Transcript of Christopher Blake interview

First of all, what do you make of the report’s findings?

I welcome this report and I share the concerns about its findings of historic cases of unacceptable behaviour.  The SSC report represents an opportunity for the Department to draw a line under these past events and move forward.

How did these problems occur in the first place?

As the SSC report indicates, the problems were caused at a leadership level within the Department.  This behaviour at the top meant staff up to seven levels down the organisational hierarchy were put under inappropriate and unwelcome pressure in relation to these immigration decisions.

So what are you actually doing to implement the report’s recommendations?

We’re implementing all the recommendations of the SSC report.  Some of the recommendations we are already working on, others, now that we have the final report we’re in the process of beginning work on.

The recommendations have different timeframes for their completion and we’re working through them, and we need to make sure we do it properly, and we do things thoroughly and we do them once and get them right. 

What’s your view about Immigration New Zealand’s current staff?

The Department’s staff are hard working, honest professionals who do an excellent job for New Zealand and they’re really pleased to put this unfortunate episode behind them.

In recent discussions with staff around our organisational values, integrity came out top of the list, and it is noted in the report from the SSC, that the reviewers were impressed by the professionalism and integrity of Immigration Service Officers, and I regard this as a very solid foundation for the future of the service.

So how do you actually envisage the future of Immigration New Zealand?

I am committed to improving the way we do our business across the Department as a whole. In particular, I am committed to turning Immigration New Zealand into a modern, world leading immigration service through a comprehensive, integrated change programme which is now underway.