Well, that didn’t take long. A couple of weeks of quiet (probably thanks to some good polls more than anything) and, now, the National Party Civil War has re-erupted as the Collins and Joyce factions fight over the post-Key future. The leaking of National Party board minutes shows how serious the fighting is and reveals strong opposition to Slater/Lusk’s tactics.
Dr Sandra Grey from the Tertiary Education Union has a look at Stephen Joyce’s proposals to changing the governance of tertiary education institutions. She suggests that he has a look at what happened in the changes to the polytechs in 2009. And also points out that his proposals don’t follow what is known about good governance for universities.
But it has been apparent to readers here that Joyce prefers to be a fiddler rather than being effective..
For all her bluster, Judith Collins still hasn’t sued Trevor Mallard and Andrew Little for supposedly defaming her by saying she was behind the leak of the Boag email identifying Bronwyn Pullar as the leaker of 6,500 ACC clients’ details. I’m not sure how you can argue its defamatory for a minister to be accused of leaking private information when Paula Bennett did it.
So much of what shapes the current political landscape traces its roots back to the fateful tea party. But at the personal level, there was some welcome news for cameraman Bradley Ambrose recently.
Banks is deadmeat. It’s just a matter of time before Key gives him the boot. Politically, he must. He has grounds, even on the limited ‘ethics while a minister’ test he has created. We’re now just waiting for something sufficiently new that Key can use it as justification for an about face. Then comes the question of a by-election. And that’s where it gets tricky for Key.
Does he believe Banks’ on the Dotcom donation? What corroborating evidence has he sought to confirm Banks statement? Why is he applying a legal test to behaviour before Banks was a minister but ethical standards only after? Why did he apply ethical standards to Pansy Wong’s behaviour before she was a minister but not to Banks? Was it unethical for Banks to lie to the media and fake memory lose while a minister?
The media are doing a good job investigating John Banks’ donation history. The Police are presumably also doing theirs, and it seems clear that the matter must end up in Court and the issue of who is telling the truth will be decided by a judge. Some in the media have dismissed the question of any threat to National’s majority. Short-term maybe, long-term I’m not so sure.
Why did Banks lie about a discount hotel room where Dotcom was staying, then say he bargained it himself? Who made $15K of radio ad donations to his campaign? What did Nats on Banks’ ‘mentor group’ and ACT leaders know about the anonymised donations? How much info did Banks get from Williamson on Dotcom’s OIO application? Why has Key still not spoken to Banks to ask any of these question?
Slippery old Key said on Monday and Tuesday that he had to apply a legal test to whether John Banks should stay on as a minister. The Cabinet manual demands the highest ethical standards. Now, Key’s flip-flopped: ethics are required – but only after one becomes a minister. Which would be worrying if true. Pansy Wong won’t be the only one to note Key’s standards a slipping.
Such was the magnitude of the Nat’s “big win” in 2011 that Key has to wake up every morning and do the numbers. His government hangs by a rotten thread. That rotten thread is John Banks.
There’s the facts, the questions and the legal opinions. Today in Parliament John Key stuck to his lack of interest in detailed questions, and adherence to Banks’ reliance on legal opinions. He even alleged that the Labour Opposition agreed with these opinions. Not likely. The Police need to ask all the relevant questions that have so far not been answered by Banks or asked by Key, then their veracity and reliability should be established by a judge.
For the first time in 3.5 years, Lockwood Smith didn’t preside over question time yesterday. The hapless National backbencher Eric Roy took his place resulting an awfully convenient farce. Key refused to answer questions, going so far as to say he wasn’t responsible for who is a minister. But, like the sudden slew of ministerial announcements, Key’s evasiveness will not distract the media, which smells blood.
In 2008 John Key was loudly telling us about his high standards and principles. The Banks case is yet more proof that it was all a prattle of empty rhetoric.
John Key has refused to sack John Banks saying “The test is, did he breach the law or not? If he hasn’t, then he’s not guilty”. That has never been the standard ministers are held to. Ministers are required to uphold “the highest ethical standards“. It looks like Banks traded an ‘anonymous’ donation from Kim Dotcom for his political influence. Is that Key’s idea of the “highest ethical standards”?
David Cameron’s defence of embattled Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has been called a “firewall” that’s failing to hold.
Cameron needs Hunt to stay or else Cameron is the next to go. It is the same for John Key.
As the stench of corruption around John Banks grows, he desperately needs him to stay or else all he loses legitimacy for asset sales and potentially his majority on the issue as well.
Another secret taping, another political scandal. A recording of Pullar and Boag’s meeting with ACC by Pullar appears to show that Pullar did not “blackmail” ACC as alleged. This raises serious questions about how Pullar’s name got into the public arena. And why hasn’t Collins ordered ACC to correct its version of events since its had the transcript for weeks?
Party donations for the 2011 general election will be published on Tuesday . One new provision in the Act provides for the declaration of the number of donations in two bands; $1500 to $5,000, and up to $15,000. It will be very interesting to see the number of upper level donations in National and ACT particularly. They could hide Banks-type split donations from asset-sale backers.
Key should go because of his dirty deal with SkyCity. Joyce too. Collins should go over the ACC leaks. Brownlee for sheer incompetence. English for shit-eating grin every time he fails to meet his own growth forecasts and announces more cuts. Add Banks to the list. His position in now untenable. The accusations are serious and credible. His excuses and memory lapses implausible. He must at least be stood down.
Didn’t take much clairvoyance to see that National would fail to meet its promise of a Budget surplus by 2014/15. You’ve never seen a Finance Minister have his forecasts cut so often and look so happy about it. His failure against his own artificial target gives him an excuse to cut. His party’s ineptness to blame but we pay. Students look to be his target this round.
Ignoring public opposition, attacking the media, “advising himself” to do whatever he wants, it doesn’t add up tp a very pretty picture.
The Herald’s revealed that, in 2001, Judith Collins, as chair of the Casino Control Authority, rubber-stamped a ‘pokies for convention centre’ deal with SkyCity. This triggered the then Labour Government limit the number of pokies by statute. Now, the Nats are doing another dirty deal with the cancer in Auckland’s heart but, thanks to Labour, they can’t do it on the quiet.
Steven Joyce’s personal fiefdom of Economic Development, Science and Innovation, Building and Housing, and Labour is confirmed. Now for the redundancies…
Since 2004, the government has collected a problem gambling levy from all types of licenced gambling. The levy on SkyCity’s casinos is half what it is on pokies in pubs. In 2010, officials recommended a rebalancing – more on TAB, Lotto, and casinos, less on pub pokies. The Nats picked up the recommendations with one exception – SkyCity’s levy didn’t increase.
Behold the economic genius of John Key.
It’s a bit rich for Key to claim that there were no credible alternatives to the back-room deal with SkyCity when he shut down one alternative proposal and ignored four others. But now the facts are coming out. Key has “advised himself” into his worst public relations fiasco yet.
Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here.
National leads the way when it comes to generating ideas that will grow corporate profits at the expense of the community and, ultimately, the taxpayer. So here’s some more ideas…
According to Gerry Brownlee it isn’t happening.
David Shearer’s created an easy way to send John Key a message about selling the law to SkyCity. Here’s your chance to tell John his plan to inflict harm on the community to increase the profit of SkyCity is stupid.
The Greens have revealed that criminals are laundering millions of dollars through SkyCity, taking their gambling losses as the price of coming out with clean, untraceable money. The Government’s sleazy ‘law for sale’ deal with SkyCity would only make it worse by allowing more anonymous, higher stake gambling on the pokies. Instead, we should be clamping down.
The Nats promised to sell no more than 49% of any given state owned assert. Now they’re trying to get cute with semantics and effectively remove all limits.
Unfortunately for them their previous promises are on record and very clear. Hey Peter Dunne – are you going to vote for this latest lie?
When even your friends are telling you you’ve got it wrong, it’s time to reconsider. So Bill: the Employers Union (EMA) and Family First want Paid Parental leave. It’s not too expensive, it’s back by all childcare experts, and the cost is even delayed. Just do it.
Every time Simon Lusk’s name gets mentioned, Whaleoil (which is only Cameron Slater and has nothing to do with Lusk </sarcasm>) responds with a vitriolic and revealing tirade. In the latest, Whaleoil insists there are no National factions, before insulting and demeaning each of the factions except Collins’, and accidentally confirming the leadership tussle is on.
Despite losing nearly 1 in 4 of its supporters, 300,000 voters, in a little over 6 months according to the Roy Morgans, National’s 44% still looks superficially impressive. Until you realise they need to be able to form a majority more or less alone. The Right’s monolithism doesn’t just place extraordinary demands on National’s leader, it’s the root of the current civil war.
There’s series of posts from Simon Lusk on Whaleoil showing the Collins faction taking a distinctly anti-Key line for the first time. Key’s signaled he won’t go easily and he screwed Collins on the defamation suits.. And the polls show he won’t win a third term.
