Wednesday, March 14, 2012



Information thuggery

That's the only way to describe Ports of Auckland's leaking of an employee's personal information to a sewerblogger:

Personal details about Cecil Walker and the number of days he took off work in 2007 and 2008 while his late wife was terminally ill have been published by the right-wing blogger Cameron Slater on his website Whale Oil.

Walker says no one had the information - which includes specific details about how many days he took off in sick, compassionate and bereavement leave - except the port company.

Whale Oil also published details about Walker's new marriage and baby, saying the port company sent his new wife a gift basket after the baby was born.

This is par for the course for Slater, who specialises in such thuggery. But its a new low for a company in an industrial dispute. OTOH, they're simply taking the lead from Government Ministers, who have previously used this tactic to undermine and deter people from criticising them over cuts to benefits and health services. In that case, its likely to cost the government (though sadly not Bennett herself) a large amount of money. And the same is likely to happen to Ports of Auckland. The people of Auckland deserve better form those they trust to manage their assets.