Alexia Russell

Do you know what some of those red flags were?

Let's wind it back a bit.

When did you start making inquiries about the progress of this technology project at Immigration New Zealand?

So that's the creative accounting.

They basically split the project up to come in under the limit.

And you're saying it costs about $40 million, but Stanford said the project wasted, they're going to write off $31 million.

Yes.

Right, before the rag was pulled kind of thing.

Has this affected the service at Immigration New Zealand?

Who blew the whistle on this or how did it all explode like this?

And yet the report on it, the one that she only saw at the weekend, that had been sitting around for a bit, hadn't it?

And while Erica Stanford is sort of in charge of this particular thing, the report said that other ministers, you know, previous Labour minister, Andrew Little, had been misled also.

So how long have you been following this for the whole entire duration of the failed project?

And Jill, this isn't your first really great story about what's going on at Immigration New Zealand.

And, you know, without asking you to blow your own trumpet, does it speak to the need for journalists to hang around, to be invested in one area over a period of years?

You know, something that's a bit worrying now that the number of journalists has shrunk severely in New Zealand?

When all's said and done, this project has been stopped.

But does the work still need to be done?

And can any of this project be resuscitated?

Well, no, especially not when the work still needs to be done and they're looking at the prospect of having to invent the wheel all over again.