Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche. Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas
The Education Ministry has started an external investigation into leaks - and asked RNZ to help.
The ministry shared with RNZ on Wednesday an email to staff expressing deep concern about recent unauthorised disclosures and announcing the investigation by Michael Heron KC.
It also invited RNZ to meet with Heron for "a brief chat" about what may have been shared or shown - an invitation that RNZ immediately refused.
The message followed RNZ revealing on Wednesday morning it had seen a copy of an email referring to a message Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche sent to staff last week warning against leaks of information.
Sir Brian's email was sent on 22 May, the same day RNZ reported that a court injunction granted on 21 May had blocked it from reporting on commercially sensitive information in a pre-Budget document sighted by RNZ.
The Education Ministry's email to staff was signed off by acting deputy secretary for education, Rob Campbell.
"As the Ministry's Integrity Champion, I am deeply concerned by the recent unauthorised disclosures of confidential documents to a journalist. These anonymous leaks not only harm our organisation but also unfairly create mistrust within our teams and distract from our professionalism and hard work," the message said.
"When we have breaches like these, this compromises the integrity of the public service. As a public servant, you have signed up to our code of conduct and a core set of public service principles that set out common standards of behaviour and guide our judgement, choices and actions. This includes being fair, impartial, responsible, and trustworthy in everything we do.
"Because of the seriousness of these breaches, an independent external investigation has been commissioned to determine how these occurred and identify those responsible. Michael Heron, KC has been appointed to undertake this investigation, the results of which will be provided directly to the Secretary for Education. We take this matter extremely seriously and will act on the findings of the investigation.
"Alongside this investigation, we will be continuing to review the way that information is made available and shared appropriately. This will include looking at our technology environment and our internal processes and policies for raising concerns, such as our Speak Up policy and protected disclosure guidelines.
This approach reflects our commitment to our integrity and accountability as public servants."
The ministry's email to RNZ said the message "might be of interest given the alignment with some of RNZ's recent reporting".
It also suggested a meeting with Heron.
"As part of our follow-up, Mr Heron is keen to connect with you (and/or your colleagues) for a brief chat on Wednesday, 4 June if you're available. He's hoping to get a better sense of what may have been shared or shown to you, and would also welcome any general insights you might be able to provide.
"Let me know if a time that day could work for you-or if you'd prefer to share anything in writing instead. Appreciate your time and openness."
RNZ thanked the ministry for the information and the invitation, which it declined.
RNZ Chief News Officer Mark Stevens said the newsroom declined the opportunity to participate in the investigation to ensure the identity of any confidential sources were protected.
"The protection of confidential sources is a fundamental tenet of journalism that is not only enshrined in our own Editorial Policy but also captured in the principles of the New Zealand Media Council," he said.
RNZ sighted an unprecedented number of confidential Education Ministry documents in the past year.
In the past five weeks, it sighted four separate documents related to Budget decisions, three of which concerned plans to cut the Kāhui Ako scheme and divert its $118-million-a-year funding to learning support.
The scheme clustered schools together and provided release time and extra pay for about 4000 teachers who led improvement work among the schools.
The fourth and most recently-sighted document included commercially sensitive information the government said would damage its ability to engage in collective bargaining, prompting it to seek, and win, an injunction last week preventing publication.
Last year, RNZ sighted internal Education Ministry information regarding the rewrite of the Year 7-13 English curriculum and ministry job-cuts and restructuring plans.
In the past year RNZ has also sighted confidential internal information from StudyLink and Te Kura (The Correspondence School).
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