But her Gmails!
A government minister, caught out using a personal Gmail address for official business... but the reaction highlights New Zealand's famous laid-back attitude at its worst.
On Tuesday, I read Dr. Bryce Edwards’ Integrity Institute Substack, where he wrote very clearly and smartly on a recently-uncovered government communications story:
Dr. Edwards explained how the biggest issue with using something like Gmail for official government business is that, in doing so, the ‘Official Record’ is circumvented.
Put simply, that means if information is subsequently requested under the Official Information Act or the Privacy Act, those Gmails - or WhatsApp messages or Signal chats or whatever - aren’t necessarily included.
Now it may be that those services are only being used for the purpose of convenience - and it would appear that’s what happened in the case of New Zealand’s Education Minister Erica Stanford.
However it would be just as easy to keep sensitive or controversial information out of the public sphere by putting it into a private message.
And that’s a concern.
But to be honest, it’s the reaction of Stanford’s boss which worries me more:
“Look I'm I'm super-relaxed about it. I have to be honest about it.”
CHRISTOPHER LUXON, New Zealand Prime Minister
Luxon’s reaction is rooted in the fact the Stanford ‘only’ forwarded official government business to her Gmail when she needed to print something away from the office.
Two more ministers, Nicola Willis and Chris Bishop, have both since said that they’ve done the same in the past - with the latter saying that he didn’t think it was “the biggest sin in the world”.
That may be true, but what’s with this nonchalant attitude?
By all means, put it in perspective and don’t let the media turn it into a scandal beyond what it actually is - but also, show that you’re taking it seriously and that you understand the potential ramifications.
It’s not a massive step from using Gmail for printing off a document, to using Gmail for keeping something under the radar.
Now I mentioned perspective, so let’s be fair about this story.
It is not making and sharing international war plans in a Signal chat, where a journalist from The Atlantic has been invited into the group:
It is not also using Signal to communicate with cabinet members, while attending a cabinet meeting called by the President of the United States:
And it is not using a private email server for confidential and top secret information when you’re the U.S. Secretary of State:
But those things all happened, arguably, because boundaries were pushed in the first instance, and then accepted as normal.
In New Zealand, the Cabinet manual is clear:
“As far as possible, Ministers should not use their personal email account or phone number to conduct ministerial business.”
Now ‘as-far-as-possible’ allows some wiggle room, and I guess in the end it’s up to the individual to decide if their particular circumstances are extenuating ones.
All I’m saying is that it can be a slippery slope.
Unfortunately I think it highlights the famous laid-back Kiwi attitude at its worst.
New Zealanders have long been obsessed with how their country is viewed on the world stage.
(In what feels like another lifetime, I wrote a piece for The Spinoff about the events of 2019 in this country, and the international admiration for how New Zealand dealt with them. I was told it was one of their most-read articles of that year, but I’m almost embarrassed to read it back now. I was definitely drinking way too much Kool-Aid.)
But Dr. Edwards also notes that:
“New Zealand prides itself on the idea that it is one of the world’s most transparent and least corrupt countries…”
And that pride is well-placed, according to internationally-accepted corruption indices.
But then Stanford brushes off her Gmail usage as “untidy”. Luxon was “super-relaxed” about it.
It sounds like they don’t care.
Overseas observers may well be watching and thinking ‘are these guys for real?’. Would they want to do business with a government which uses Gmail, and doesn’t think it’s much of an issue?
Surely, if you want the public and the world to take you seriously, then you have to show you’re taking YOUR job and country seriously as well.