Even the police sense the hypocrisy

Written By: - Date published: 4:20 pm, October 9th, 2014 - 89 comments
Categories: john key, police - Tags: , , , , ,

In an interesting (but entirely predicable) turn of events the David Fisher at the Herald is reporting

Police are reviewing a two-year-old criminal complaint against Whaleoil blogger Cameron Slater over material he used on his website.

The review is studying how Slater obtained a vast quantity of private emails which were used as the basis of posts on his blog.

It comes as police investigate a complaint from Slater over the hacking of his computer. Detectives investigating Slater’s complaint this week executed a search warrant on the home of author Nicky Hager, who used material obtained by the hacker known as Rawshark to write Dirty Politics.

The police review stems from a complaint laid in May 2012 by businessman Matt Blomfield, who has taken a defamation case against Slater over articles on the Whaleoil blog.

To be precise, as I was pointing out the other day in “John Key’s police poodles“, it is completely ridiculous to go in and seize a journalist entire work systems and outputs because one of John Key’s friends lays a complaint. To do so while pretty well ignoring a previous complaint against Cameron Slater that has almost exactly the same legal facts just begs a label of total hypocrisy.

Now hopefully when the police finally stop having a rather long holiday on this we can we expect a rapid raid on Cameron Slater, his blog, and the taking away of ALL computers. Well I don’t think that the police are going to anything more than plaster the limp “it is too old” sticker over this.

Of course the reason why it is too old is because the bloody police didn’t move against a mate of John Key…


Updated: David Fisher at the Herald is also reporting on the household attack on Matthew Blomfield by a shotgun wielding attacker.

Blomfield had fought off the attacker, fiercely enough that police later found blood from which they took DNA.

He struggled to think who might want him hurt, or worse. In the end, he came up with a suspect list of 285,000 people – the monthly readership of the Whaleoil blog, who he believed had been given every reason to think he was one of the worst people in New Zealand.

That’s Cameron Slater – New Zealand’s hero of the crazy loons and homicidal nutters. But this particular incident always looked to me to be somewhat more sinister than that. After all with a big defamation loss looming against him? What depths could the chief raving lunatic get down to? Especially bearing in mind his previous contacts in the ‘security’ business.

89 comments on “Even the police sense the hypocrisy ”

  1. adam 1

    Nepotism – a sure sign of a leader, off the hook.

    Is it Godwinning to call him John Mugabi Key?

    • Murray Rawshark 1.1

      John Bjelke-Key. He’s beginning to take on all the qualities of Joh Bjelke-Petersen, from not being worried about anything, the acceptance of corruption, and the using of the police as a private force through to his dismissive attitude to questioning reporters. The man is a monument to the weakness of our democratic institutions.

      • framu 1.1.1

        thats actually quite spot on – and close enough to home to have a bit more relevance in peoples minds (above a certain age)

      • ma rohemo 1.1.2

        How I laughed when Joh was asked about the seperation of powers under the Westminster system and he told the reporter he didn’t know what it was.

        Perhaps that was why he saw nothing wrong in being directly involved with the police.

        The balance between legislature, executive government, and the judiciary in any free state is important to maintain.

        John has not kept a respectful distance from police here.

        Please someone ask him to explain how he understands the concept. (I need another laugh)

  2. Clemgeopin 2

    In any case, by now Slater would have erased (or has the opportunity now to get rid of) incriminating evidence before the police do raid his pad, if they do decide to do that at all.
    Seems NZ is losing its democracy, fairness, equality and justice!
    From Gods-Own to Dogzone!

    • lprent 2.1

      The police don’t appear to care about that. After all they raided Hager’s house after he’d clearly stated that they wouldn’t find anything about rawshark there.

      I think that if the police are serious then they should raid Cameron Slater’s home, his office, AND also grab the computers running Whaleoil. Then the may find who provided him with Matthews stolen data.

      AND If they were really serious about rawshark, then they should include the old server computer, the new computers with their logs (after all rawshark probably peeked) and backups that might show traces of rawshark accessing the system or grabbing data.

      After all Cameron was probably too technically dumb to actually locate the traces that are there.

      • whateva next? 2.1.1

        but we know his access to money to buy in help is unlimited

      • One Anonymous Bloke 2.1.2

        If they’re serious they’d subpoena his Facebook messages and emails from the appropriate service providers too.

    • Chris 2.2

      Seems? Get with the programme, tiger.

  3. Fisher seems to have turned over a new leaf.

    The article shows that Slater is just the visible symptom of a cancer eating away at NZ society.

    • Fisher was initially one of Slater’s channels but when he started asking questions about the information, Slater began to attack him. So Fisher has started to follow up on ‘Dirty Politics’ relentlessly. Good on him.

  4. OK I admit it. I AM RAWSHARK, now can the police please return Hager’s equipment?

  5. higherstandard 5

    Working with Fisher at the Herald to do hit jobs on an irrelevant blogger ?

    I remember the good old days when this site was about politics not just a platform for personal vendettas and dick swinging between silly old bloggers on different sides of the political spectrum both of whom should be old enough to know better.

    [lprent: Nope, I haven’t talked to Fisher by any means for months. The last time was a conversation about “Is this seat taken?”. I happened to see the tweets on the articles. ]

  6. Is Matt Blomfield’s brother the prisoner mentioned in “Dirty Politics” or is that someone else?

    You know, the one who Slater wanted moved to the other end of the country?

    If so, it would be interesting to know Slater’s relationship with the person who was the subject of the protection order from Dan Blomfield, as this might be his casus belli.

  7. You don’t think your last bit is just a trifle over the top? I would think potentially actionable?

    [lprent: Nope. I am always pretty careful about asserting facts. What I did was a speculative question. But I will add the question marks as I was a bit rushed writing this post. ]

  8. You're Kidding, Right? 8

    The hate is unbelievable. You are not a journalist Lynn, just a loose nut.

    [lprent: Unlike Slater who appears to have asserted that he is not a journalist or that he is when he thinks that the legal position favours each position, I have never ever claimed to be a journalist. In fact I am rather upset that his legal dithering says that I might be. I’m a blogger.

    But having had Slater attacking my previous employers, and commenting that it was pity that I didn’t die in 2011 – yeah I really really don’t like the arsehole. So sue me for really wanting this arsehole to stop besmirching the name of bloggers and journalists. ]

    • One Anonymous Bloke 8.1

      “Unbelievable” – I think you mean understandable, given Mr. Slater’s ethics, which are hateful, after all.

    • wekarawshark 8.2

      “So sue me for really wanting this arsehole from besmirching the name of bloggers.”

      I keep doing this double take when I hear someone like Kathryn Ryan talking about bloggers in the context of Dirty Politics. She uses the term generically with no attempt to differentiate between bloggers like Slater (Dirty Politics) and regular bloggers who add so much to the political landscape.

      It’s a shame that the political blogosphere has come to the attention of the rest of NZ via Slater and his appalling behaviour.

      • lprent 8.2.1

        Exactly… I want him gone from blogging because he is just awful and has been consistently for years.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 8.2.2

        Saying bloggers are like Cameron Slater is potentially defamatory.

      • Tracey 8.2.3

        Tv reporters too. Have they not read the book or read it but dont understand it, or something else

      • Bill 8.2.4

        Sadly, him and Farrar will both sign up to that journalistic code of nonsense, and so be afforded an air of legitimacy in the eyes of most. At which point it will be open season on blogs and bloggers.

  9. Morrissey 9

    “Look, integrity is absolutely critical to the New Zealand Police. It’s a core value.”

    —Assistant Police Commissioner Alan Boreham, talking to Mary Wilson
    Radio NZ National Checkpoint, 5:10 p.m. today.

    • Tracey 9.1

      I think judith collins used to pretend that about the ministry of justice… Police…

      Bennett about private info held by WINZ…

  10. Tracey 10

    funny how five cops spent ten hours at hagers but when one goes on holiday their blomfield review grinds to a halt. An OIA on when the review really began would be interesting

    • Melanie Scott 10.1

      It’s worth reminding oursleves that during the 1951 wharfies strike, a person who gave a wharfie’s child an icecream could be arrested. The Herald was subjected to regular police raids and articles and material were suppressed/removed from their offices by the police.

      • Morrissey 10.1.1

        But the Herald was completely on the side of the government in 1951. Nothing has changed.

  11. ExStatic 11

    I have no idea what the facts of this Blomfield v Slater issue is or why they are at each other’s throats.. Nothing in this post tells me anything about the background? Is Blomfield a rat bag? Seems strange for The Standard to be sticking up for a businessman?

  12. How are the pork doing with the roast busters? Oh right, one of them’s a cop’s son…

    Then there’s Farrar’s mate happily contemplating stupefying and raping potentially underage girls at a “Princess Party”. I’m sure the penguin can help with inquiries…

    *crickets*

  13. Weepus beard 13

    Kudos Lynn. You are a brave man.

    I myself retreated into silence when Slater outed me on his forum after I had a chuckle when The Truth went down with all hands while he was captain. He posted my real name and occupation on his forum in order to intimidate me. No-one was safe after that and his dip-shit sidekick, Pete, knew it.

    Then he again threatened to out me after one of the continuous hissy-fits he and his lame duck wife have whenever someone makes a complaint to one of his sponsors.

    Lots of people are behind you!

  14. peterlepaysan 14

    merely as a footnote to the above erudite discussion, it might pay for posters to check the crimes act for definitions of “journalist” and “media”.

    obtw did not slater use a defence in a court case that he was a journalist and the court found in his favour?

    he can hardly now claim he is not a journalist.

    • peterlepaysan 14.1

      should have also added “evidence act” and “search and surveillance act”. Sorry ’bout dat.

      • wekarawshark 14.1.1

        As I understand it, different Acts define ‘journalist’ and ‘journalism’ in different ways.

    • Tracey 14.2

      You are assuming logic to slaters actions.

      His actions are driven by hate and vengence hardly the repository of soubd reasoning and logic. He is also paid by others to lie to his readers about stuff “he” wrote.

      He also believes his rich well connected mates will help him out. Understandably given he got his injunction pre election and a raid onhagers homes.

  15. wekarawshark 15

    Is Fisher one of Rawshark’s three journos?

    • Nobody knows who they are yet, they are either a) sitting on stories or b) someone has gagged them. Or c) rawshark was pulling our chain.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 15.1.1

        or d) Russell Brown states “At least one of those journalists has now completed a substantial post-election story based on Rawshark material. It’s just a matter of when it will be published.”

        • greywarshark 15.1.1.1

          @ OAB 7.54
          That journalist had better be quick before the busies rob his/her tools of trade and work, in the name of exposing crime and criminals and in reality, burying facts and the web of deceits and lies that make up the fabric of our present society. A web with irregular holes in it – would not even pass legal requirements for a fishing net.

  16. Jeeves POnzi 16

    I thought he had left the last dump to Gower…