Child Youth and Family staff at a regional office have been told they are Social Development Minister Paula Bennett's servants who should not trouble their master with concerns about their work.
In an email dated August 13, supplied to NZPA by Labour Party deputy leader Annette King, Kaitaia CYF staff were told to show respect to the minister when she visited the next day.
"It is not appropriate for staff to pour their hearts and souls out to the minister," a manager wrote.
"This is a formal visit and she is not your `friend'. It's a bit like the relationship between a servant and a master, i.e. the servant knows their place. She should not be presented with the woes of the office, or lack of resources, or anything like that."
However the email said it was OK to state there were challenges that could be managed.
An anonymous person copied the email to the Government, Labour and other political parties as well as the Children's Commissioner.
The person was "gobsmacked" by the email.
"This amounts to workplace bullying, and corruption within a public service department," they wrote.
The author said it was shameful that in an area where there were many Maori communities the department was "trying to cover up the realities of our communities".
Ms King questioned the point of the minister's visit in Parliament.
"If staff are not allowed to talk to her (Ms Bennett) how can she really know what pressures staff are facing if reports to her have to be sanitised?"
Ms King later told NZPA she expected Ms Bennett to ensure staff felt they could speak out about work problems.
"I don't know how much the minister was involved, how much she knew before she visited, but she obviously got this email."
As a former minister Ms King said she learnt more from talking to staff than through department reports.
"I would hope she would in fact encourage staff to talk to her."
Ms Bennett told NZPA she wanted staff to speak to her about concerns.
"I have visited a large number of offices and I have purposefully targeted visits to Work and Income and Child Youth and Family because I want to talk to staff and hear what is happening there," she said.
"I very much value them and their opinions and I am disappointed in the manager's email."
CYF's deputy chief executive Ray Smith said the email was an "unnecessary and surprising" action and the manager involved regretted showing bad judgement.
"It was completely inappropriate and in no way reflects the position that I or the staff of CYF take with our minister visiting our offices," Mr Smith said.
Ms King said there were wider problems of the Government blocking information and communication and said she was frustrated by poor responses to written questions and Official Information Act requests.
She had also struggled to get permission to visit CYF offices.
National's Judith Collins in Parliament today said she had struggled to get access while in opposition and Labour had created a political environment.
