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The last of nationwide public meetings with the Department of Labour's troubled Pacific division have been postponed because staff members were being put on the spot over allegations swirling around it.
The department had arranged the Pacific community meetings to share information about the Immigration Service's work in the Pacific region, just as the service came in for a battering over staff-related allegations from the top down.
The bulk of the meetings had proceeded from about the time questions were first being asked about the help Immigration Service chief Mary Anne Thompson gave relatives from Kiribati to enter New Zealand and gain residency.
Ms Thompson resigned this month after police were called in to investigate allegations that she had falsely claimed to hold a doctorate.
It was then revealed there had been 19 cases of theft, bribery and fraud within the Pacific division between 2004 and 2007.
As a result, nine people resigned or were fired and three cases were referred to the police.
In the community meetings, which began on April 28, staff from the Pacific division were available to answer questions and report on policy changes and new initiatives.
Regional meetings were held in Nelson, Blenheim, Wellington, Levin, Horowhenua, Hawkes Bay, Bay of Plenty, Hamilton and the most recent in Northland last Sunday.
Three more meetings were due to run in Auckland this week, one in Christchurch next week and the last in Southland on June 10.
A Department of Labour spokesman said those were now all postponed as staff in the earlier regional meetings had been "distracted" by questions about the recent adverse publicity.
"People had been asking them questions ... It was not nasty, but distractions."
In a letter advising of the postponed meetings, the department said that given the "intense interest" in Immigration NZ and the Pacific division, it would be unfair on staff to put them in the position of having to deal with questions they were not able to answer.
Department chief executive Christopher Blake has begun an independent review of the Pacific division, which was set up in January 2005.
Auditor-General Kevin Brady will also investigate the debacle surrounding the actions of Ms Thompson and the division.
