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Labour is accusing the government of running roughshod over proper process by spending millions of dollars on automated Customs kiosks at New Zealand's major airports.
ONE News has fought for six months to get documents that show Customs rushed the purchase of the Smartgate system despite protests from Immigration, Treasury and State Services.
Smartgate is designed to speed up trans-Tasman travel and the documents show Customs hastily purchased the $40 million system despite protests from other government agencies.
"They argued a lot about it and they had their own views ... I think in the end that we've proven it works in practice (and) they've been unable to prove it doesn't work in theory," says Customs Minister Maurice Williamson.
Instructed by the Prime Minister in March 2009 to make crossing the Tasman easier, Customs immediately opted for Australia's Smartgate system, ignoring repeated calls for a tender process.
And the system was reportedly rushed through so an announcement could be made when John Key met his Australian counterpart Kevin Rudd in August.
The State Services Commission and Treasury advised Cabinet to weigh up the risks of purchasing a sub-standard system against the benefits of looking cosy with Australia. The Immigration Service claimed Smartgate was based on technology that has been overtaken.
Labour leader Phil Goff also says Smartgate is "not the most modern technology".
"Three out of four of the government departments said open it up and see if we can get better value for money, better technology. The government didn't because John Key wanted a photo opportunity," Goff says.
But Williamson says Australia went through a very robust, competitive process to work out what was the best solution, spending ten of millions of dollars in the process.
"We were just able to piggyback off that work," says Williamson.
Smartgate is already in Auckland and will be rolled out in Wellington and Christchurch by the end of the year.
