'Lie in unison' probe finds lack of professionalism

By SHARON LUNDY

Immigration Service media spokesman Ian Smith displayed a lack of professionalism when he noted in a media log that staff had agreed to "lie in unison" about the detention of Algerian asylum seeker Ahmed Zaoui, a report has found.

Labour Department Secretary James Buwalda today released the results of his month-long investigation into allegations the log was proof staff had agreed to lie and that information about Mr Zaoui was withheld from Ombudsman Mel Smith.

Dr Buwalda, who has been in the job only about six weeks, found there was no evidence to substantiate either allegation -- findings he said were an "enormous relief".

However, Mr Smith is the subject of ongoing disciplinary action and had, during the investigation, been removed from external communications.

The media log was a daily inhouse round-up of media reports related to immigration, distributed to about 300 staff daily.

In the log for last December 17, Mr Smith said: "I was let down badly ... Everyone had agreed to lie in unison but all the others caved in and I was the only one left singing the original song."

The comments referred to confirmation of Mr Zaoui's presence in New Zealand, despite Mr Smith having denied that to the media.

Dr Buwalda said in his investigation report that the "lie in unison" reference in a media log was the "product of one person's actions".

"It was intended as a sarcastic and humorous response to media criticism of department staff failing to answer media questions about Mr Zaoui," the report said.

However, the annotation seemed to display "poor judgement, a lack of professionalism and a lack of respect for the media".

"I have said throughout my report that I will not tolerate unprofessional behaviour, I will not tolerate breaches of the code of conduct," Dr Buwalda told reporters.

"What is being considered in my disciplinary action is whether there were breaches in the code of conduct where the behaviour was unprofessional.

"... on the surface, on the face of it, the behaviour appears unprofessional."

Dr Buwalda would not elaborate on what action Mr Smith was likely to face.

Mr Smith had not been involved in the decision to withhold the "lie in unison" log from the Ombudsman -- a decision Dr Buwalda put down to failures in management processes.

The whole department had failed to:

* treat the media log as an official record and therefore archive it appropriately;

* give proper legal consideration to the Ombudsman's request for that information;

* review all departmental records thoroughly before deciding how to answer Ombudsman's request; and

* have proper management oversight of interactions with Ombudsman.

However, none of those failures constituted a conspiracy to deceive, Dr Buwalda said.

The department had implemented measures to address the failures, including:

* reviewing management of Official Information Act requests;

* the management board, management and staff being reminded of their responsibilities.

State Services Commissioner Michael Wintringham commended Dr Buwalda's report and said he had done a good job under difficult circumstances.

"I have confidence that Dr Buwalda will investigate the apparent breach of the Immigration Service's code of conduct with the fairness and thoroughness that are the hallmarks of today's report," he said.

The Ombudsman is also investigating the Immigration Service's apparent failure to give him all the relevant information on Mr Zaoui and is expected to report in the next few days.

Today he said while Dr Buwalda's report had relevance to his own investigation, the two were independent of each other.

"... (my) investigation is directed to the failure of the department and departmental officials to produce all relevant official information to enable (me) properly to consider the Official Information Act complaint then before (me)," he said.

- NZPA