AG百家乐在线官网

The New Zealand treasury claims to have been hacked after government budget details were published by the country's main opposition party.

The department claimed to have "gathered sufficient evidence to indicate that its systems have been deliberately and systematically hacked" just hours after government officials called for a leak inquiry.

The opposition National Party has been revealing details from the government's forthcoming budget before the government sets it before parliament on Thursday.

New Zealand's finance minister Grant Robertson has called on the National Party to stop publishing the information.

The breach will invite significant concerns about the capability of the country's intelligence and security services - which are members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance - to protect government information.

If the budget details were stolen, their publication by the government's political rivals will bring comparisons to the Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections in the US.

Ahead of the 2020 presidential election in the US candidates are being encouraged to pledge not to use stolen information in a bid to tackle foreign interference.

However, the National Party's leader Simon Bridges dismissed Mr Robertson's call to stop publishing the budget details.

He said his party had acted "entirely appropriately" and said Mr Robertson had "falsely smeared us to cover up his and the treasury's incompetence". "When what has occurred is revealed, he will need to resign," he added.

According to the New Zealand Herald newspaper, the country's prime minister has refused to state she has full confidence in the treasury amid the opposition's publications.

Speaking before the treasury made the claim it had been hacked, Jacinda Ardern told the Herald that the government had ruled out the budget details having come from the cabinet.

"But in terms of more detail on that, we're going to leave that until after we have actually delivered the budget [on Thursday]," she added.