NZ politcal scandal: #Sheepgate

Right-wing political commentator and "straw man", Matthew Hooton has turned on John Key an tweeted : 

“Were John Key not afraid of what Murray McCully would do to him from the backbenches, he’d have sacked him by now”

The government is trying to cover up the truth that they offered a bribe to a Saudi businessman providing him with a farm and sheep they had already bought off him - all to void being sued - a much more expensive option.

This is a clue as to what awaits us in this country if Tim Groser ever gets to sign Obama's TPP.  US corporations will have power to sue sovereign governments if they don't get their ways and governments chose to opt for the national interest.

Right- wing commentator Hooton: Govt sheepgate story a shameful coverup"

"Murray McCully’s account of why he appointed government contractor Alex Matheson to negotiate the $11.5 million New Zealand demonstration farm in Saudi Arabia is seemingly turning to dust. Contrary to the minister’s assertions last week, NBR can reveal the former contractor had no previous experience in the Middle East, nor with Gulf interests. “

Hooton's piece in the NBR is behind an expensive pay wall but here is journalism lecturer, Bryce Edwards's Summary

Bryce Edwards @bryce_edwards 1h 1hour ago

Hooton: "Key is now impotent as prime minister over even the worst behaviour by his senior ministers"

12 retweets 10 favorites

Bryce Edwards @bryce_edwards 1h1 hour ago

Hooton: “A minister who tells the PM and the cabinet they face a $30 million legal risk when they do not… should obviously be sacked"

12 retweets 11 favorites

Bryce Edwards @bryce_edwards 1h1 hour ago

Hooton on McCully: He “appears to get some sort of childish thrill out of subterfuge, even when it is unnecessary and not in his interests”

8 retweets 5 favorites

Bryce Edwards @bryce_edwards 1h1 hour ago

Hooton: “I have never known a more pathetically obvious case of a government trying to wilfully ignore wrongdoing by a minister”

7 retweets 8 favorites

Bryce Edwards @bryce_edwards 1h1 hour ago

Hooton: “Were John Key not afraid of what Murray McCully would do to him from the backbenches, he’d have sacked him by now”

From Radio NZ this morning - 

Govt concedes it's part of the Saudi problem

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully has conceded that Saudi businessman Hamood Al Ali Al-Khalaf was unhappy with the National Government when it did not lift the live exports ban in 2010.

Radio NZ,

5 June, 2015

In 2009, the National Government's Agriculture Minister David Carter said he was thinking about lifting the ban on live sheep exports that had been in place since 2003.

But a year later, he extended the ban.

More on this story Closing Sheepgate behind him?

Mr McCully was asked if Mr Al-Khalaf felt misled by the Government.

"Look, I think you'll find that the National Government did exactly the right thing by telling Mr Al-Khalaf what was going to be possible and what wasn't, what the rules were going to be, to the extent that he was disappointed with that," Mr McCully said.

"Fronting up and having a discussion with him - that's something the previous government hadn't done, and that's why he was taking legal advice about his remedies."

The Government has since struck a controversial deal with Mr Al-Khalaf, spending more than $11 million kitting out his Saudi farm, including flying 900 sheep there.

Mr McCully said the Government was trying to avoid a potential $30 million legal claim but continues to blame that on the former Labour Government, an allegation that is fiercely disputed by Labour.

However, Labour MP and former trade minister Phil Goff said Labour had also considered lifting the live sheep export ban in 2007 - if its concerns about the welfare of sheep while at sea could be met.

But Mr Goff said another problem became apparent.

"And that was the problem of inhumane slaughter.

"You'll recall there was coverage on television of Australian live exports to the Middle East ,where animals were having their tendons cut in order to immobilise them prior to slaughter, where animals were being slaughtered inhumanely.

"And Cabinet made the decision in 2007 that we could not tolerate that sort of thing," Mr Goff told reporters this week.

But as part of the deal Mr McCully made with Mr Al-Khalaf, taxpayers will be funding an abattoir on his farm and Saudi laws will apply when it comes to how livestock are treated and killed there.

Labour MP Damien O'Connor said Saudis often slaughtered animals in ways New Zealanders would find inhumane.

"To think that those animals would go and then be slaughtered in a way that we'd be horrified adds further fuel on the fire," Mr O'Connor said.

"It's pretty barbaric - we should not be in anyway allowing or condoning this."

Green MP Steffan Browning, said if New Zealand's funding the slaughterhouse, then this country's animal welfare standards should be met.

New Zealand First's Richard Prosser said he understood that while New Zealanders will pay for the abattoir, Mr Al-Khalaf will own it.

He said if that was the case, the Saudis would set the rules.

Yesterday, the Government blocked an attempt in Parliament by the Labour Party to make Cabinet papers from 2007 public.

Prime Minister John Key claimed the papers would reveal that Labour was considering doing a deal of its own with Mr Al-Khalaf.

Labour said he was bluffing, and worried that the Government will be shown to have paid a bribe to Mr Al-Khalaf to try to secure a free trade deal with the Gulf States.

Radio New Zealand has lodged an urgent official information act request for the four Cabinet papers.

Saudi-bound sheep bought from man Govt gave them to

FAIRFAX NZ

Former Labour minister Phil Goff is happy that papers on Saudi live sheep exports will be released.

NZ Farmer,

4 June, 2015

Nearly 200 of the pregnant ewes flown to Saudi Arabia to stock an agri-business hub were bought by taxpayers from the same businessman the Government gave them to as part of a multi-million dollar deal.

A total of 900 pregnant awassi breed ewes were flown to Saudi Arabia for a "pilot research breeding programme" on a farm owned by Hamood Al Ali Al Khalaf in October 2014.

A spokeswoman for New Zealand Trade and Enterprise - one of the agencies involved in setting up the farm - said 195 were awassi ewes from Mathews Station in central Hawke's Bay, which is owned by Awassi NZ.

The rest of the sheep were bought from private on-farm sales and through an auction system.

Brownrigg, as lead provider, was responsible for that, NZTE said.

Al Khalaf's Awassi NZ Land Holdings company owns nearly a quarter - 24.9 per cent - of Brownrigg Agriculture Group.

The Dammam farm in Saudi is the only New Zealand Government sponsored and funded "demonstration farm" in the world, and has been described by officials as "an innovative way of showcasing New Zealand agriculture".

While all 900 ewes arrived safely and in good health, NZTE said at the end of April, only 800 remained on the demonstration farm.

"NZTE understands that some ewes were gifted, and others may have died."

Officials have confirmed that the cost of flying 900 ewes to Saudi Arabia, accompanied by New Zealand vets to ensure they arrived safely, was $1.5 million.

That was part of an $11.5m deal made by the New Zealand Government.

Opposition MPs speaking in Parliament have labelled it a "multimillion dollar bribe" to facilitate a free trade agreement with Gulf States, and have called for Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully to be stood down from Cabinet over it.

A portion of the cost was a $4m payment which McCully has said recognised "the intellectual property which the Saudi investor brings to the platform, the services and in-market networks he will contribute, as well as the settlement of the long running dispute".

That was in addition to the $6m that the Government had already invested in setting up the agribusiness hub, which it is estimated the Al Khalaf Group has contributed around $80m to.

Al Khalaf's Sydney-based business partner George Assaf has reportedly described the farm fit-out by the Government as "compensation" for New Zealand's ban on live sheep exports for slaughter.

The Government imposed a ban in 2003 after at least 4000 sheep died en route to the Middle East.

Prime Minister John Key on Thursday indicated papers from the Labour government which introduced the ban would be released. That was soon after Labour MPs gave the OK for their release.

"There's a convention… in terms of Cabinet papers relating to previous administrations, and I can't circumvent that - I wouldn't want to break that convention. But I'm pretty happy to have them released as soon as we possibly can," he said.

Goff told reporters on Thursday he did not think he had ever met or communicated with Al Khalaf, who had invested heavily in New Zealand in the live sheep export business.

Labour's decision to ban live exports was made on animal welfare grounds, he said.

- Stuff

Meanwhile, McCully, who is really a National Party hatchetman is in the Middle East playing 'diplomat'

'Bantam' McCully on Mideast peace mission

Labour continued to bay for Murray McCully's blood in Parliament yesterday over the Saudi farm saga but the Foreign Minister was a world away, immersed in the Middle East peace process ahead of New Zealand chairing the Security Council next month.

He is on a scoping mission for a possible New Zealand resolution to the Security Council in the event that there is not enough support for a French resolution on a peace timetable which is likely to be voted on in September when world leaders meet at the UN.

McCully 'should go' over Saudi farm deal

Foreign Minister Murray McCully should be removed from Cabinet over his handling of the Saudi farm deal, Labour says