Dirty politics update - 09/01/2014

Collins inquiry terms to be announced soon

Prime Minister John Key is likely to set out tomorrow or Wednesday details of an inquiry to be held into his former minister Judith Collins

Radio NZ,
1 September, 2014


Opposition parties are calling for a wide-ranging Royal Commission into links between its ministers and the right-wing blogger Cameron Slater but Mr Key said it was his guess the inquiry would look only into the Judith Collins matter.

Listen to John Key on Morning Report ( 7 min 15 sec )



Judith Collins announces her resignation.   Photo: RNZ

On Saturday, Ms Collins resigned after an email surfaced suggesting she had been involved in efforts to undermine the then Director of the Serious Fraud Office, Adam Feeley, in 2011. Ms Collins strongly denied her involvement and said she would fight to clear her name.

At the time, the office was looking into the actions of the failed company Hanover Finance.

Senior Labour MP Grant Robertson told Radio New Zealand's Morning Report programme the 17,000 Hanover investors who lost savings deserved to know what was going on and others needed to know more about matters raised in the book Dirty Politics.


Prime Minister John Key at a press conference announcing Judith Collins' resignation.
Photo: RNZ / Brent Edwards


"New Zealanders deserve a full Commission of Inquiry where witnesses are compelled, where evidence is subpoenaed, because otherwise we will not get to the bottom of the culture of politics that's going on here," he said.

"New Zealanders need to know the Security Intelligence Service is being run properly, they need to know the ACC's been run properly," he said.

Mr Key told Morning Report he was considering preliminary advice about what kind of inquiry will be conducted and it would probably be tomorrow when he announces its terms.

The prime minister said if it was true the minister responsible for the SFO was undermining the head of the office then that would be very serious.

"But I'm not responsible for what Cameron Slater and all these other people do because anyone who knows Cameron knows he does his own thing and deals with many people."

Public law specialist Mai Chen said the speed at which the Prime Minister has indicated he will finalise the terms of reference for the inquiry is unusual.

"Terms of reference take quite a while to set up and the Act makes in clear he should consult with the people who are going to undertake the inquiry, and that is appropriate."

Ms Chen said he would have have expected it to wait until after the election.

Listen to Grant Robertson on Morning Report ( 4 min 19 sec )
Listen to Mai Chen on Morning Report ( 5 min 22 sec )

The allegations against Ms Collins came after someone passed on an email to Mr Key's office.

The email was from Ms Collins close friend, rightwing blogger Cameron Slater. In it, he talked about a campaign, which involved leaking information to and from the New Zealand Herald to undermine Adam Feeley.

Mr Slater wrote: "I also spoke at length with the Minister responsible today (Judith Collins). She is gunning for Feeley. Any information that we can provide her on his background is appreciated."


State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie.  Photo: RNZ

Ms Collins says she took no part in the email conversation and strongly denies the implication in Mr Slater's email.

State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie said Ms Collins never made any comments to him which indicated she wanted Mr Feeley to resign.

But New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said it was too soon for Mr Rennie to try to clear Ms Collins.

"He could not possibly have done a thorough investigation before he made that statement, he simply hasn't had enough time and I frankly think it's an issue so ask what his role is and what does he think he's doing?"

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman said if Ms Collins was involved in a smear campaign against Mr Feeley, then that was an extremely serious allegation.

"It goes to the heart of making sure that the markets are operated in clean upfront way that is fair to all businesses, these authorities they are there to protect New Zealand companies and individuals to make sure it is all above board, so if they start to be eroded by the government itself then that really is a big problem."

Dr Norman said there were so many allegations the only way forward was for a Royal Commission.

Prime Minister John Key said over the weekend any investigations on the matter would be above board. "When we changed the law some time ago we strengthened it to make sure inquiries would happen in a thoroughly professional way. That's what has to happen in these matters, that's what will happen."