Minister Declines to Release File, Confident It Says What She Says It Says

Immigration Minister Erica Stanford has refused to release a file that Winston Peters says would prove the Government covertly altered migration settings to target Indian nationals. The file exists, both parties agree on that much. What it says depends entirely on which coalition partner you ask, which is a novel approach to the written word.

The public is now in the position of adjudicating a dispute between two members of the same government about a document neither will show them. Peters says it proves discrimination. Stanford says it does not, and asks the public to simply take her word for it. Her word, notably, is the only part of this file she is willing to release.

Transparency, ministers often say, is the foundation of public trust. The foundation is currently in a locked drawer.