Dotcom has promised some significant revelations from this week’s court proceedings. This morning his lawyer focused on Grant Wormald, the role of the police Special Tactics Group, and the truth. Is the GCSB is off the hook? Meanwhile, Key has been claiming he is “honest and upfront”. [Update – Key’s announced changes to the GCSB outrageous & undemocratic]
I didn’t see Key’s Q+A interview on Sunday, but it seems to have been an interesting one. Speculation about the leadership of the Nats appears to be growing.
John Key is into networking and schmoozing with the wealthy & influential. He’s given special attention to the entertainment industries, GCSB, intellectual property & commerce. He crossed paths with Warner’s people the year before the Hobbit dispute, but never played golf with Dotcom.
John Key is promising to work on his lying, after a series of scandals rocked his government. “These blunders threaten to do real damage to his reputation”, said one insider. “The credibility he established as a result of four years of careful and considered lying is now under threat”.
Plus a poem from Seaweed.
Check out Bryce Edward’s latest images of the GCSB scandal…
John Key’s government has been gradually dismantling NZ’s democratic processes. Various activities this week are a major part of a frightening shift: a Bill enabling mining conservation land; punitive social security Act; Key’s control over NZ’s “intelligence community”.
The Government Security (Doing As They Please) Bill will be introduced next week, and this important piece of legislation will make it clear that our security and law enforcement agencies must operate within the framework of doing anything they want.
The PM, Fletcher, the GCSB – questions need answering: why, when, where, who? It’s all about intellectual property, global commerce and international networks. From London to Aus 2009, to NZ 2010, then down the rabbit hole to Dotcom, Hobbits & uncertain links with complex global money mazes.
Before the soft-headed repetition of the Nats’ line goes on too long, here’s an analogy. The GCSB’s justification for their illegal spying, that they knew they weren’t allowed to spy on New Zealanders but thought it was OK if they were acting on behalf of another agency that could, is like you not having a driver’s licence but saying it’s OK for you to drive if someone with a licence asks you to.
Nixon famously said: “When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal”. John Key would have you believe the same thing, that when his agency, the GCSB, has been breaking the law, the problem lies with the law. No – the problem lies with the GCSB and its oversight. Watergate here we come…
So, the GCSB has been systemically breaking its own law by assisting the SIS and Police to spy on New Zealanders – a clear violation of the GCSB Act and, potentially, the Crimes Act. Key leaked the report revealing this while he was overseas so it would be ‘old news’ by the time he gets back. Now, he’s offered his ‘solution’ – make GCSB’s illegal actions legal, make it legal for the GCSB to spy on you.
So, here’s the play. Key’s been caught asleep at the wheel of our spies. 88 people illegally spied on. Key knew last July, but didn’t act until the Dotcom case brought things out in September. The Nats’ goal is to deflect blame from Key (and spies who could leak against him). So, they’re blaming the law. They want us to believe the law that clearly states the GCSB can’t spy on Kiwis was ‘confusing’.
Key has put his foot in it again with talk of war against North Korea. Life was so much simpler when he was in opposition…
Key’s ‘knucklehead’ outburst has been interpreted by the more sycophantic parts of the press as a clever ‘wedging’ of the media from the public. The supposed logic, which a few journos surprisingly buy, is that the media is much less popular than him, so attacking the media when he is criticised is a vote winner (or at least voter retainer). Nah.
I wonder how far the knucklehead rebellion will spread…
In an interview this afternoon Key said that: “There will be no more answering of questions straight away, if I need to get details”. Defensive and petulant, Key is backing away from accountability.
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]
Why else would he say “that he is particularly concerned by the trend for the complex nature of science to be ignored or misunderstood in societal debates, leading to the argument that you can find a scientist to support any given position. This, he says, totally misinterprets the way that scientific consensus is achieved and can engender serious mistrust in the scientific enterprise.”
Rennie now says it was ultimately Key’s decision to scrap the original shortlist for head of the GCSB. Has Key misled the House and the country, or has he successfully employed the science of obfuscation?
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.
Key & Rennie say Ian Fletcher was the most suitable candidate to head the GCSB? His CV includes working on intellectual property, globalisation and free trade, & was private secretary to the Blair minister who fudged the legal advice on attacking Iraq.
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.
Today, Fran O’Sullivan argues that Key has lost his edge & his ministers are using dubious tactics in dealing with Rio Tinto over Tiwai Point. O’Sulllivan implies that sharp, savvy and successful deal-making & leadership are masculine qualities.
National ministers – Nick Smith, Steven Joyce, John Key – come up with their stories, but reality keeps on not fitting to their stories. I call bullshit.
John Key often lives in a different world than us – and not just in that he doesn’t mix with us. Over Sky City and Anzac Day he is very much in his own bubble.
Audrey Young and Simon Collins should get danger money for spinning this hard on jobs. But at least they’re trying, the best that Key can manage is some waffle about a “fluid market”…
Key reacts to criticism of his appalling jobs record: “Throw criticism if you see things that we are not doing, but in terms of trying to stimulate jobs we’ve done a lot of things on that front. We’ve done everything from 90 day probation periods, to starting out wages.” That’s his solution? Cut wages and work rights? Meanwhile, a government department is firing people today.
There is a summit on renewable energy in the Pacific happening in Auckland. McCully acknowledges climate change, the PM focuses on investment opportunities, the EU hopes for clean energy to aid poverty reduction. What’s best for Pacific island communities?
Three of the Herald’s political staff has a crack at trying to explain why National polled 48.5% in the latest Herald-Digipoll. Consensus seems to be that John Key’s an angel sent to earth to do very little but keep enough of the middle class happy enough who’ll never lose. May I humbly suggest an alternative theory – that the Herald-Digipoll is broken.
The extent of the GCSB cover-up in the Dotcom fiasco is now clear. Key is pleading ignorance, claiming that it was an “operational matter”. If Key isn’t briefed on “operational matters” then what possible oversight can he provide? In fact he was briefed on this “operational matter” – the only question is when…
Key hid his Tranzrail shares while asking questions about Tranzrail because he’s a sneaky, avaricious bastard.
Banks filed a false election return keeping his big money donors secret because he’s corrupt.
Shearer forgot to declare his UN Bank account because he’s a bit of a munter.
Time will tell which the public tolerates more.
Our wee James Bond wannabes had a code name for Kim Dotcom (you know, in case their comms were intercepted by the bad guys). They called him Billy Big Stepper. So witty! But Labour’s uncovered something more serious too. It seems that the GCSB was aware in February that they may have broken the law and went into a quite a tizz, before covering it up.
Micky savage of Waitakere News looks at John Key’s involvement in the Solid Energy fiasco. National’s undeserved reputation as sound economic managers takes another hit…
On Morning Report this morning there was a clip of John Key (in Brazil) saying that David Shearer had signed up to buy […]
John Key’s decision to not attend Hugo Chavez’s funeral is a snub of a major trade partner at a crucial time. Remember, this junket’s justification is that, for some reason, Key’s presence in these countries will improve trade. But, in snubbing Venezuela, he is insulting our largest export destination in South America. Venezuela matters more than all the countries Key is visiting combined.
Even Peter Dunne is getting disgusted with Key’s arrogance. Trouble is, Dunne assumes that being popular makes it OK. It doesn’t.
