Immigration scandal: Labour demands MBIE CEO resign for deliberately misleading MPs
Labour says it is untenable for Nic Blakeley to continue as Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment chief executive after it was found he deliberately misled MPs over a failed immigration IT project.
Last week, Parliament’s Privileges Committee found Blakeley was among officials who deliberately misled MPs over a Biometric Capability Upgrade project by not revealing it had been scrapped, after they were asked about its progress.
Blakeley offered his resignation to Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche after learning the committee’s findings but Roche refused it, saying it would not be “fair or proportionate”.
Blakeley was also backed by Immigration Minister Erica Stanford, despite her outrage at being misled for months about the project, which had faced years of delays with creative accounting employed to avoid Cabinet scrutiny.
The Public Service Commission was currently conducting a review into the project, as well as promising to bolster standards and training following last week’s report. MBIE had committed to similar reviews and improvements.
In a statement today, Labour immigration spokesman Phil Twyford declared Blakeley’s position was untenable.
“Nic Blakeley must be accountable for his actions,” Labour MP Phil Twyford said.
“That cannot simply be treated as business as usual. Parliament must be able to hold the Executive and public service to account, and that requires truthful and accurate information.
“This is about maintaining public confidence in our democratic institutions. When a senior public servant misleads Parliament, there must be accountability.”
In a statement last week, Blakeley said he accepted the findings and took responsibility.
“Accountability rests with me. Parliament, Ministers and the public are entitled to expect better from MBIE.
“My focus now is making sure a failure of this nature does not happen again.”
Roche last week said the findings were “extremely serious” and “completely unacceptable”, a point he had made clear to all public service chief executives.
However, he refused Blakeley’s resignation offer as he didn’t believe it would be “fair or proportionate”, noting the committee didn’t call for further sanction.
“Mr Blakeley was only six weeks into the chief executive role when this occurred. That does not excuse what happened, but they are factors I considered in reaching my decision about his position.
“Mr Blakeley is responsible for ensuring the failures identified by the Committee are addressed. I will hold him accountable for delivering that work – there is no misunderstanding on that point,” Roche said.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said deliberately misleading MPs was unacceptable, but believed the outcome was “fair”.
“He’d been in the role six [weeks] and he’d [not been] advised correctly by his officials so I think they’ve got to a good outcome.”
After the Public Service Commission launched its review, Stanford refrained from expressing confidence in Blakeley, saying she would wait until the review concluded.
However, she changed her tune last week while acknowledging the review was ongoing.
“As it stands, I have confidence in Nick Blakeley.
“I’m not downplaying the report, it was very, very serious, but at this stage, I have confidence in him to turn this around to make sure it never happens again.”
Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.