Prime Minister John Key has defended Justice Minister Judith Collins' criticism of a report on David Bain's compensation bid.
The Prime Minister said he had no intention of rushing Ms Collins to bring a recommendation on compensation to Cabinet, despite the issue lingering and costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Mr Key told Newstalk ZB this morning he didn't read Justice Ian Binnie's report on Bain's compensation until it was released publicly by Ms Collins last week.
But he had already been told the report had "issues" and "real fundamental flaws".
"It's probably never going to be tidy when the Justice Minister ... felt very uncomfortable with the report she was reading," Mr Key said.
"This is a pretty tricky situation but in the end, as Justice Minister she's got to feel comfortable when she brings the recommendation [on Bain's compensation] to the cabinet, whatever that recommendation is, that she can back it up by reports she's confident in.
"And she fundamentally didn't have confidence in the [Binnie] report."