Back in 2012, after a campaign of leaks about its proposals to restructure MFAT, National announced an inquiry. Naturally, they appointed their go-to girl Paula Rebstock to investigate. And when she reported, it turned out to be a total hatchet job which ignored evidence and slandered innocent public servants, while failing to make a concrete case against the prime suspect.
Today, following a recommendation from the Ombudsman, SSC finally apologised to its victims and paid compensation. Which is good, but it leaves two questions. Firstly, why did it take so long? This was, after all, a recommendation from the Ombudsman, which normally has the force of an order. And secondly, what about Paula Rebstock? She was paid $208,907 and knighted for this hatchet job, which has ended up costing SSC hundreds of thousands in compensation and legal fees. Shouldn't they be seeking to recover that money from the person at fault? Or do we let National's crony-contractors do a piss-poor job and cost us all money while laughing all the way to the bank on their inflated salaries?