KEY POINTS:
Broadcasting minister Trevor Mallard said today he had received some information from TVNZ about its handling of the Tony Veitch case but he needed to know more.
Mr Mallard said today: "I have received some information but it essentially outlines what is already in the public arena and
it does not detail who knew what and when and who they told, as I had asked, and so I will be asking for more information."
TVNZ managers will have to tell the Government exactly what they knew and when they learned it in a report on the state broadcaster's handling of assault admissions by Veitch.
Yesterday Mr Mallard said he would be finding out "who knew what, and when, and who did they tell" about reports the sports presenter assaulted a former partner, leaving her with a broken back.
But his statement today indicates TVNZ has not told him enough.
Veitch was sidelined from his presenting jobs at TVNZ and Radio Sport last week after admitting to "lashing out" at Kristin Dunne-Powell in 2006.
TVNZ and the Radio Network have now admitted senior managers knew of an assault and a financial payment by Veitch for months before details were published.
Prime Minister Helen Clark said she was "deeply concerned" over the broadcaster's handling of the matter.
Miss Clark today said that if senior TVNZ managers knew of the details of the Veitch affair, but failed to act, then there was a "moral crisis in the heart of the organisation,".
She said on Newstalk ZB: "This isn't any ordinary issue of alleged domestic assault. This is an issue of a public broadcasting channel which of course runs advertisements like `It's not OK'.
"Where the public perception of moral crisis is, is when clearly a report of domestic violence is thought to be okay at high levels of the organisation."
The Government now wanted full honesty from the broadcaster, she said.
A spokeswoman said the Government had a "no surprises" policy with state-owned enterprises and would look into whether that had been breached.
National state owned enterprises spokesman Gerry Brownlee said TVNZ's actions showed poor judgment.
Mr Mallard said he did not want to make further comments while TVNZ was resolving its employment issues with Veitch, but the broadcaster was looking "not flash" over the incident.
It has emerged that three senior TVNZ bosses and a TVNZ lawyer learned of the assault in December, after Veitch approached them.
At the Radio Network, part-owned by Herald publisher APN, general manager of talk programming Bill Francis said he and another staffer learned late last year of a "fracas" between Veitch and Ms Dunne-Powell. They decided it was a private issue.
Mr Francis said he might have taken a different approach had he known more details at the time.
TVNZ chief executive Rick Ellis was standing by his managers on Saturday, saying that at no time were bosses told Ms Dunne-Powell had suffered a broken back.
In an interview with the Herald on Sunday, Veitch said he thought Ms Dunne-Powell had only bruising when he left her in hospital to go to present a Radio Sport show.
Veitch told his broadcasting colleague Paul Holmes he would agree to be part of an anti-domestic violence campaign "in a flash".
Preventing Violence in the Home executive director Jane Drumm said Veitch's statements showed he had not yet taken responsibility for the assault. "He's full of excuses and he's minimising the hurt caused to Kristin," she said.
- ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY NZPA
