Posts
NZ’s
shonkey PM ejected from parliamentary debating chamber by his own
partisan Speaker
Key after being chucked out.
Look at the body language of his deputy dawg, Bill English.He doesn't look so comfortable.
Radio NZ
Prime Minister John Key has been ejected from the House for disobeying the Speaker, and after an exchange with Greens co-leader James Shaw over the Panama Papers.
Prime Minister John Key has been ejected from the House for disobeying the Speaker, and after an exchange with Greens co-leader James Shaw over the Panama Papers.
The
incident happened this afternoon, when the prime minister was
answering a question from Mr Shaw on why he refused to apologise to
charities Greenpeace, the Red Cross, and Amnesty for linking them to
the Panama Papers.
While
calling for order, the Speaker, David Carter, told Mr Key to "resume
his seat".
When
Mr Key didn't he was ordered to leave the chamber.
"I
gave him fair warning, when I stand to my feet and call to order, he
is to be treated no different to any other member of this House."
The
Speaker ordered Mr Key to leave after he continued to shout, despite
Mr Carter telling him to stop.
Metiria Turei
.@jamesshaw is so provocatively reasonable the PM loses it and gets kicked out. #canthandletheJandalJohn #justsaysorry #nzpol
Yesterday
Mr Key used Parliamentary privilege to claim that Amnesty, Greenpeace
and the Red Cross had been implicated in the Panama Papers leak, and
that Green MP Mojo Mathers had a foreign trust.
The
charities named had been the victim of an earlier scam where
fraudsters used their names as a front to hide their money in foreign
trusts and were not named in the papers.
The
last time a prime minister was asked to leave the house was Helen
Clark in 2005
Jane Patterson
PM ejected from the House for disobeying Speaker, also means he's not hear to answer next question #panamapapersnz
David Clark
Green
Party MP Mojo Mathers says she is a beneficiary of a UK-based family
trust - not a foreign trust.Green Party MP Mojo Mathers says she is a
beneficiary of a UK-based family trust - not a foreign trust.
Greenpeace
boss and former MP Russel Norman says John Key is using "discredited
allegations" that Greenpeace gained from a foreign trust to
score political points.
During
Question Time on Tuesday the Prime Minister told Green Party
co-leader James Shaw, who replaced Norman last year, that he should
speak to Greenpeace about why they're implicated in the Panama
Papers.
Key
said there were "quite legitimate reasons why people have a
foreign trust" and told Shaw to leave the House and "ring
Greenpeace, Amnesty International and Red Cross because they are
implicated in the papers".
John
Key accuses Greenpeace and Green MP Mojo Mathers of benefiting from
foreign trusts after being questioned by Green Party leader James
Shaw about Mossack Fonseca.
But
Norman says the reference is to old papers from 2013, which have
already been "discredited" after it was revealed rich
investors had been naming charities as trust beneficiaries to avoid
scrutiny by tax authorities.
Panama
Papers NZ - John Key was 'factually wrong' in comments he made on
charities' links to foreign trusts, says Greenpeace NZ head Russel
Norman.
Amnesty
International executive director Grant Bayldon and Greenpeace
executive director Russel Norman.Amnesty International's Bayldon
(left) and Russel Norman of Greenpeace, who says the PM's comments on
trusts were wrong. Photo: SUPPLIED
During
loud exchanges in Parliament yesterday, Mr Key said Greenpeace,
Amnesty and the Red Cross featured in the Panama Papers.
The
organisations are mentioned a searchable database released yesterday
by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
The
Panama Papers are an unprecedented leak of 11.5 million files from
the database of Mossack Fonseca, the world's fourth-biggest offshore
law firm.
Foreign
trusts and New Zealand's rules have been under scrutiny since the
release of the papers, which revealed how Mossack Fonseca
orchestrated a worldwide web of companies to let people hide money
and avoid taxes.
An
investigation into the papers by RNZ, TVNZ and investigative
journalist Nicky Hager has shown New Zealand is being used by
foreigners to organise their private wealth, business affairs and
channel their funds around the world.
Mr
Key went on the front foot over the Panama Papers in Parliament
yesterday, armed with the IRD's initial analysis of the documents,
but Mr Norman said the Prime Minister "fell on his face".
"Because
he was factually incorrect. He got it wrong, and I suggest the prime
minister apologise."
Mr
Norman said while Greenpeace was listed in the database that kept the
Panama Papers information, it was part of a separate data set from
another release of documents several years ago.
He
said the mention of charities in that data release had been found to
be a common scam, where people who were trying to avoid tax would use
a charity to try and cover up their tracks.
The
prime minister should have known more about the facts, said Mr
Norman.
"When
you're the prime minister of New Zealand and you have basically
unlimited research capacity and then you look into this database and
there are two data sets in there - one of them is the Panama Papers,
another one is an entirely separate one - it seems to me that you are
responsible for making sure the comments you make are accurate.
"What
the prime minister said was not true, it was inaccurate. We are not
in the Panama Papers. There may well be many instances where
charities, for example, were basically being used by scammers, but
all the prime minister is doing is revictimising the charities but
saying that somehow, they are caught up in this corrupt thing, and
they're not."
Mr
Norman said the prime minister needed to stop flinging around blame
and should actually address the issue of foreign trusts.
Amnesty
International executive director Grant Bayldon said trusts were scams
designed to trick people into thinking they are giving money to a
real charity.
Mr
Bayldon said it was a known fact that trusts listed charities as
beneficiaries, so the real owners could avoid scrutiny by tax
authorities, and charities were not aware when their names were used
in this way.
He
said Amnesty had no knowledge of any real links with foreign trusts
and he was disappointed Mr Key would insinuate otherwise.
New
Zealand Red Cross secretary general Tony Paine said the organisation
wanted to stay out of the political debate.
"Questions
of the prime minister's motivations probably need to be put to him,"
he said.
However,
he backed up Mr Norman's comments that the data Mr Key had quoted was
a scam where charities' names were used to avoid paying tax.
"Our
message is simply that it is just something that people are going
overseas to use our good name, our much-loved name and we want to
assure people there is no link between either New Zealand Red Cross
or International Red Cross and these trusts."
He
said the Red Cross was one of the most recognised, most trusted,
symbols in the world and it worked hard to keep it that way.
Labour
deputy leader Grant Robertson said Mr Key's was trying to avoid
facing legitimate questions about New Zealand's foreign trust regime.
"This
is typical of the way the prime minister deals with issues like this.
He's attempting to divert and diminish the issue," he said.
"It's
not just Greenpeace and Amnesty and the Red Cross, the All Blacks
have been used in the same way.
"It
is a ridiculous thing for the prime minister, who I'm sure knew that
this was part of a scam, to throw that into the debate," Mr
Robertson said.
Mr
Key's office said he was "simply making the point that just
because someone is named on the database does not mean they have done
anything wrong, and that people should be wary of drawing conclusions
based on the data released."
*The
investigation into New Zealand links in the Panama Papers is a
journalistic collaboration by reporters from RNZ News, One News and
investigative journalist Nicky Hager, and with the assistance of the
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and the German
newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.