What does it take to get sacked?

The NZ Herald reports that the Immigration Department Spokesman wrote a note to his colleagues about how they had all “agreed to lie in unison” about an immigration issue, and expressing disappointment “The others caved in” which presumably means they told the truth.

At a time when the British Government looks almost ready to fall on the basis of claims that Blair’s adviser had exaggerated the issue of WMDs and Iraq, we have back home the admission of a conspiracy to lie to the public and media and the NZ Government’s reponse is merely that he was being flippant!!

Why is this not an immediate resignation – either for the staff member concerned or for those who do not sack him? An admission of a conspiracy to lie should be the main story on every media outlet but it seems to be ranking well below the death of some US entertainer.

Perhaps Winston had it right and New Zealand has just become used to such duplicity.