The Heron Report
The Heron Report has been released and reinforces the public perception that this was a cynical misuse of confidential information by National for political purposes and a clusterfuck of epic proportions.
Michelle Boag
Did any National MP not receive confidential information from Michelle Boag?
Michael Woodhouse has admitted that he received confidential information from Michelle Boag a couple of weeks before he said that it was “unconscionable and unacceptable” that the leaks were happening.
Walkergate: MP Quits
Privacy breaching MP Hamish Walker has announced he will step down at the next election. But who else should go?
Update: Muller tries to divert attention by announcing that National still want a 4 lane highway from Chch to Ashburton. Problem solved!
Clusterfuck
Hamish Walker and Michelle Boag have admitted leaking private information about covid sufferers for political gain.
Mark Richardson for National leader!
Michelle Boag thinks that Mark Richardson should be the next National leader after Simon Bridges. Here at the Standard we wish to endorse this proposal.
Tamihere has some strange friends
John Tamihere has been endorsed by Jordan Williams for Auckland’s mayoralty. And his campaign has commissioned the Taxpayers Union to do a cost cutting exercise.
Is Michelle Boag advising Derek Handley?
Politik has reported that Derek Handley has been receiving PR advice from Michelle Boag.
Some lighthearted banter
Peter Leitch has hired Michelle Boag to deal with publicity issues caused by his comment that Waiheke is a white man’s island. She has not helped.
John Key’s Paradise
This really happened. Contains crimes against music, dance, fashion, and irony. Also some recent headlines from “John Key’s Paradise”…
Future Auckland
There are rumours that National is looking to organise a new regional ticket, Future Auckland, to contest next year’s local body elections in Auckland.
Tape of ACC-Pullar meeting raises more questions
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?
Nat Civil War: Nothing to see here
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.
Nat Civil War: Key backs Boag over Collins
John Key gave one of his least sure and most defensive interviews in five years on Q+A on the weekend. His goal was clearly to protect his personal brand and close the issue down. He failed. He failed because he refused to criticise Pullar and Boag, and refused to back Collins’ law suits. That puts him at odds with the Collins faction and onside with Boag’s.
Confused? A guide to the letters & leaks in the Nats’ Civil War
The ever-growing list of letters, emails, and leaks in the National Party Civil War, that started off as an apparently apolitical privacy breach by ACC, is getting hard to follow. Here’s a summary of the various documents and their ramifications – so far.
Beached as bro
Within minutes of Simon Lusk’s name being linked to the leaking of the Boag email, a message came through on the tip line – Slater is going feral over Lusk’s name being mentioned. And well he might, Lusk is Cameron Slater’s meal ticket. After a stunned silence on Whaleoil for a few hours – Slater/Lusk were back with all the dirt they could sling.
Key linked to Pullar claim
Close Up tonight led with the allegation, based on a leaked document, that John Key (and other prominent Nats) were listed as supporting a $14 million dollar insurance claim by Bronwyn Pullar.
They eat their own
ACC denies leaking Bronwyn Pullar’s name. It’s not credible that they would act so high risk and so politically. Boag and Pullar clearly didn’t leak it. So, that leaves Collins and her office. Collins denied leaking the email to the media … but leaves a fair bit of wiggle room, doesn’t it? The tipline is, as they say, running hot – and the name on everyone’s lips is Lusk. More soon.
Blood sport
Judith Collins has twice told the Prime Minister that she didn’t leak Bronwyn Pullar’s information. But who else could have? The internecine fighting within National is heating up with Michelle Boag saying “When you can’t send a communication to a Government minister without fearing that the privacy of that communication is going to be breached, that’s very, very dangerous.” This is going to end badly for someone.
Collins’ attack on Pullar continues
It’s strange watching National’s factions fight it out in the media- the Herald on Sunday running the Collins/Slater faction stuff and the Dompost running material from Boag/Pullar. Both sides are scum. Pullar received (somehow) the largest leak in ACC and passed to the media. Collins has imitated her fellow ministers by leaking Pullar’s private details in revenge.
Skinheads in Suits
ChrisH has been goaded to write this post by a couple of Jim Mora panels last week, which created a stronger than usual temptation to throw the radio out the window. Here he writes a scholarly polemic castigating the implied or explicit assumptions of the people involved in these panels.
Barrier residents deserve real representation
The Dominion Post has revealed that only hours after criticising National’s plans to mine on Great Barrier, Auckland Central MP Nikki Kaye was […]
