Derek Handley releases comms with Ministers

Derek Handley released:

In the month since Clare Curran’s demotion from Cabinet, there has been continued questioning and speculation over a series of communications that took place and what role they may have
played in the appointment process for the Chief Technology Officer. I felt throughout that the right thing to do was to refrain from commenting as I did not see it as my role to clear up concerns regarding a Government process or contents of related communications.

However, the resulting vacuum has fueled speculation and demands to see emails and texts between myself and Clare Curran and Jacinda Ardern. The Government has chosen not to fill that vacuum.

In the interests of drawing a line on this issue, today I am releasing a detailed timeline of events and all of the emails and texts between myself and Clare Curran, and myself and the Prime Minister about the role and my move back to New Zealand.

These communications clearly demonstrate there was nothing untoward or inappropriate. In fact as stated in the State Services Commission’s own review, a “suitably robust process” was
followed and the February meeting between myself and Clare Curran “did not prejudice the process”.

To this day, I have still not had any communication from the Government explaining why the role which I was appointed to was withdrawn. Neither have I heard personally from Minister
Hipkins, Minister Woods or the Prime Minister during this challenging time, which has been disappointing from a Government that highlights compassion and kindness as hallmarks of their leadership.

Handley really has been done over and the communications don’t show anything inappropriate from his part. Both Hipkins and Woods refused to even speak to him on the phone to tell him they were rescinding the contract, which is pretty gutless.

Every New Zealander takes their job seriously and personally. Under whatever circumstances an employment arrangement is started or ended, openness, communication, empathy and concern are basic principles to doing so with dignity and compassion. They are also the strongest expressions of the culture and values of the employer.

Which implies he is saying the Government does have have the values of dignity and compassion.

I’ve done a quick timeline of key messages below.

A couple of key things:

• The Prime Minister did respond to some of the messages from Handley and even said she would ask her team if they find a way to make use of him
• When the PM said on 24 August that the recruitment of CTO was in its final stages, she knew a job offer had been made and accepted and that Cabinet had confirmed the appointment four days earlier