MBIE's silence on axed $35m project rested on informal 'understanding,' not a documented decision

MBIE chief Nic Blakeley told the Privileges Committee the failure to disclose the cancelled $35m Biometric Capability Update project to a select committee in March was not an active decision but an "understanding" between himself and then-Immigration New Zealand head Alison McDonald. Speaker Gerry Brownlee referred the matter to the committee in June after Labour's Phil Twyford raised it as a contempt of Parliament concern. Blakeley acknowledged MBIE got it wrong and could have requested a closed session to discuss the cancellation privately.