Did the Governor yell at the Minister?

The NZ Herald reported:

The Reserve Bank wasn’t planning to announce former governor Adrian Orr’s resignation until after it had hosted a big international conference.

But the unexplained resignation was brought forward by five days, at the last minute, to March 5 – the day before the conference, documents released to the Herald under the Official Information Act reveal. …

nother document released to the Herald details a list of questions Willis’ press secretary said journalists might ask, as well as some suggested answers.

A line of questioning Willis was prepped to answer included: “Did you ever have disagreements with Adrian Orr?”

The press secretary advised Willis to respond: “I’m not going to discuss what happens in meetings that discuss confidential and sensitive matters.”

The press secretary suggested a follow-up question could be: “Did the governor ever raise his voice with you?”

Now I have no inside knowledge on this, but the fact staff had a question and answer prepared on the issue of whether the Reserve Bank Governor ever yelled at the Minister of Finance itself speaks volumes. I mean, why would you have an answer prepared for such a question, unless it was true?

They didn’t have answers prepared for questions such as:

• Did the Governor ever jump over the couch and try to stab you with a ballpoint pen
• Did the Governor ever break into a spontaneous chorus of YMCA

This is because such a question would be ridiculous. But the fact they didn’t think a question on whether the Governor ever yelled at the Minister speaks volumes.