Finance committee chair McClay gets revenue, associate health portfolios

Monday 10th June 2013

National Party backbencher and chairman of Parliament's finance and expenditure committee Todd McClay has picked up the revenue and associate health ministerial portfolios after Peter Dunne's fall from grace last week.

McClay will be sworn in as a minister outside Cabinet tomorrow, Prime Minister John Key said in a statement. The associate conservation role held by Dunne will be discontinued, and those responsibilities picked up by Conservation Minister Nick Smith.

"I look forward to welcoming Mr McClay to the executive," Key said. "He has proven himself to be a valuable member of the National Party Caucus over the past four-and-a-half-years."

McClay's appointment comes after Dunne resigned when he refused to divulge emails between himself and Fairfax Media journalist Andrea Vance for an investigation into the leak of a Government Communications Security Bureau report.

Dunne refused to hand over the full text of 86 email exchanges to investigator David Henry, instead offering an edited text of some of the messages.

The report was authored by Rebecca Kitteridge, seconded from Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to conduct an urgent compliance review of the government spy agency. The report was classified as 'sensitive', restricting its access to approved public servants and ministers.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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