Two-thirds of Kiwis think CEO should be sacked for deliberately misleading Parliament

New polling obtained by the Herald shows two-thirds of Kiwis think Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment chief executive Nic Blakeley should have been sacked after being found to have deliberately misled Parliament.

It’s the latest development in a campaign from the Taxpayers’ Union targeting both Blakeley and Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche for refusing to accept Blakeley’s offer to resign after the finding was made public.

Last month, Parliament’s Privileges Committee, which held hearings into MBIE officials discussing the Biometric Capability Upgrade project in a select committee in March, found those officials – including Blakeley – deliberately misled MPs by omitting that the project had been scrapped months earlier when asked about its progress.

Blakeley and former Immigration NZ head Alison McDonald apologised to the Privileges Committee at their hearing but argued they hadn’t deliberately misled MPs in March.

“The evidence received by this committee shows that the ministry knew that the information it provided to the Education and Workforce Committee was incomplete, and that the limited manner in which the ministry answered questions about the BCU project was intentional,” the committee’s report said.

“The ministry would have been aware that in choosing to answer as it did it was certain that the committee would have been misled as to the status of the BCU project.

“On this basis, we find that the ministry deliberately misled the Education and Workforce Committee and, in doing so, committed a contempt.”

Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and MBIE chief executive Nic Blakeley appeared before a select committee earlier this year. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The committee, made up of cross-party MPs, did not recommend further sanction; its report saying apologies already offered were sufficient.

Following the finding, Blakeley offered his resignation to Roche but it was declined.

Roche, who accepted misleading Parliament was “completely unacceptable”, believed it wouldn’t be fair for Blakeley to resign, given he had only been chief executive for six weeks.

The committee’s findings come amid an ongoing investigation into Blakeley’s ministry regarding the Biometric Capability Upgrade project after it was revealed the failed immigration IT project wasted at least $40 million, officials misled MPs and ministers, while using creative accounting to avoid Cabinet scrutiny.

The Taxpayers’ Union has since launched an attack campaign directed at Blakeley and Roche, funding billboards to be displayed near Parliament, likening Blakeley to Pinocchio and calling on Roche to show “honesty and integrity”.

The group also commissioned pollster Curia to survey whether people believed Blakeley should lose his job after the committee finding.

Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche didn't accept Blakeley's resignation. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Of 1000 poll respondents, 598 (67%) believed Blakeley should have lost his job. Seventy-seven (9%) thought Blakeley should keep his job, while 214 (24%) were unsure.

The poll had a margin of error of 3.1%.

Both Blakeley and Roche declined to comment on the poll results and the Taxpayers’ Union campaign.

Taxpayers’ Union executive director Jordan Williams argued the poll proved Roche’s decision not to accept Blakeley’s resignation was “radically out of step with public opinion”.

“It appears to bring his own judgement into question.”

Splitting respondents by what parties they supported, the poll found Act voters were more likely than others to think Blakeley should have resigned with 88% of Act supporters believing he should have been sacked and just 3% against.

Eighty-five percent of Opportunity supporters polled thought Blakeley should have resigned, as did 83% of Green supporters.

Despite party leader Winston Peters saying officials linked to the botched project should be imprisoned, only 67% of supporters wanted Blakeley sacked with 10% against and 23% unsure.

Labour and National had an almost equal proportion of supporters in favour of Blakeley’s sacking with 62% and 61% respectively. Only 7% and 12% respectively thought Blakeley should be retained with larger proportions of people unsure, 31% and 26%.

Immigration Minister and senior National MP Erica Stanford backed Blakeley after the committee returned its finding, expressing confidence in him despite previously refraining from doing so after she revealed the failings of the IT project.

Labour has called for Blakeley’s resignation, saying it was untenable for him to remain in the role.

Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.