KEY POINTS:
Corrections Department chief executive Barry Matthews is not resigning from his position over failures in probation.
And he says he has nothing to fear from a State Services Commission (SSC) inquiry.
The heat may now go on the general manager of probation, Katrina Casey, who Mr Matthews highlighted has delegated authority for the area.
Corrections Minister Judith Collins is demanding accountability over the failures, reported by the Auditor-General Kevin Brady, and has asked the State Services Commission to report back to her.
She has refused to say she has confidence in Mr Matthews.
Mr Brady examined 100 parole cases, including 52 high risk offenders, and reported that in most of them the correct procedures were not followed.
Staff did not even carry out some of the special provisions brought in after parolee Graeme Burton murdered Karl Kuchenbecker in January 2007.
Mr Matthews told NZPA that as head of the department, he was accountable for its performance and how it delivered government goals.
"I don't have any problem with that and equally everybody in the organisation is accountable for the job they do given the resources they've got and the task ahead of them there," he said.
Mr Matthews said on taking on the role four years ago his first priority was dealing with overcrowded prisons, but he said the focus on sentence and probation compliance had continued.
"That authority was delegated to the general manager of probation (Katrina Casey) to in fact deliver on that."
Mr Matthews said in the year to December there had been a 20 per cent improvement in sentence compliance reaching 80 per cent, this year's target was 90 per cent.
He knew staff were struggling with meeting timeframes due to new and complex sentences and greater volumes of offenders.
The department had sought more staff in budgets and recruited more this year and "tremendous" changes had been made since the Burton rampage.
Ms Collins described the report findings as damning and her refusal to offer confidence sparked speculation Mr Matthews would be sacked.
He spoke to her this morning and assured her he was committed to doing his best for her and the department.
"I have told her she has my absolute loyalty and commitment in not only meeting her priority and goals but also the government's priorities and goals and my intention is to in fact do that."
He believed Ms Collins views had been misinterpreted and comments that National's criticism of him in opposition were affecting the Government's treatment of him now were wrong.
"No, I do not think that the National Party have got it in for me at all, neither do I believe the Minister has it in for me."
Mr Matthews accepted Ms Collins' reason for refusing to offer confidence was so she did not influence the SSC process and that was why he had also refrained.
"I don't want to prejudge (the review), I am just saying I am not fearful of what the state services commissioner will report. I am confident on my performance over the last four years that I have endeavoured to raise the performance of the department, and we have been successful. We are not at the level that we would like to be."
The week had been spent helping the SSC with their work.
"I have been completely focused on that."
Labour MP Clayton Cosgrove yesterday made several allegations in Parliament about the employment matter including that Mr Matthews had been offered a sweetheart job if he resigned.
Mr Matthews said he would not engage in politics but had not sought or been offered another job.
"I have a job, I am committed to doing that job."
Asked why he wanted one-on-one interviews, he said he wanted to avoid a media frenzy but also give journalists the chance to get answers to their questions.
In 2000 Mr Matthews said his former boss Peter Doone should have resigned as police commissioner over an incident that led to his early retirement.
He said any ambiguity over his actions meant he had to fall on his sword.
Mr Matthews saw no connection to his own situation.
"It's got nothing to do with Peter Doone."
- NZPA
