The MP suspected of leaking a report into the GCSB to a journalist says swipe card data provided to the inquiry was so specific it could pinpoint times MPs went to the bathroom.
United Future leader Peter Dunne appeared before the Privileges Committee today as part of an inquiry into the handing over of journalist Andrea Vance’s phone logs, swipe card access and email exchanges with Mr Dunne as part of a report into the leaking of the GCSB report.
The David Henry-led inquiry into the leak pointed suspicion on Mr Dunne, who could not be ruled out as the person who gave the report to Ms Vance.
Mr Henry reported 86 email exchanges between the pair in the lead up to the report being published in the Dominion Post. Mr Dunne has denied being the source of the leak.
Parliamentary Service handed over the emails to Mr Henry’s inquiry, but claimed it was sent as a “mistake”. Mr Henry says the email exchanges were not asked for or opened.
Mr Dunne has written to the Speaker to get his assurance no one accessed that data while it remained on the parliamentary server for at least five hours, but had not received a reply.
Mr Dunne told the committee no one had sought access for his records, which included phone logs, swipe card access and emails, which was “very unsatisfactory”.
The processes governing access to ministerial data was “at best unclear and at worst non-existent”.
“In this instance, what existing protocols there were, were clearly unknown to most agencies involved, and applied in a very haphazard way.”
The inquiry had no regard for MP’s “basic right to freedom of movement, speech and privacy” around the Parliamentary precinct and the data could track the movements of all MPs throughout the building.
“It was, for example, possible for the inquiry to determine from my swipe card records the frequency of my visits to the toilet.”
Mr Dunne says Mr Henry’s inquiry had gained information outside the critical dates leading up to the publication of the report.
He says his swipe card data was provided for a longer time than he agreed to and landline records were accessed, but he did not know for what period of time.
3 News
source: newshub archive
