Politics

corruption

Right thinking: Just looking after the investor

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 10 comments

Imperator Fish nails the essential relationship of a National/Act caucus with donations. “Why should a good hard-working minister have to resign over such a minor thing? All he did was put a little pressure on the police. Where’s the harm in that? Isn’t that what we pay our MPs for? To look after our interests and help us when we get into bother?” “Mr Liu invested a lot of money with the National Party. Isn’t he entitled to see a return on his investment?”

NRT: “No intention to interfere”

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 20 comments

When the Prime Minister found out that Maurice Williamson had contacted police over their investigation of a National Party donor on domestic violence charges, Williamson “assured [him] that he did not in any way intend to influence the Police investigation”. That is bullshit. But it gets worse. The police gave the Minister exactly what he asked for.

Williamson’s head isn’t the only one that should be on a spike.

NRT: Two obvious questions

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 70 comments

Maurice Williamson was sacked within the space of 2 hours this morning after the Herald revealed he had attempted to interfere in a police investigation on behalf of a party donor. Its exactly what should happen when a Minister behaves corruptly and pisses on our constitutional norms like this. At the same time, it raises an obvious question: why hasn’t Judith Collins suffered the same fate? Or is corrupt behaviour only punished when it involves older Ministers the PM would like to dispose of?

Williamson now. How corrupt is the National cabinet?

Written By: lprent
Date published: - 199 comments

It never seems to end does it? A National Party Minister contacted a top ranking police officer after a wealthy businessman with close ties to him was arrested on domestic violence charges. The Prime Minister’s office is understood to be considering Maurice Williamson’s future as a Minister, following Herald inquiries into the phone call that he made and over his involvement with Donghua Liu’s criminal case.

Bunji: And he’s gone – resigned as a Minister

NRT: Time to see if the Ombudsman will keep their word

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 3 comments

Last month, we learned that Judith Collins had taken time off a taxpayer-funded trip to China to endorse her husband’s company – a company which had also donated significant sums of money to the National Party. The endorsement appeared to violate the Cabinet Manual, but John Key stepped up and claimed that the Cabinet Office said it was all OK. Then, just a few days later, he admitted that he’d lied about that. In the process, he implicitly raised serious questions about the quality of the Cabinet Office’s advice.

The struggle over gambling corruption

Written By: karol
Date published: - 48 comments

There has been a long struggle by the Problem Gambling Foundation & others against SkyCity & the powerful and secretive Pokie Trusts.  The government has tended to support the trusts, while maintaining their distance from them.  The defunding of the PGF is the latest chapter in the struggle.

Elitist Fools

Written By: geoff
Date published: - 142 comments

So the latest from National is Judith Collins ‘promoting’ her husbands’ company and Amy Adams promoting the interests of river-polluting Canterbury dairy farms when she herself owns Canterbury dairy farms.

Naturally, neither minister can see any problem with this.

Update: And now Nathan Guy – National’s immigration minister…

NRT: Proving my point

Written By: notices and features
Date published: - 46 comments

Last week No Right Turn argued strongly that we needed full transparency over Cabinet Office advice on ministers’ conflicts of interest, because we couldn’t trust the Prime Minister to represent that advice accurately, and we couldn’t trust secret advice to be accurate. And John Key has just proven his point: “Prime Minister John Key has admitted he misled reporters over Cabinet Office advice…”

Oravida: Collins, Goodfellow, Key.

Written By: karol
Date published: - 38 comments

John Key claims Judith Collins was not guilty of conflict of interest re-her visit to Oravida in China. Grant Robertson and Chris Hipkins, in the General Debate today claimed that Peter Goodfellow met with an Oravida sponsored group of businessmen to discuss “bi-lateral collaboration.”  They claim Key also played golf with an Oravida bigwig.

A knighthood I would back

Written By: Zetetic
Date published: - 46 comments

I don’t support knighthoods. I especially don’t support knighthoods being handed out to people who have just done their jobs at the end of their careers. You know, the gongs for ministers and CEOs. But if you are going to have honours, they should go to ordinary people who have truly gone above and beyond and acted where others failed. Arise, Sir Graham McCready.

Dotcom on what Banks knew

Written By: Mike Smith
Date published: - 27 comments

The District Court is hearing evidence today as to whether John Banks should stand trial for signing a donations return that he knew to be false. Kim Dotcom has given evidence – the Herald reports that when he agreed to give Banks a donation of $50,000, Banks asked for it to be split and to be made anonymous., so that if Banks helped DotCom in the future it would not be known that he had donated to him.

Submit to prevent SkyCity corruption

Written By: lprent
Date published: - 5 comments

The SkyCity deal still needs some urgent attention from members of the public interested in getting a submission to the select committee. They close on Thursday 22 August next week. The politically corrupting influence of the gaming industry means that members of the public will have to push the politicians to stop them giving SkyCity these extraordinarily lucrative and destructive concessions for a economic pittance.

Dodgy as hell

Written By: Zetetic
Date published: - 25 comments

The government selling off prime real estate to the governing party. It sounds like something out of a banana republic. But it’s here. The National Party (via several fronts) has bought the former Prime Ministerial/ministerial residence at 41 Pipitea St from the Crown. Peters says there should have been an auction. Not far enough. National should never have put up itself on both sides of a property deal. It’s dodgy as hell.

Even Treasury slammed SkyCity stitch up

Written By: Eddie
Date published: - 58 comments

Yesterday, National released hundreds of pages of documents on the SkyCity deal. They paint the picture of a government that locked itself politically into getting a deal and locked in SkyCity as the only option then was surprised when SkyCIty screwed them for everything it could get. Even the far from bleeding hearts at Treasury said it wasn’t worth the cost.

Dropping the pretense: Whanau Ora privatisation

Written By: Zetetic
Date published: - 44 comments

So, Tariana Turia is finally dropping the pretense that Whanau Ora is anything but a scheme to privatise social assistance and put it in the hands of unaccountable private groups. Not content with funding family reunions and other bollocks, Turia is now handing the funding decisions to three private groups. Oh, and she doesn’t want them to be covered by the OIA.

The rule of law

Written By: Michael Valley
Date published: - 113 comments

In the 50s and 60s, two eminent jurists,Hart and Fuller, debated what makes a legal system. Hart said a legal system is a legal system if people call it one and act like it. Fuller said you need the rule of law to have a legal system. Otherwise, you’ve just got a bunch of bullies doing what they want and saying its OK. Do we have the rule of law in New Zealand?

Stopping Key’s dirty deal with SkyCity

Written By: James Henderson
Date published: - 40 comments

National’s trying to do something unprecendented – they want to give a private company a 35 year indemnity against costs arising from law changes. No-one else gets this. You don’t get money from the government when they make a law that costs you. Nor does any other business. Just SkyCity as part of their dirty deal with Key. Sign the petition to stop it here.

Sky City, pokies and corruption

Written By: karol
Date published: - 51 comments

Key and Joyce made sure Gilmore was out of the way before they announced their dubious Sky City for (more) pokies deal.  The pokies system in NZ is rife with dubious goings on. It’s bad for low income families, communities and their children. [update: responses]

Epsom by election?

Written By: Anthony R0bins
Date published: - 73 comments

John Banks is in court to answer allegations over his Dotcom donations and electoral returns. If convicted he loses his seat. How would an Epsom by election play out?

Fletcher GCSB Change manager – and QLD

Written By: karol
Date published: - 87 comments

Key & a government source responded to Ferguson’s criticisms by attacking Labour & Ferguson.  They claimed Fletcher was the best person to “change manage” the GCSB. Yet, in Queensland Fletcher was publicly criticised for the management of his department. [Updated]

Vance asks the right questions on Key cronyism

Written By: Eddie
Date published: - 65 comments

Key’s adopted what Andrea Vance labels his “so what demeanour” as he tries to shrug off his highly irregular and inappropriate role in the selection of Ian Fletcher to head the GCSB. But whether or not Key was too involved in getting his mate a job is only the first round of this – the next calls into question the reliability of both Key and Fletcher’s account of the Dotcom saga.

Cronyism

Written By: Eddie
Date published: - 289 comments

You know, when it came out that Key was good mates with his new GCSB spy boss, Ian Fletcher, (a man who was appointed despite lack of experience in spying or the NZ public service), I kind of thought ‘so what’? People know each other. But then I gave Robertson enough credit not to be raising this if he didn’t have a killer punch waiting. Today, he landed it.

Pokies and corruption?

Written By: karol
Date published: - 61 comments

Significant International Affairs files, relating to dodgy Pokies’ trusts, going missing, SkyCity convention centre deals made through flawed government processes. No corruption in NZ, just governance through sloppy processes? Cui bono?

Bad taste of Sky City lingers

Written By: Anthony R0bins
Date published: - 8 comments

The reaction to the Auditor General’s report on Key’s Sky City deal is lingering in the headlines much longer than Key would like. “Corrupted process”. “Stench”. “No way to run a country”. Key badly misjudged this one.

A-G reveals details of Nats’ dirty deal with SkyCity

Written By: James Henderson
Date published: - 129 comments

The Auditor-General’s report catalogues a dirty deal hatched between Key’s office and SkyCity execs to give SkyCity more pokies ‘in return for’ a convention centre. It shows the bidding process was a farce and reveals that the whole ‘trade-off’ of pokies for convention centre is a con hatched by SkyCity and the Nats. And there’s a deeper issue.

Finlayson QC

Written By: Bunji
Date published: - 100 comments

So Chris Finlayson, Attorney General, finally managed to get his Bill through last month re-allowing the antiquated title of Queen’s Counsel to be conferred on lawyers again. The title is worth hundred of thousands in extra legal fees you can charge with your added prestige of having ‘taken silk’. Yesterday he had his first appointment to the title.  It went to…

A-G’s SkyCity report looming over Key

Written By: Eddie
Date published: - 16 comments

A typical Auditor-General report takes 3 months. “Larger and more complex” ones take 6. Metiria Turei’s complaint about the way SkyCity was chosen for an international convention centre in a ‘pokies-for-convention-centre’ deal has been going 8 months. Clearly, what they’ve found has non-trivial implications for the government and they’re making sure all their ‘t’s are crossed and ‘i’s dotted.

Another dirty deal with SkyCity

Written By: James Henderson
Date published: - 12 comments

It now appears that the Government’s controversial plan to allow wealthy frequent flyers on state-owned China Southern Airlines to skip visa requirements was done to help SkyCity get more high-rolling Chinese gamblers visiting. It’s the warped priorities that gets me: the Nats are bending over backwards for SkyCity while insisting that they won’t ‘pick winners’ to save manufacturing jobs.

Where are the resignations?

Written By: James Henderson
Date published: - 87 comments

John Key refuses to accept any responsibility for what his spies get up to. The only point of democratic responsibility for our spies doesn’t monitor them and won’t take the blame for failing to do so. He won’t fire a corrupt, lying minister, either. The rot is spreading to the public service. There has been not one resignation, not a single one, due to the Dotcom debacle.

Dotcom shows Key and Banks how to play

Written By: Eddie
Date published: - 52 comments

I think that Kim Dotcom is actually a very savy operator. Turning up to Parliament on the second day of questions (not today, when Key won’t be in the House) was inspired. It ensured another day of coverage. Then, his words: “I think the Prime Minister has had to make a choice, am I going to uphold high ethical standards or do I want to remain in power?”

Labour hits the motherlode

Written By: Eddie
Date published: - 82 comments

The Police Report into the Banks.com affair, which Labour has distributed to the media, is a gold mine. Banks is shown to be a liar and completely unethical. He insisted that Dotcom’s donation be anonymised. He used the donations, which he had told media he didn’t remember, as an excuse not to help Dotcom while a minister. Banks is lying low now. Key has to sack him.

Known unknowns

Written By: Mike Smith
Date published: - 8 comments

My OIA request for the Police  file of their investigation into Banks’ anonymous donations arrived today. John Key had said the law would be changed if “they could find the time.” Today David Carter found the time to say the law will be tightened before the 2013 elections.It will be very important that all the lessons from this sorry affair can be properly considered  at select committee.

They eat their own

Written By: Zetetic
Date published: - 27 comments

Anyone else taking a perverse pleasure in the Pullar-Collins-Boag-Judge affair? They’re all Tory villains. And they’re eating each other alive. Judge was handpicked to privatise ACC. Now, Collins is trying to stick the Boag email leak to him, Did he do it? Who knows. The other most likely option is Collins. So implicating Judge serves Collins’ purpose.