The Treasury has confirmed concerns were raised about former Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr’s conduct.
Its comment comes as it responds to an allegation there was more to Orr’s departure than the public has been led to believe.
A former Reserve Bank manager, Michael Reddell, has written a blog post after receiving a leak from an anonymous source close to the matter.
According to the source, Orr allegedly lost his cool and swore at Treasury staff during a meeting on February 21, before behaving badly during a meeting with Finance Minister Nicola Willis on February 24.
The source claims Reserve Bank board chairman Neil Quigley emailed Orr on February 27 with a “Statement of Concerns”, outlining a series of issues with Orr’s behaviour over several years.
A week later, on March 5, Orr resigned.
Put to the Treasury, it confirmed on Wednesday that Quigley emailed a Treasury staffer about Orr’s behaviour after he and Orr met with Treasury officials on February 20 to discuss government funding for the Reserve Bank.
The Treasury said it was consulting with relevant parties to try to expedite the release of Quigley’s email under the Official Information Act (OIA).
The Herald asked the Reserve Bank why it hadn’t already released the email.
It responded: “The Reserve Bank believes that we have provided what information we can within our legal obligations and in good faith, noting that our legal obligations in this matter differ from those of the Treasury.”
The Reserve Bank also noted the Ombudsman was considering a complaint over the handling of information requests related to Orr’s resignation. It said this was an appropriate way of testing whether the Reserve Bank had fulfilled its obligations under the OIA.
Quigley didn’t mention the email when asked about the swearing allegation by Newstalk ZB on Tuesday night.
“I can’t comment on that. That’s a matter of privacy that I don’t think I should discuss,” Quigley said.
When Newstalk ZB asked about the alleged “Statement of Concerns”, he said, “I can’t go into that”.
On the day Orr resigned, Quigley refused to elaborate on what led to the surprise decision, hurriedly announced the day before the Reserve Bank hosted an international economics conference. Quigley said it was a “personal decision” that Orr made.
Then in June, the Reserve Bank issued a more detailed statement, saying Orr resigned because he disagreed with the board over the amount of government funding the bank should pitch for.
However, Reddell’s source suggests there was an element of Orr being pushed to resign.
When Newstalk ZB quizzed Quigley on Tuesday over his explanations for Orr’s resignation, he made the point that Orr did not have to resign over the funding disagreement.
“There was nothing about that, that required Adrian to resign. He chose to make it a personal decision that he would resign at that point,” Quigley said.
The Reserve Bank said the bank didn’t plan to release any more information about Orr’s resignation.
It said its June information release and statement remained a “fair summary of events”.
Orr declined the Herald’s request for comment.
Reddell – who is often critical of the Reserve Bank – said in his Croaking Cassandra blog post that he did not know the identity of his source and could not independently verify their claims.
However, he believed the source’s tone and the way their claims aligned with material in the public domain, gave them credibility.
For example, it is known that Willis’ press secretary warned her journalists might ask about Orr’s conduct.
A document released to the Herald under the OIA in April shows that on the morning of Orr’s resignation, the press secretary jotted down several answers Willis could use in response to questions she might be asked by journalists.
One question he suggested Willis might be asked was: “Did you ever have disagreements with Adrian Orr?”
The press secretary advised Willis to respond: “I’m not going to discuss what happens in meetings that discuss confidential and sensitive matters.”
He suggested a follow-up question could be: “Did the Governor ever raise his voice with you?”
Willis was advised to respond: “As I’ve said, my relationship with Adrian Orr was professional. It’s not appropriate for me to comment further on meetings that discussed sensitive and confidential matters.”
When the Herald asked Willis on Tuesday whether Orr raised his voice with her during the meeting they had on February 24, she said, “As I’ve said previously – not that I recall.”
Put to her that she surely did remember what happened, Willis said Orr did not raise his voice with her.
She distanced herself from the issue, saying it was an employment matter between Orr and the Reserve Bank board.
On Wednesday, she said she had only just found out about the email Quigley sent the Treasury staffer about Orr’s behaviour.
The Reserve Bank, in its official June explanation for Orr’s resignation, said that by the time the board met on February 27, it was clear that it and Willis were willing to agree to a “considerably lesser amount” of funding for the bank than Orr deemed necessary.
“This caused distress to Mr Orr and the impasse risked damaging necessary working relationships, and led to Mr Orr’s personal decision that he had achieved all he could as Governor of the Reserve Bank and could not continue in that role with sufficiently less funding than he thought was viable for the organisation,” the Reserve Bank said.
Secretary to the Treasury Iain Rennie texted Willis during the evening of February 27 to say he had spoken to Quigley.
Details of the exchange were redacted, but Willis responded, “Thanks for the update.”
February 27 is also the day Reddell’s source alleges Quigley sent Orr a “Statement of Concerns”.
The Reserve Bank said that following the board meeting, Orr and Quigley “entered discussions, which led to Mr Orr’s decision to resign. Both parties engaged senior counsel to negotiate an appropriate exit agreement.”
Orr hasn’t spoken publicly about his resignation.
His concerns over funding for the bank are detailed in an email, released under the OIA, which he sent board members on February 14.
He noted the tension between submitting a funding proposal the Government wanted to hear, versus one that supported the bank’s goals.
“The importance and clarity of operational independence for central banks is judged by global financial markets now and in the future. Not by any current Government,” Orr told the board.
Since Orr’s departure, the Reserve Bank has embarked on a major restructure that has involved several executives leaving and senior roles being cut.
The board is in the process of finding someone it will recommend Willis appoints as Governor.
In the meantime, Orr’s former deputy, Christian Hawkesby, is acting Governor.
When in Opposition, Willis was unhappy Quigley recommended Orr be reappointed Governor for a second term.
However, last year, she reappointed Quigley chairman until June 2026.
Jenée Tibshraeny is the Herald‘s Wellington business editor, based in the Parliamentary Press Gallery. She specialises in government and Reserve Bank policymaking, economics and banking.