John
Key, in his response, is saying he is “totally” comfortable with
corruption
Spy
boss got job after call from PM
Labour
has hit out over Prime Minister John Key's involvement in the
appointment of spy agency boss Ian Fletcher and says it "reeks
of cronyism".
Stuff,
3 March, 2013
But
Key said today he was "totally" comfortable with the
process.
"Its
pretty normal, this is a small country," he said.
Fletcher,
head of the secretive Government Communications Security Bureau
(GCSB), was not short-listed for the job at the Government's foreign
spy agency - but applied after a phone call from Key.
The
short list, drawn up by a recruitment company, was rejected by State
Services Commissioner Iain Rennie.
Rennie
said in a statement last night he advised the prime minister that in
his judgement "none of the potential shortlist was likely to
operate at the required level and therefore should not be considered
by the panel. The prime minister accepted that advice."
Key
than contacted Fletcher, who was subsequently the only candidate
interviewed.
The
appointment has come under scrutiny since Key revealed last week that
he had been acquainted with Fletcher since childhood. Their mothers
were best friends.
But
Key played down their relationship last week.
Labour
deputy leader Grant Robertson said Key's intervention in the
appointment process signalled a "disturbing lack of
transparency".
"This
looks like a jack-up to get John Key's mate appointed as our top
spy," Robertson said.
"He
was not even an applicant for the job, and ended up being the only
person interviewed.
"The
public of New Zealand deserve far better than this kind of cronyism,
especially in a sensitive position such as this."
Robertson
also questioned Key's statement to Parliament that the appointment
was made by the State Services Commissioner.
"While
it might be that he signed a recommendation, it's very clear now that
the prime minister's role in the appointment was significantly
greater than he was letting on.
But
Key said this morning there was "nothing untoward or unusual"
about the process.
"What
happened was the State Services Commissioner came to me because I'm
the minister in charge of that," Key said.
"So
we had four recommendations that came from the head hunter and
[Rennie] said none of those I would recommend that you appoint.
"So
I said 'what do you want to do', and he said 'we need to find someone
else'."
Fletcher
was not the only person contacted after that discussion.
"In
the end Ian then went through the process, was interviewed by the
panel and the panel said he was the best person for the job and has
proven in my view to be a very good person for the job," Key
said.
"So
there's nothing untoward or unusual about that.
"There
are plenty of people that contact ministers of the Government and we
tell them to go through the process. Ian was just one of those
people."
In
a statement last night, Key said he told Fletcher to call Sir Maarten
Wevers in the first instance - Wevers was head of the Department of
Prime Minister and Cabinet at the time.
Wevers
was also on the panel, along with defence secretary John McKinnon and
deputy state services commissioner Helene Quilter.
Today,
Key rubbished suggestions Fletcher was appointed to help out the
Government because of the controversy over GCSB spying on internet
entrepreneur Kim Dotcom was wrong, saying the appointment happened
before that.
"The
real point here is there is a proper process you go through and that
process is going through the State Services Commissioner and going
through a panel, and they fully assessed him and psych-tested him and
did everything else," the prime minister said.
"Under
the nine years of the previous Labour Government are they really
telling me there was never a time when they said [to someone] 'look,
there's a job coming up you might like to think whether to put your
name forward?'."
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