Proven leaks ‘will mean dismissals’

Press, 30 January 1986, Page 2

Proven leaks ‘will mean dismissals’

PA Wellington Proven cases of deliberate leaking of information by public servants would mean instant dismissal, said the chairman of the State Services Commission, Dr Mervyn Probine, yesterday. The commission was "greatly disturbed” by the allegation made by the Minister of Defence, Mr O’Flynn, that officers and staff in his Ministry had been disloyal in leaking information, he said. Dr Probine said deliberate disloyalty through the leaking of material to the news media or the Opposition with the intention of embarrassing the Government or getting certain policies implemented was totally unacceptable. "Public servants must never allow personal interests to conflict with their obligation to serve the Minister and the Gov-

eminent loyally and in an entirely professional manner,” he said. While the Armed Forces were not under the commission’s control, it would deal with proven cases of that kind of offence by instant dismissal from the Public Service.

“Regrettably, detecting people who leak information is very difficult and in my five-year term of office only one officer has been proven to have deliberately leaked material — resulting in the termination of the officer’s services,” Dr Probine said. Detection was difficult because the news media and politicians protected their sources. Dr Probine said he was surprised politicians protected public servants. “This kind of thing strikes at the very heart of the relationship between Ministers on the one hand, and the Admin-

istration on the other,” he said.

“Protection of the highest ethical standards in the State services should in my view be put above short-term political advantage.” Dr Probine said some "so-called” leaks were not the result of any deliberate kind of betrayal. In many cases non-con-fidential administrative decisions were known to a wide group of people and the “grapevine” extended the number “in the know” widely throughout the Public Service.

A skilled journalist could fairly easily glean information on a variety of matters and “put two and two together” to make a story.

“The end result can sometimes be politically embarrassing, but the element of deliberate betrayal of trust is not present,” Dr Probine said.