Who knew and when?

Stuff reports:

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s office was aware of a 2020 email, revealed by Stuff on Tuesday, in which sacked minister Stuart Nash divulged Cabinet discussionsto two donors.

Neither Ardern nor her chief of staff were informed, Hipkins said, and the severe breach of Cabinet rules was not “covered up”.

But National Party leader Christopher Luxon said it was clear there had been a two-year cover up that suggested a broader culture of improper behaviour.

“Clearly people inside the prime minister’s office were aware of the issue, and so what kind of culture is that if you don’t actually flag those issues higher up the chain?”

It is almost beyond belief that the PMs Office knew of this e-mail, and it was not elevated up.

I know the person who handled OIAs for the PMs Office for the Key/English Government. If she had come across an e-mail from a Minister which divulged details of a Cabinet meeting, including who voted which way etc, then she would have set a new land speed record on her way to the Chief of Staff’s office.

Unless the Ardern staffer was extremely extremely junior, such as a mail clerk, it is impossible to fathom how they didn’t raise this with someone.

What needs to be revealed now is what was the role or job title of the staffer, did they raise it with anyone else at all in Ardern’s Office, and is that staffer still there?

Linked to that is we also need to know what was the OIA request that it was deemed out of scope for.