Winston Peters' privacy breach 'insidious', court told

Mr Peters is in the High Court at Auckland taking action against National MPs Paula Bennett and Anne Tolley.

The Deputy Prime Minister has swapped Parliament for the High Court in Auckland as a judge hears how superannuation overpayments made to him over a number of years became public.

Mr Peters is suing former National minsters Paula Bennett and Anne Tolley, as well as the Ministry of Social Development, its former chief executive Brendan Boyle, and State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes.

He’s seeking damages of several hundred thousand dollars.

Mr Peters is currently acting Prime Minister because Jacinda Ardern is overseas.

Mr Peters’ lawyer Brian Henry said the breach of privacy "is insidious" and intended to damage Mr Peters two weeks before voting started in the 2017 election.

“The key point is this occurs four weeks before an election, and two weeks before voting,” he said.

He said Mr Peters’ overpayments were “a customer specific issue” and such details are never something a Government Minister is entitled to.

“Mr Peters will make it clear in evidence he takes this very seriously, he travels around the country and people say ‘you ripped off superannuation’ and that’s a real slur on reputation,” Mr Henry said this morning.

Mr Henry told the court that the overpayment was the result of "an unquestionable clerical error" which the Ministry of Social Development failed to correct.

How the case came about

Mr Peters’ overpayments became public during the heat of the 2017 General Election campaign.

It was revealed shortly before the 2017 election that in 2010 Mr Peters started receiving New Zealand superannuation calculated at the higher, single person’s rate, while living with his partner Jan Trotman in Auckland.

Lawyer Brian Henry told the court this morning an anonymous caller contacted media and disclosed details including the fact there was an investigation and the facts of the overpayments.

“It’s tawdry, it’s dirty, it’s filthy,” Mr Peters said  at the time .

The champion of pensioner rights was embroiled in his own superannuation saga.

Who Winston Peters is suing

The New Zealand First leader’s case claims the five defendants breached his privacy by their actions, which led to publicity of the overpayment.

A Ministry of Social Development investigation in 2017 concluded “there is no evidence to indicate that any staff member in MSD is the source of the leak of information to the media”.

It found 41 staff were involved “in some way” in the case, and all were approached to account for their actions.

Inland Revenue has also said the leak didn’t come from the IRD.

Some members of the former Government did know about the overpayments.

Then Social Development Minister Anne Tolley said her office was told by the Ministry a meeting had taken place between its staff and Mr Peters.

She insisted at the time her office did not leak the information.

Paula Bennett, who was State Services Minister, was told under the “no surprises” policy.

It’s a convention, set out in the Cabinet Manuel, that says departments must tell minsters about matters of significance within their portfolios, particularly where those matters are controversial.

"It is quite simple, a clerical error by a staff member is not a matter of ministerial responsibility, it is not controversial," Mr Peters' lawyer Brian Henry told court this morning.

"The Cabinet Manual does not have the force of law," he told Justice Venning.

Ms Bennett  has said  although she knew of the overpayments before they were reported in the media, she did not “tell a single soul” about them.

Mr Peters has said he got a letter in July letting him know about the payment error.

The MSD report says it was on 26 May 2017 when the Ministry found “there [might] be an issue" with Mr Peters’ superannuation rate, and that he was then contacted and interviewed.

The report says it was agreed there were overpayments at that meeting, and it was put on his record on 26 July 2017 and the money was “immediately repaid”. 

Winston Peters 'alarmed' when told of overpayments

Giving evidence, Mr Peters said the leak was a "deliberate action" of political opponents.

He said it came at a time when Jacinda Ardern became the "new darling of the election" and the Greens were embroiled in their own Metiria Turei saga.

"The nature of the leak most likely benefited the National Party who were the sitting government and the best position to obtain details of a mistake I had corrected," he said.

"The mistake by MSD had put me in a very difficult position."

He told the court he could see he was "about to suffer a serious professional attack" because of the leak.

He said he was 'alarmed' when he first learned of the overpayments in a letter from MSD.

Mr Peters said the only person he discussed that letter with was his partner Jan Trotman and the pair value their privacy.

"I was very aware of the circumstances," he said.

What’s happening in court

The case is being heard by Justice Venning at the High Court in Auckland.

While it’s set down for three weeks, it may not last that long. 

Key players

·         Winston Peters, New Zealand First leader seeking damages

·         Anne Tolley, former Minister of Social Development

·         Paula Bennett, former Minister of State Services

·         Attorney General on behalf of the Ministry of Social Development

·         Brendan Boyle, former CEO of Ministry of Social Development

·         Peter Hughes, State Services Commissioner

Key dates

·         26 May 2017: Ministry of Social Development found possible problems with Winston Peters’ super

·         26 July 2017: The Ministry formally records overpayments after a meeting, and money is paid back

·         27 August 2017: Winston Peters issues statement saying he was overpaid superannuation

·         8 September 2017: MSD draws up terms of reference and starts investigation

·         15 September 2017: The MSD report concludes there was no evidence its staff leaked the information

·         15 September 2017: Winston Peters tells TVNZ’s Sunday someone “very high up” in National alerted him first about the leak

·         4 November 2019: The case is heard in the High Court in Auckland

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