Officials quizzed about 'embarrassing' Solomons email

Senior federal public servants have been forced to answer questions in a Senate estimates hearing about how they dealt with an embarrassing email about candidates for prime minister in the Solomons.

The email was written by a Finance Department official, who described the three candidates as depressing choices and said that things did not look good for the governance of the Solomons.

The official was quickly brought home for his own safety after the email became public.

The Finance Department secretary, Ian Watt, has told the hearing the opinions in the email do not reflect the views of his Department.

"We do regret that this occurred, seriously regret it," he said.

"Finance is in the Solomon Islands and I think our people are widely regarded as doing a useful job there and we're strong supporters of what they're doing and we do deeply regret that this incident occurred."

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/world/default.htm