Latest / Best of Business / Jenee Tibshraeny: NZ Herald Wellington business editor on Treasury confirming concerns were raised about Adrian Orr's conduct

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Jenee Tibshraeny: NZ Herald Wellington business editor on Treasury confirming concerns were raised about Adrian Orr's conduct · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talk sed B.
• 0:12
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  Speaker 2: Ever, Duple Treasury has confirmed concerns were raised about former
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  Speaker 2: Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Or in his conduct. Last night
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  Speaker 2: we talked to the Bank's chair Neil Quigley about a
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  Speaker 2: claim that Adrian Or had sworn in a meeting with
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  Speaker 2: Treasury staff and also had sworn in a meeting with
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  Speaker 2: Nicola Willis, the Finance Minister. Now, Neil Quiggley wasn't going
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  Speaker 2: to tell us a lot about that. Did he swear
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  Speaker 2: in a meeting with Treasury on the twenty first effair?
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  Speaker 1: I can't comment on that.
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  Speaker 2: Why can't you comment on that? Well, because that's a
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  Speaker 2: matter of privacy that I don't that.
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  Speaker 1: I don't think I should discuss.
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  Speaker 2: Pretty same same about the meeting with Nikola. Did he
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  Speaker 2: swear in a meeting with the Finance Minister three days later?
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  Speaker 1: Well, I've heard that that's been said, but I can't
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  Speaker 1: comment on that.
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  Speaker 2: Weren't you at that meeting?
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  Speaker 1: I was at that meeting.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, so did he swear? And he can't say anything
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  Speaker 2: about the letter that he apparently sent Adrian Did you
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  Speaker 2: send him an email saying to him, hey, here's a
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  Speaker 2: whole bunch of specific and concrete allegations against you about
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  Speaker 2: your behavior. Well, see, I can't go into that head.
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  Speaker 2: Jane Tibtroni is The Herald's Wellington business editor with us.
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  Speaker 2: Hello Janey, Hey, Heather, did he what happened? Tell me, Jane,
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  Speaker 2: I'm dying to know.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I'm dying to know as well. Today the Treasury
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  Speaker 3: was very helpful and it confirmed that Neil Quigley emailed
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  Speaker 3: a Treasury staffer about US behavior after a meeting that
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  Speaker 3: they had on February twenty. So we don't know what
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  Speaker 3: exactly about the behavior was raised, but it was obviously
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  Speaker 3: bad enough that the Chairman of the Reserve Bank thought
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  Speaker 3: that he would email the Treasury staffer. So that is
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  Speaker 3: the one bit of fact we know. The interesting thing
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  Speaker 3: here is that the Reserve Bank is being very tight
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  Speaker 3: lipped about what happened around Adrian Or's resignation. It says
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  Speaker 3: it's because it's bound by legalities. You know, it obviously
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  Speaker 3: entered into an agreement with Adrian Or when he left,
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  Speaker 3: there would have been confidentiality clauses. The Reserve Bank is
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  Speaker 3: standing behind those clauses, and that's limiting what it can say.
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  Speaker 3: The unusual thing, though, is that the Treasury appears willing
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  Speaker 3: to potentially release this email to me. So it is
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  Speaker 3: unusual that this email can't be released, the one that
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  Speaker 3: Neil quickly sent the Treasury staff. It is unusual that
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  Speaker 3: that can't be released by the Reserve Bank. But it
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  Speaker 3: maybe can be released by the Treasury.
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  Speaker 2: But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out.
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  Speaker 2: But it's because the Reserve Bank is the one bound
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  Speaker 2: by the gag order with Adrian or but not Treasury.
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  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, So now this is where it gets into some
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  Speaker 3: sort of technical thing because the official you know, the
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  Speaker 3: official information that captures all of government. So it is
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  Speaker 3: you know, I think this is something for the lawyers
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  Speaker 3: to figure out. How is it that one agency and
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  Speaker 3: say no and the other one might be able to
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  Speaker 3: say yes. And so the Reserve Bank has said to me, well,
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  Speaker 3: that's legal obligations are different to that of the Treasury.
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  Speaker 3: But you know, if the Treasury can in fact release
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  Speaker 3: this email, then I have to ask, well, what else
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  Speaker 3: can it actually release? Because myself and a whole bunch
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  Speaker 3: of other people made requests of the Reserve Bank and
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  Speaker 3: the Treasury around Adrianaal's departure and we were largely stonewalled.
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  Speaker 3: So if they released this email, then what else can
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  Speaker 3: they release?
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  Speaker 2: Well, what else did they not release that they should
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  Speaker 2: have released?
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  Speaker 3: Well, yes, exactly, this is the thing that we don't know.
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  Speaker 2: You know what silly buggers gets you called out in
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  Speaker 2: the end day like don't play silly buggers, don't don't.
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  Speaker 2: This is because this is clearly what's gone on here.
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  Speaker 2: Tell me something. Do you think that a gag order
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  Speaker 2: that ties the hands of Adrianal and the Reserve Bank
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  Speaker 2: also ties the Finance Minister.
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  Speaker 3: Well, well, this is a good question because at to
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  Speaker 3: date they all seem to be acting in unison. So,
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  Speaker 3: for example, the day that Adrian All resigned and the
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  Speaker 3: following days, my colleagues and I we sent requests under
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  Speaker 3: the Official Information Act. I asked specifically Treasury, Reserve Bank,
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  Speaker 3: and the Finance Minister's Office the same questions, you know,
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  Speaker 3: release information about the circumstances around the resignation. The Reserve
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  Speaker 3: Bank came back with a statement summarizing what happened in
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  Speaker 3: its view and limited set of documents. The Finance Minister's
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  Speaker 3: Office also came back with some stuff. For example, that
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  Speaker 3: came back with the document that showed that she was
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  Speaker 3: briefed on answering questions about if Adrian or yelled at
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  Speaker 3: her in a meeting. But largely it seems like that
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  Speaker 3: the requests have been dealt with together. So this is
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  Speaker 3: the interesting thing, you know, should they have been dealt
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  Speaker 3: with separately? So I've actually just I've just made a
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  Speaker 3: complaint to the Onmbodsman's office. I think this is the
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  Speaker 3: on Bodsman is going.
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  Speaker 2: To need to make it John Allen.
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  Speaker 3: It's a new person. I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: I think it might be John Allen. And if it's
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  Speaker 2: John Allen, then he doesn't play silly buggers. He should
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  Speaker 2: be okay with it. Listen, Janet, answer me this question, though,
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  Speaker 2: Should they not simply have answered given us everything that
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  Speaker 2: they possibly could and been as straight up as they
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  Speaker 2: possibly could at the start, because then we wouldn't be like,
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  Speaker 2: how far are we? This is like four and a
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  Speaker 2: half months later and we're still talking about him. Had
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  Speaker 2: they not just offloaded everything at the very start, this
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  Speaker 2: would be a lot better for them, wouldn't it.
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  Speaker 3: Oh for sure? And you know it, arguably it would
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  Speaker 3: have been better for Adrian or as well, and even
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  Speaker 3: if the information wasn't great at the time that made
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  Speaker 3: them all look bad in one way or another, it's
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  Speaker 3: surely that is better. And you know, the more this
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  Speaker 3: goes on, the more we get skeptical and we feel
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  Speaker 3: like it's hard to trust what they say, which just
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  Speaker 3: isn't good for anyone. You know, I don't want to.
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  Speaker 3: I don't want to be that sort of obsessive person
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  Speaker 3: who questions, Hi, you are well I am. I know
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  Speaker 3: that's driving me.
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  Speaker 2: You had I appreciate it. I'm in there with you.
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  Speaker 2: To Genative Trainey, the Heralds Wellington Business Editor.
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