Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says he has "every confidence" in his Cabinet, as a Ministry begins an investigation into a leak of a Cabinet paper a week into the new government.
Newshub on Monday reported it had been leaked the Cabinet paper, which showed advice to the government about its plan to scrap the previous government's Fair Pay Agreements legislation, which it intends to achieve under urgency by Christmas.
The documents, since obtained by RNZ, show the official advice was Māori, Pacific People, women, and young people would have disproportionately benefited from Fair Pay Agreements.
However, a paper taken to Cabinet by Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden showed she did not believe a 'blunt tool' such as FPAs would have improved employment terms for those groups.
Luxon, heading into a caucus meeting on Tuesday morning, said the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) had begun an investigation.
"I have every confidence in my Cabinet," he said. "What I have been informed is that MBIE have on their own volition started up an investigation and it's good that they're taking it seriously and they're acting swiftly about it."
He said any punishment for the leaker, if they were found, would be a decision for MBIE.
The government was free to not follow officials' advice if it chose, Luxon said.
"We take advice, we don't have to follow that advice. We can take that advice and we can actually with our own views determine a course. People voted for change, we campaigned on it, we opposed it very clearly.
"What's really clear is all [government] parties, we opposed it in opposition, we campaigned on it, we don't believe FPAs are actually the way to move the New Zealand people forward," Luxon said.
"We think the reason is very simple, we want flexibility in our workplace, it's been a long-established success factor for the New Zealand workplace environment. And secondarily we don't want to add costs on to businesses that lead to higher prices, more inflation, actually put businesses out of business.
"You've got to improve the underlying performance and productivity of firms, remember that most businesses in New Zealand are small businesses, they're not large corporations."
Leader of the House Chris Bishop said there were bigger issues to deal with.
"It's hardly a secret that the government was going to repeal the fair pay legislation, we campaigned on it, so did the ACT Party, everyone knows that National opposed fair pay agreements strongly from the start, so we're not worked up about it.
"But clearly we don't want papers to be leaked, and there's an investigation under way."
He said he did not think the "breathless reporting of it is justified by the scale of the leak".
"We used to lord them over when we got leaks that actually meant something, which we used to get a lot of the time.
"It's not a secret that we're repealing fair pay."
In a statement, MBIE chief executive Carolyn Tremain confirmed the department had begun an investigation.
MBIE takes any unauthorised disclosure of information very seriously.
"I have commissioned an investigation that covers the possible source of the leak. It is the intention it is conducted promptly, and a timeframe is in the process of being confirmed," she said.
"It will also involve agencies who had access to the Cabinet paper and MBIE will be asking these agencies to participate. I have no further comment to make at this time while the investigation is underway."
