Stuart Munro 5.6
      24 June 2016 at 1:04 pm

      We are living in a fascist nightmare start you plonker.

      • srylands 5.6.1
        24 June 2016 at 2:24 pm

        So if John key is still PM in 2021, which appears more likely than not, will you re-evaluate your view of New Zealand, or just ramp up your hysteria?

        • Stuart Munro 5.6.1.1
          24 June 2016 at 2:39 pm

          What, do you mean to make him president for life?

          I’ll reevaluate him if he starts working for New Zealanders insteading of whoring himself to foreign corporates and tax evaders – three terms was way too many for this lying do-nothing wastrel.

        • McFlock 5.6.1.2
          24 June 2016 at 5:01 pm

          Actually, if john key is still PM in 2021, that will be a strong indication that yeah, democracy is fucked.

    • Johan 5.7
      24 June 2016 at 1:26 pm

      Srylands, what a pile of shyte you write! If this country was run on more democratic lines, we wouldn’t have families going hungry or sleeping in cars. Shame on you, get your head out of your arse!!!

    • North 5.8
      24 June 2016 at 4:56 pm

      So who listens to SSLands ? Especially when it talks about abuse of power. As though it cares a cuss about democracy and the rule of law when neither suits its fetid sweetheart ShonKey Python

    • gnomic 5.9
      25 June 2016 at 12:12 am

      Rebstock has an outstanding record of bungling incompetence. But that is of course what she was hired to achieve. Perhaps she could now do the nation a favour by taking her snout out of the trough.

      And you could sod off and stop polluting the discourse here with your asinine bullshit.

    • reason 5.10
      25 June 2016 at 8:18 pm

      Srylands, our only troll to admit being a financial supporter of Whale oil seems to have lost it ………

      Rebstock is an over paid corrupt woman who writes per-determined second rate rubbish opinion s and passes them off as reports.

      She’s probably just knocked us a couple of more spots down the international corruption index all by herself.

      As for Srylands fascist rave ………… watch either ‘the shock doctrine http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/the-shock-doctrine-2009/

      or ‘the act of killing’ http://www.actofkilling.com/

      Srylands would be the first to support murder ………………

  6. Ffloyd 6
    24 June 2016 at 10:27 am

    Could just imagine it. Key to Rebstock. “Here is the brief of what I want you review, and here are details of the outcome I would like you to arrive at”

    • Jones 6.1
      24 June 2016 at 12:15 pm

      That’s exactly how it works… not necessarily as direct as that but you are under no illusion as to what the desired outcome is.

    • ianmac 6.2
      24 June 2016 at 1:18 pm

      Funny that. I knew a Principal of a school who would write up the minutes of he Staff Meeting the day before the meeting. Who could contest him for that but it did look good on paper. Judith Collin’s enquiry was just like that

      • Keith 6.2.1
        24 June 2016 at 1:48 pm

        Judith Collins – Snow White of whitewashes was so embarrassingly obvious which should have qualified the question to Key when he announced that inquiry: “What is the conclusion that has been written?”. And to add the “Fuck you” punch line he made her Minister of Police. Total piss take.

    • gnomic 6.3
      25 June 2016 at 12:23 am

      The weasel doesn’t have to issue specific instructions, he can rely on the safe pair of hands to know what is wanted. Absolutely no chance of deviation from the right page in the songbook there. They probably both get directives from the dark powers to ensure there can be no mistake.

  7. save nz 7
    24 June 2016 at 10:34 am

    Think how many houses you could build and kids you could feed with all the corporate welfare for lawyers and shonky neoliberal “consultants” that National waste on a daily basis…. not to mention the bullying aspects of attacking their own public servants that tell the truth…

  8. Greg 8
    24 June 2016 at 10:35 am

    The lack of ethics in Key’s leadership should be of no great surprise, its how he did things for his last employer, and it trickles down infecting others.
    He only has to wait out another year. Then flip NZ the bird while he retires to Hawaii with his Knighthood. Is there any dispute he will get one?
    The best thing maybe is another 4th term, because he will blow out treasury debt over 150 Billion. TPPA will fall over in Congress, as they squabble over adding more demands to it.
    Labours going to have to clean his mess, like they always do after National.
    Better tighten your belts, its going to be a long recession to a real recovery.

  9. Sacha 9
    24 June 2016 at 10:37 am

    Rennie’s hands are not clean either. Disgraceful.

    • ScottGN 9.1
      24 June 2016 at 10:53 am

      Iain Rennie has performed very poorly as SSC. He should have resigned over the Roger Sutton debacle. He leaves his job in ignominy at the end of this month.

      • Rodel 9.1.1
        24 June 2016 at 7:24 pm

        Didn’t know Rennie worked in ‘ignominy’. Where’s that? Never been there. Oh wait ..yes I have. Sorry ..too much wine…I’ll stop now.

  10. Anne 10
    24 June 2016 at 10:38 am

    I posted the following on Open Mike this morning:

    Paula Rebstock’s influence on NZers:

    Rebstock is an Auckland based economist and company director. She is Chair of the ACC Board, Chair of the Work and Income Board, Deputy Chair of KiwiRail, and Chair of the Insurance and Savings Ombudsman Commission. Paula is also a member of the University of Auckland Business School Advisory Board, a member of the Synergia Limited advisory board and a director of Auckland Transport. She is also a lead reviewer for the Performance Improvement Framework for the State Services Commission. Paula has been chair of the New Zealand Commerce Commission (2003-2009) and a member of the Commission for 11 years.
    Other past roles include director of the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, and Health Benefits Limited, general manager with the Department of Labour, as well as economic adviser positions with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the New Zealand Treasury. Paula has also worked in the private sector in the United States in the 1980s.

    This hard-wired American neoliberal junkie with a vindictive bent is practically running the show. I wonder how many NZ lives she has interfered with thus far… not to mention those she has slandered or defamed.

    I sincerely hope the next Lab/Green/NZ First(?) govt. ensures she never gets another position of influence in this country ever again!

    http://www.beaccessible.org.nz/the-movement/fab-50-network/paula-rebstock

    • One Anonymous Bloke 10.1
      24 June 2016 at 12:21 pm

      Yes. She has destroyed countless lives. She deserves official contempt. Every single one of her predetermined conflicted “decisions” should be revisited.

  11. Richardrawshark 11
    24 June 2016 at 10:43 am

    Winston likes taking pokes at her, this will give the old man of NZ politics a few rounds to fire.

    Winston and his ZFA(Zimmer Frame Army) will sort it.

  12. Mosa 12
    24 June 2016 at 10:58 am

    Another appalling disaster that a John Key appointment has overseen.
    Massive damage done and Key has confidence in the process used.
    He is a buffoon and an embarrassment and is totally unprofessional and unprincipled.
    When is the National party going to act !

    • NZJester 12.1
      24 June 2016 at 12:52 pm

      Key has confidence in the process used as she delivered a sacrificial lamb for the slaughter as was required of her! Finding out the truth is not why he chose her.

  13. AB 13
    24 June 2016 at 11:36 am

    She’s a neoliberal gun for hire. Can be seamlessly relied upon to reach the ‘correct’ conclusions on anything at all – providing a veneer of impartiality. This is how the nexus of power and wealth operates.

  14. Siobhan 14
    24 June 2016 at 12:23 pm

    There needs to be a study on this Governments relationship with ‘Reports’,
    Key seems to dismiss reports he doesn’t think ‘sound right'(Fishing report from Fisheries Centre at British Columbia University etc),
    accept reports that, I guess, ‘sound right'(any report that cuts Government spending and curbs peoples Rights and Privacy),
    and even better like some bits but ignore other vital components (High Court judge Rodney Hansen QC on Teina Pora etc).

    I’m waiting for a journalist to actually ask Key how he decides whether a report sounds ‘legit’, but then again I’m still waiting for the day when questions to the Minister of Health are followed up with the question ‘So, do you go Private or Public?’

    • ianmac 14.1
      24 June 2016 at 1:22 pm

      Key said in interviews that he had not yet read the Ombudsman’s report but said he would continue to employ Rebstock; (to do more hatchet jobs?)

      • Sally's Husband 14.1.1
        25 June 2016 at 2:07 pm

        So Key hasn’t ractually READ the Ombudsman’s report, but still feels qualified to comment on it??

        Is that credible? The hell it is.

        Uh hummm. So that’s the kind of person we have as our PM?

    • North 14.2
      24 June 2016 at 7:25 pm

      One of the first reports ‘commissioned’ by this government was that of Dame Margaret Bazley into Legal Aid.

      The “Well respected, retired , civil servant of 400 years standing blah blah blah” …… sort of thing.

      By own admission her report relied significantly on anecdotal material.

      And what a major cock-up it was when Dame Margaret’s anecdotal material smashed legal aid.

      And how it obviously pissed off a retiring Supreme Court judge.

      http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7549237/Longest-serving-judge-hits-out-at-legal-aid

  15. adam 15
    24 June 2016 at 1:09 pm

    I wonder if other journalist in this country will follow the link that Felix points out?

    That this was directly connected to the “dirty politics” mechanisms – that this national government has and continues to use to hold onto power?

  16. Draco T Bastard 16
    24 June 2016 at 5:01 pm

    Yet Key will keep using Rebstock for government work.

    Of course he will – she’s doing exactly what he wants her to do and that doesn’t have anything to do with justice or reality.

  17. Draco T Bastard 17
    24 June 2016 at 5:56 pm

    Another day, another whitewash

    But Labour MP David Cunliffe said Mr Mersi is fantasizing.

    “If the debacle over the Grozovsy brothers is ‘sound and a working system’, one would hate to see a system that wasn’t working because they’ve let in people who had criminal prosecutions for toxic waste dumping.”

    Mr Cunliffe is scathing of the review’s quality, dismissing it as a “whitewash”, and said it does nothing to improve the country’s overseas investment regime.

    “It surfaces the fact that the OIO couldn’t even do a proper Google search – they told their minister in relation to the Onetai Station case that the Grozovsys were clean, that they had searched and they hadn’t found anything – that’s contrary to what exactly had happened.”

  18. Ross 18
    24 June 2016 at 6:09 pm

    Let’s not forget that Murray McCully fucked up, as usual. He was critical of Leask and Fyfe. Foreign Minister Murray McCully…attacked the two diplomats calling them “unprofessional and disreputable”.

    McCully is the Frank Spencer of NZ politics.

    https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/embarrassing-climb-down-commission-after-mfat-leak

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