The H-fee explained

Written By: Steve Pierson - Date published: 6:00 pm, October 29th, 2008 - 161 comments
Categories: corruption, election 2008, john key - Tags:

A little more detail to flesh out Tane’s post. The core of the H-fee story is this:

In 1987, head of Equiticorp Allan Hawkins illegally helped Elders Merchant Finance in New Zealand with the takeover of another company. In return, Elders paid Hawkins $66m through a series of sham foreign exchange transactions. There were two so-called ‘H-Fee’ payments, which were fraudulent and illegal. When all this was uncovered, it was described as the biggest fraud in Australasian history. Hawkins and Kenneth Charles Jarrett, the head of Elders, went to jail.

John Key had joined Elders Merchant Finance in 1985. He was head of foreign exchange from 1985 until he left Elders. Key told the media and the Serious Fraud Office that he left in 1987, before the H-fee transactions took place in January and August 1988: “Just one small issue: Three months before any of those deals got decided, I had left Elders.”. Key has also said that, if he had been working at Elders when the H-fee transactions went through, he would have been making the transactions.

Actually, as now established by the Herald, Key left in June 1988, after the first H-fee. That means John Key was the head of Elders Forex when massive illegal transactions were being conducted by that business group. Key himself says that he would have been the one making the transactions. It remains to be seen if Key actually signed off the deals, but he clearly knows more than he led us to believe. Why else would he lie about the date that he left Elders on multiple occasions?

As so often with Key, we are left asking the same question: ‘if he has nothing to hide, why all the lies?’

161 comments on “The H-fee explained ”

Comments are now closed

Jeeves 1

29 October 2008 at 6:12 pm

“Key has also said that, if he had been working at Elders when the H-fee transactions went through, he would have been making the transactions.”

Where does it say that?
insider 2

29 October 2008 at 6:23 pm

Key was quoted on the radio as saying he has only found out about the first transaction now. Spookily I had wondered if this might be the case because that way the dates would add up.

In other words (and this needs to be checked) he has never said he left in 87 only that he left 3 months before the illegal transaction occured. We have been assuming 87 because we knew about the first transaction.
marco 3

29 October 2008 at 6:36 pm

Its an interesting story this and not so much for the H fee because your average New Zealander barely remembers it and doesnt really understand it.
Its interesting because in breaking the story the Herald have stolen the thunder from Labour (if it is to be believed that Labour were going to break the story).
In breaking the story this afternoon they have been able to give John Key time to respond for tomorrows print, whilst allowing minimal coverage on the 6 O’Clock news. Im guessing that tomorrows Herald will not have any new or startling revelations and in fact will pretty much kill off the story. I may be wrong but it appears the Herald are trying to take the edge off a potentially damaging story.
ben 4

29 October 2008 at 6:37 pm

Steve, you get the right to take the moral high ground when your leader does the right and proper thing and sacks Winston. Until then, IMO you are being hypocritical in the extreme for not directing the same line of questioning at the present leadership.
Rod 5

29 October 2008 at 6:40 pm

So some guy in Australia did the first deal and went to jail for it – what has that got to do with “It remains to be seen if Key actually signed off the deals”?
What exactly are the lies you refer to?
Just as well responsible policemen investigated the case way back then, not you.
You seem badly befuddled – perhaps it’s time for the retirement home for you, old chap.
Felix 6

29 October 2008 at 6:43 pm

macro that is exactly my reading of it as well.
ben 7

29 October 2008 at 6:46 pm

The article says

“In 1988, Key was on the verge of leaving Elders”

Key was not even called as a witness in the court case.

You have nothing. What a total beat up.
IrishBill 8

29 October 2008 at 6:46 pm

“What exactly are the lies you refer to?”

Those would be John’s lies to the Herald about when he left Elders. Why would he lie?
insider 9

29 October 2008 at 6:51 pm

If Marco and Felix are right and the Herald was trying to spike it, I would have pursued the angle that Labour are trying to dig dirt rahter than say key is being accused of misleading.

It says the Herald has seen the court files – we assume the same as Mike Williams looked at – which looks like a joint approach by the Herald and Labour, just as Labour did with TVNZ on some other stories.

It just doesn’t read like a preemptive strike
ben 10

29 October 2008 at 6:52 pm

Those would be John’s lies to the Herald about when he left Elders. Why would he lie?

He wouldn’t. He might, on the other hand, get the date slightly wrong 20 years after the fact.
IrishBill 11

29 October 2008 at 6:59 pm

“He wouldn’t. He might, on the other hand, get the date slightly wrong 20 years after the fact.”

So what you’re saying is after it came up on the radar as a serious issue and knowing that it could be used by Labour against him and having filed a statement with the Australian authorities about it he then got the date wrong in an interview with the Herald? An interview which he set up to set the record straight on the matter? Excuse me if I find that very hard to believe.
Ianmac 12

29 October 2008 at 7:06 pm

Do I have the impression that the site here is attracting the Nat support team? Still what they are saying is good counterbalance and often worth considering from my limited understanding. I guess that something might come out of it but since the “others Bill Ralston for eg” quote the Herald as an authority, and if Marc is right, the story might be killed tomorrow. Hope not. The MSM have certainly made a meal of Winston yet again and he is but a small player, but my mate John? Tomorrow then?
Roflcopter 13

29 October 2008 at 7:07 pm

But of course any information you’ve read/seen so far is far superior than anything the SFO could come up, right?

*rolls eyes*
RedLogix 14

29 October 2008 at 7:15 pm

The relevant quote from the original Herald article/bio/blowjob dated July 19 this year is this:

In 1988, Key was on the verge of leaving Elders, unshackling himself from a three-year contract after agreeing to three months’ “gardening leave” before taking up his new job at Bankers Trust, newly established in New Zealand. On his last day, he took Richards to lunch at a Wellington restaurant called Plimmer House where they drank champagne to mark Key’s departure. During the lunch, Richards had to leave, saying he had to meet Australian-based Elders director Ken Jarrett…….The record would show, he said, that he wasn’t involved. But the the interesting thing, Key said at the time, was that if he had still been working at Elders, it would likely have been him, not Richards, with whom Jarrett would have met that day.

This implies that because Key was leaving Elders, that it was Jarret who handled the September transaction and therefore took the fall not Key. How very fortunate. But of course it leaves a huge unanswered question about who handled the equally illegal January transaction. It had to have been Key, yet today on RNZ he denies all knowledge of it.

It also ties into IB’s point above. This was a critical juncture in Key’s professional life, even if he was innocent of all wrong-doing… he escaped involvment by the skin of his teeth. There is no question that these dramatic events were something any normal person would recall, and that in preparation for an in-depth interview with the Herald (not something that happens every day of the week for most of us) he should have ensured he had his dates and details correct.

His apparent failure to get his story right tells us that he is covering something.
bobo 15

29 October 2008 at 7:19 pm

The Herald in effect were trying to deflect the story by breaking it today but I agree its too complicated for the average voter to understand, insider trading was also common place by alot of our prominent businessmen. Even after the the huge Herald bio on John Key a few months back I was none the wiser about his history only that he tended to think giving his personal email to a child in a high risk home environment was somehow doing his bit for charity..

Doesn’t Owen Glen look sleazier every time you see him in Fiji on tv frolicking with his blonde “friends” and buying a mail order chiefdom… Helen made one of her biggest ever mistakes getting involved with this tobacco shipping tax evader who only wanted the Monaco post to get diplomatic immunity when entering the USA. Is he hanging around in Fiji till the election so he can fly over if Labour gets the boot to gloat.
Steve Pierson 16

29 October 2008 at 7:20 pm

insider, et al. He told the Herald and the SFO that he left in 1987.

insider. do you seriously think he only found out about the first h-fee now?
– he was at Elders, in charge of the division when it happened
– he was friends with Paul Richards, who carried out at least the second, if not the first, H-fee
– he was interviewed by the SFO on the case
– this was the largest fraud in Australasian history, involving his former work, his friends
– when it was his story that he left in 1987, he was saying he left 3 months before the H-fee.
– he refers to deals, plural
travellerev 17

29 October 2008 at 7:24 pm

Hum puzzling indeed.

It appears that either John Key was involved or had knowledge about the H-fee scandal or he was involved with Andrew Krieger and his attack on the NZ dollar in 1987. I would like to know which one he (or his masters) thinks is the most damaging for his chances of being elected.

It pays to remember that Bingham was one of the three journo’s who wrote the pre-emptive white wash “unauthorised” biography article published in the NZ Herald on 19 July.

Let me give you one question that JK should be able to answer.

1/ In this interview with Claire Trevett in which he states he had left Elders in early 1987 (way before the deal was done which was October 1987) to work for Bankers Trust).

2/ On his Wiki page (By the way this had the 1987 date on a year ago and it changed but I can’t prove it) and in the NZ Herald he states that he moved to Bankers Trust after Andrew Krieger attacked the NZ dollar. Andrew Krieger stopped trading for Bankers Trust in February 1988

In these interviews 1 and 2 he and his boss state unequivocally that he was the sole trader tasked with supplying Andrew Krieger with whatever he needed and dealing in millions with the man.

Question: You must have been doing one or the other. Either you worked for Elders in a time which was arguably the most corrupt time at Elders or you were involved in the biggest attack on the NZ dollar. In the NZ Herald it is stated that the records will show that you, John Key worked with Andrew Krieger after the attack. Are you willing to show us those “records” and if not why not
Janet 18

29 October 2008 at 7:33 pm

At the end of National Radio’s Checkpoint Julian Robins reported from Invercargill on Key’s response. He had consulted with his minders (CT? ) on the road to Invercargill and delayed communication with the waiting media until after the TV news deadlines (or even Checkpoint’s).

Julian then parroted the Nat P line that it was just a desperate Labour party looking for dirt, and a long time ago etc etc (I despair of these embedded journalists sometimes) –
(not even mentioning that Key had attacked Helen all day over Monacco without justification)

I think there will be a lot of activity happening behind the scenes getting the Herald to dilute and deflect this story and disappear it by morning.
forgetaboutthelastone 19

29 October 2008 at 7:33 pm

‘On his Wiki page (By the way this had the 1987 date on a year ago and it changed but I can’t prove it)’

Have you tried the ‘way back machine‘?.

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Key
Ianmac 20

29 October 2008 at 7:34 pm

By the way on NBR they report that the Two Johns Ad fall foul of the Standards Authority. Relates to inaccuracy of Kiwisaver cut in half.
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/two-johns-ad-falls-foul-standards-authority-37078
Nick C 21

29 October 2008 at 7:38 pm

“It remains to be seen if Key actually signed off the deals”

What this means is: There is absolutely no evidence so far that Key signed off on the deals, or had anything to do with them beyond working at Elders at the time. More like a pop gun than a bomb
travellerev 22

29 October 2008 at 7:39 pm

hey RedLogix,

F*&k politeness. LOL.

All I want for those people who are waking up is to have a second look at the collapse of building 7.

Peace
Danny 23

29 October 2008 at 7:43 pm

Ben, your comment “he might, … get the date slightly wrong …” is a joke, right?

If you are not kidding, then you are obviously about 15 years old. Good on you for being interested in politics if so.

But seriously kid, this was a big deal.

Also, when one gets interviewed by the SFO as well as the ANCA relating to a FOREX trade at a firm where one was the head of FOREX trading, one f’in well remembers. You will learn this as you grow and experience things of magnitude.
Danny 24

29 October 2008 at 7:46 pm

Nick C said:

“There is absolutely no evidence so far that Key signed off on the deals, or had anything to do with them beyond working at Elders at the time.”

What he is really saying is:

“I have no idea how large FOREX trades take place, but I really like National and don’t want this to be bad, in spite of my ignorance”
vto 25

29 October 2008 at 7:47 pm

So Key may have worked at a place at a time dodgy deeds were done dirt cheap.

Clark was the numero uno at a place all the while knowing full well that her Foreign Minister was engaging in full blown outright lies to the NZ public about donations to his party and about Monaco Consul appointments. Foreign Minister has been found to be a perjurer by his own peers. Foreign Minister remains.

hmmmmm, let me think – if I had to choose between the two……………….
NeillR 26

29 October 2008 at 7:47 pm

His apparent failure to get his story right tells us that he is covering something.
Really? I’ve always found that people with something to hide are very careful to get their story right – like the Winston Peters of this world. Innocent people are much more likely to get something wrong, because they haven’t coached themselves to recall every last detail.
Key IS a Liar 27

29 October 2008 at 7:49 pm

John Key also denied any involvement with Andy Kreiger, head of Banker’s Trust and the multimillion dollar currency raid on the NZ dollar in 1987 “because he (Key) did not start at Banker’s Trust until 1988.” But it seems he was not involved with the H Trust Fee either because he was not working at Elders in 1987. John Key seems to play musical jobs depending on which multimillion dollar deal is under discussion. So dear readers take your pick. Key either served Kreiger’s desk and launched a raid on the NZ dollar costing the country 300 million and potentially tens of thousands of jobs, or, he was involved up to his neck in the H Trust Fee fraud. Neither deal is pretty nor befitting a potential Prime Minister of New Zealand.
Danny 28

29 October 2008 at 7:53 pm

“Innocent people are much more likely to get something wrong”

What NeillR is really saying is “I have never had any Court experience and have never been involved in an investigation”

Innocent people get things right. Innocent people also give verifiable details. They give them freely as they know they cannot be contradicted by what the investigator/cross examiner knows and is not letting on.
jo zinny 29

29 October 2008 at 7:57 pm

NeillR, maybe we shouldn’t overlook the character traits and behavioral differences between a trained lawyer and an accountant.. both of whom shall doubtless produce pure irony on occasion.
higherstandard 30

29 October 2008 at 7:57 pm

Key is a liar are you Travellerev ?
RedLogix 31

29 October 2008 at 7:59 pm

Trav,

The Business People article you linked to states in para. 10:

Mr. Krieger joined Salomon Brothers and traded there for two years before leaving for Bankers Trust, where he scored big in 1987. But he quit Bankers Trust at the end of 1987, disappointed with a bonus of only $3 million of the $300 million he earned for the bank.

Late 1987.

Yet the Stuff article states:

Key proved a successful “price maker”, setting Elders’ price for the kiwi from moment to moment, and attracting large flows of orders to buy and sell. He was headhunted by Bankers Trust to head their 30-strong dealing room in Auckland in 1988. Sources say Key was soon earning $1m each year in salary and bonuses, more than 30 times the average wage at the time.

He formed what was to be a lucrative relationship with 32-year-old currency trader Andy Krieger, based at Bankers Trust in New York, who began putting hundreds of millions of dollars of business through Key’s dealing room.

I know you have pointed all this out before, but according to the H-Fee story Key leaves Elders in June 1988. There simply is no way for him to have worked with Kreiger at Bankers Trust. According to these dates they missed each other by six months.

This is getting plain weird.
bobo 32

29 October 2008 at 8:00 pm

The SFO obviously think Keys word is enough for them they are hopeless, I find it hard to think of a successful case they have won in the last 15 years which isn’t against some small time con. The exact timing of him getting out shows he knew the sH*t was gonna hit the fan, and no media actually followed up looking over his CV company history dates which were vague to say the least, in fraud timing is everything I agree he knew, my point was the average voter most likely wont take this in.
travellerev 33

29 October 2008 at 8:08 pm

RedLogix,

You got it in one.
So how about a niggly little question; which of two is true and “if the records truly show what you did. Well please show us those records. LOL.
NeillR 34

29 October 2008 at 8:24 pm

The real story here is who paid Mike Williams’ trip expenses – especially given that he’s got his snout so far in the public trough.
rave 35

29 October 2008 at 8:25 pm

So what is more damaging to Key, and how good is his alibi for both?
tsmithfield 36

29 October 2008 at 8:27 pm

This is a total beat-up:

1. On the National Website JK said:

“Mr Key says he has previously clarified the year of his departure from Elders in the New Zealand Herald on July 19.”

2. The Herald, July 19, on JK’s bio, obviously based on an interview with JK, stated:

“In 1988, Key was on the verge of leaving Elders, unshackling himself from a three-year contract after agreeing to three months’ “gardening leave” before taking up his new job at Bankers Trust, newly established in New Zealand. On his last day, he took Richards to lunch at a Wellington restaurant called Plimmer House where they drank champagne to mark Key’s departure. During the lunch, Richards had to leave, saying he had to meet Australian-based Elders director Ken Jarrett.”

Precisely what JK has said in later interviews other than making a slip with the date. However, he had already previously provided the correct date to “The Herald”.

3. According to the SST, last year:

“Former Equiticorp boss Allan Hawkins and Australian-based expat and former Elders Merchant Finance executive Ken Jarrett have both confirmed Key’s claims he had nothing to do with H-Fee.”

4. The SFO said of JK, in relation to this matter:

‘Mr Key was simply one in a “vast array of innocent people, potential witnesses, in a massive fact-gathering exercise. I feel compelled to fully support the reported comments of John Key in relation to the H-Fee transaction. It should not need to be said that John Key was completely innocent of any wrongdoing whatsoever. For any politician to hint or suggest otherwise would be absolutely rubbish and pure mischief-making’.

In summary, this is a total beat-up and can only serve to backfire on Labour.
vto 37

29 October 2008 at 8:29 pm

So Helen implied Key was a wife-beater with her comment “you might shout people down at home but you wont do it to me” during the debate thing.

nasty. nasty. nasty. nasty.

nasty.

nasty. nasty.

Says a whole lot about her in fact.
Danny 38

29 October 2008 at 8:31 pm

“The real story here is who paid Mike Williams’ trip expenses …”

Awwwh, so that’s the reeeeal story.

Here is me thinking that the possibility of the man on the verge of being our next PM being in some way involved in the biggest white collar crime in our nation’s history was the story.

I was obviously looking at it the wrong way.
Danny 39

29 October 2008 at 8:36 pm

tsmithfield,

“… Allan Hawkins and … Ken Jarrett have both confirmed Key’s claims”

Well that settles it then, those are two upstanding and trustworthy individuals …
Could He Have Worked Both Jobs? 40

29 October 2008 at 8:37 pm

How is it possible for John Key to be involved in either deal? a) Kreiger’s Bankers Trust currency raid, and, b) Elder”s H Fee swindle? The Banker’s Trust raid occurred in 1987 and Elders H Fee fraud occurred in 1988. John Key by is own admission was working for neither firm at the time of these deals..
RedLogix 41

29 October 2008 at 8:41 pm

This quote also confirms the date Krieger left Bankers Trust:

Unhappiness with his bonus was said to be the reason for the resignation of Andrew Krieger, a 31-year-old foreign-exchange trader for Bankers Trust. He resigned on the day the 1987 bonuses were given out. Bankers Trust, unlike most other financial institutions, paid its highest bonuses ever for 1987. The bank would not disclose the size of Mr. Krieger’s bonus, but people on Wall Street speculated that Mr. Krieger received at least $2.5 million.

From: NYTimes Business Week

Article is dated 28th Febuary 1988.
jake 42

29 October 2008 at 8:45 pm

So a 26 year old, neophyte, Key was brought in to help mastermind one of the most insidious deals of the decade. God, if they had that much respect for him 20 years ago, maybe we should, as well 😉 I hope you guys get full credit for this one. Otherwise, Helen’s going to have to wear it. And Labour, which, you will remember, was the Government that benefitted from the transactions.
tsmithfield 43

29 October 2008 at 8:45 pm

Danny “Well that settles it then, those are two upstanding and trustworthy individuals ”

They would have no motivation to lie. In fact, they would probably like to pin the blame on someone else if they could.

With respect to the first transaction, Key, in the Herald article, has said:

“The court documents show that it was handled by Elders staff in Australia. “That’s why I’ve never known about it because it never went through our [Elders Merchant Finance] books,” said Mr Key.

This statement is based on clear records in the court documents. It is absolutely reasonable to expect that JK would not know about financial transactions that were handled by another branch in a different country. I don’t think I have to argue too hard here that he is not God.

This is clearly a beat-up as I said.
r0b 44

29 October 2008 at 8:47 pm

So Helen implied Key was a wife-beater with her comment “you might shout people down at home but you wont do it to me’ during the debate thing.

Shame on you vto.
mike 45

29 October 2008 at 8:50 pm

Neutron fizzer guys

The first tranaction was from the Aussie books which is why Key was in the dark. But this cut from the SFO report says it all really

“Mr Key was simply one in a “vast array of innocent people, potential witnesses, in a massive fact-gathering exercise. I feel compelled to fully support the reported comments of John Key in relation to the H-Fee transaction. It should not need to be said that John Key was completely innocent of any wrongdoing whatsoever. For any politician to hint or suggest otherwise would be absolutely rubbish and pure mischief-making'”

no wonder clark wants to distance herself from this tripe
vto 46

29 October 2008 at 8:51 pm

h aha r0b, I always find myself regretting things. Get this great urge to stomp on toes and then when someone says “ouch that was my toes” regret storms in.

But really, shame on her.

btw, you is not she is you?
RedLogix 47

29 October 2008 at 8:52 pm

tsmithfield,

You are running a distraction. There are several major discrepancies here:

1. The H-Fee deal was dreamed up in October 1987, and the first illegal transaction took place early 1988, while John Key was the head of Elders FOREX division and by his own admission was the person most likely to have handled it.

2. According to these court documents he does not leave Elders until June 1988, and then takes 3 months leave before starting with rival firm Bankers Trust. (There is no possibility that he worked for both at the same time.)

3. While at BT Key has repeatedly claimed that he had a close and lucrative relationship with the infamous Andrew Krieger.

4. However according to several cross-checked sources, and this thread has provided several, Krieger has left BT by Febuary 1988.

Key and Krieger missed each other by at least six months. Work it out for yourself… something smells much worse here than any old snapper.
Ianmac 48

29 October 2008 at 8:56 pm

By the way. Is it possible that Krieger was dealing via Key in overlapping dates? Would explain the apparent date mix ups.
Bankers Trust and NZ Rail 49

29 October 2008 at 8:57 pm

Another thing…..

Hansards

Has the Prime Minister received any reports, namely, for example, from Booz Allen and Hamilton, that say that New Zealand Rail was making $36 million in 1993 and was down to make $100 million in 1994; and does she therefore not believe that taxpayers are entitled to some compensation for the 1993 sale of New Zealand Rail by the then National Government to its corrupt mates in Fay Richwhite and a foreign-owned company, Wisconsin Central Transportation?

Rt Hon HELEN CLARK: The member, like the Labour Party, opposed that sale. But there was one person who fully backed that sale and that was Mr Key, a director of Bankers Trust, which got the contract to advise the New Zealand Government on that sale. That sale was worth $400 million to the New Zealand Government?the National Government?in 1993. In that same year?the 1993 financial year?Bankers Trust, of which Mr Key was a director, pocketed $39 million in profit. Members should ask themselves the question, who benefited from the sale of Tranz Rail? Mr Key and his friends.

[lprent: Settle on a name and build a rep with it. It is annoying when people use their handle as a editorial]
higherstandard 50

29 October 2008 at 9:10 pm

While I’m sure posting under a different name is good for the sites stats tis a little bit trollish don’t you think ?

Why doesn’t everyone just wait till tomorrow to see what the story actually is – i.e is there anything new or is it the same old story rehashed again for its smear value.

[lprent: Makes no difference to site stats. That runs on IP’s for things like unique visitors. This is a just a newbie]
Macro 51

29 October 2008 at 9:10 pm

jake
26 was hardly a ‘neophyte” in that unreal world at that time.
r0b 52

29 October 2008 at 9:11 pm

btw, you is not she is you?

Nah vto, I’m just a fan of her work.
Danny 53

29 October 2008 at 9:19 pm

tsmithfield

“They would have no motivation to lie”

They may have every motivation to lie.

Do you not know the story?
Vlad the Impaler 54

29 October 2008 at 9:49 pm

John Key is telling porkies about where he was and what he was doing in the 1987/1988 period.

When Elders was involved in the biggest fraud in Australia and NZ history, John was in charge See: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10539975

When Andy Kreiger headed the New York desk Bankers Trust and raiding the NZ currency, ” Key remembers getting a call from Krieger. The New York trader’s first question was about New Zealand’s GDP and money supply.”

See: http://www.stuff.co.nz/4385816a6160.html

When Michael Faye was consultant to the National Govt on rail and John Key headed Bankers Trust as advisor to the the National Govt on rail, both profited hugely from the sale.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0807/S00077.htm
Monty 55

29 October 2008 at 9:50 pm

whoa hooo – the turning point of the election – Clark and her poodle are up to their necks in corruption allegations – cash for honorary consulate and honours – in the meantime the left respond with a water gun attack on did john Key pay for lunch?

Well guys I think this is important – from the head of the SFO at the time that: “Mr Key was simply one in a vast array of innocent people, potential witnesses, in a massive fact-gathering exercise. I feel compelled to fully support the reported comments of John Key in relation to the H-Fee transaction. It should not need to be said that John Key was completely innocent of any wrongdoing whatsoever. For any politician to hint or suggest otherwise would be absolutely rubbish and pure mischief-making”

in the meantime how is the economy going?
Vlad the Impaler 56

29 October 2008 at 10:09 pm

Excuse us for deviating from APN’s ( Monopoly-Over-Mainstream-Media) orchestrated attacks on Peters but there are many unanswered questions involving John Key and the many lies he has told regarding his role in the biggest fraud in NZ’s history and the most predatory currency raid on the NZ dollar.

These may seem questions insignificant to those who dwell in blue ribbon La La land but to the average voter they raise some pretty important questions about the integrity of one John Key and his adequacy to lead NZ.
Hamish 57

29 October 2008 at 10:12 pm

Vlad the Impaler, you’re an idiot.

John was in charge for the first transaction of the scam, no one is trying to dispute that. However that particular part of the scam was in Australia. Not in New Zealand, where John was in charge at that time. John was not responsible. Every single body that has looked into this has come to the same judgment. By the time the second part of scam, John was well gone and not involved at all.

The only mistake here is that John told the Herald last year that he left in 1987, rather than 1988. That is for him to clear up. However I should note that in his autobiography by the Herald this year, he did state the right time in accordance to when he left Elders. Maybe he just made a mistake at the first interview, which is easy to do considering the event was twenty years ago.

But lets say that on the very unlikely chance you’re all right, and that John did cover up his emplyment dates at Elders to the SFO and the other bodies when they were investigating because he was involved. If John had told the SFO that he left his position in 1987 to them in their interview, they would have very easily been able to contradict him, considering they had all the correct employment evidence at hand. But considering they cleared him of any wrong doing, it would be highly likely that he did supply them with the correct information, and that he did not in fact mislead them as suggested above surrounding his employment dates.
jo zinny 58

29 October 2008 at 10:22 pm

Hamish,

would you kindly clarify both extent and meaning to your lines 2 & 3..?
higherstandard 59

29 October 2008 at 10:33 pm

Interesting that Helen Clark on the 10.30 news looked like she didn’t want to have anything to do with this story at all.
Steve Pierson 60

29 October 2008 at 10:36 pm

HS. just see what is in the Herald tomorrow, rather than trying to infer this is all nothing from your view of how the PM looked in an interview
Hamish 61

29 October 2008 at 10:43 pm

The problem is that I doubt Labour would have put all this work into it if they knew they were chasing after a dud. There must be something that caught their eye. Winston was even gloating about it earlier last week. What was revealed today certainly wasn’t it.

jo zinny – There were two H-Fee’s (or scam transactions). One from the Australian branch of Elders, and one from the branch in New Zealand. The one from New Zealand was after Key had left in 1988, so Key himself was not personally involved. As for the other H-Fee, which many people on this site have accussed John of having some part in, it was conducted by the Australian branch, and had no interaction (or proven interaction) with the branch in New Zealand.
higherstandard 62

29 October 2008 at 10:43 pm

Clinton

The vast amount of inferring seems to be coming from authors at this blog at present.

The only thing official on the whole H-FEE issue to date is the findings of the serious fraud office

“”Mr Key was simply one in a vast array of innocent people, potential witnesses, in a massive fact-gathering exercise. I feel compelled to fully support the reported comments of John Key in relation to the H-Fee transaction. It should not need to be said that John Key was completely innocent of any wrongdoing whatsoever. For any politician to hint or suggest otherwise would be absolutely rubbish and pure mischief-making’

So to take any of this seriously one would have to accept that Mike Williams is a more competent investigator of wrong doing than the combined efforts of the SFO.

But yes let’s wait for the article in the herald tomorrow.
higherstandard 63

29 October 2008 at 10:46 pm

And Clinton what I was inferring was maybe Mike Williams was not acting on the PMs orders which would suggest he’s in for a big botty spanking if this backfires.
Hamish 64

29 October 2008 at 10:48 pm

Winston knew about it earlier this week HS. He was gloating about it. If he knew, then Clark definitely had a very large role in it.
ken 65

29 October 2008 at 10:56 pm

Is this all Labour has on John Key?? As a swinging voter, I’m right off Labour for suggesting that this evidence in a matter from the 1980’s is some how a reason not to vote for him.

I don’t like dirty politics and Labours is deep into it.

Gosh, National could be raising all sorts of minor historical things about Labour, but they are not, which makes them look far more principlled to me. Or bigger stories …

Like the new Owen Glenn affair, or diplomatic intervention at LAX for example. Good on National for not going there with any of that.

No, I think Labour has sunk to a new low with inuendo from the 1980’s, how about some policy perhaps?

[Tane: I don’t know why right-wing trolls keep coming on here with new pseudonyms pretending to be ‘swinging voters’ turned off by Labour’s ‘corruption’ and ‘dirty tricks’, or whatever line National is pushing at the time. Don’t take us for fools – you were banned under a previous pseudonym and you remain banned.]
Peter Nelson 66

29 October 2008 at 11:09 pm

Wow, just come back from Australia for 3 weeks. Had enough of the bloody mines, but the money is too good to refuse.

Gee, this election is a real hum-dinger, unlike the sterile affair in Aust last year. Rudd was always going to win that.

From what my brother has said who I am staying with, there is a lot of slur coming out from both sides.

I am really interested to see what comes out tomorrow, but like most things I don’t think Key will be hurt. Mud is hard to stick in election campaigns.

Labour need a king hit on this or else they may well be finished. Or is there more to come?
Vlad the Impaler 67

29 October 2008 at 11:10 pm

Sorry? The Herald? Is the Herald not owned by media monopolist APN? The same outfit which owns just about every other news media outlet in NZ?

If John Key was involved in the Elders fraud or the Bankers Trust raid we will not learn about it via the NZ Herald or any of the rest of New Zealand’s APN media monopoly orchestra. If anything, these media propagandists will repress the facts and echo only what John Key thinks about Labour.

The Herald? LOL. A mere pale shadow of extreme right wing Investigate Magazine.
Danny 68

29 October 2008 at 11:11 pm

“As a swinging voter”

What a knob.
Ianmac 69

29 October 2008 at 11:31 pm

Helen said that they were about to release a story but that the Herald one was not it. As a conspiracy theory would the Herald run a weak story to undermine Labour’s one about to come out? Nah. Surely not. In the meantime Helen gets the blame along with Williams. Its possible that there are two different stories. Oh Hell. Go to bed Ian!
burt 70

29 October 2008 at 11:35 pm

Come on stop this complete and utter speculation about what happens next, because you are all way wrong.

The PM will ask John Key in private if he benefited from the fraud and he will say no. The Media ask him and he holds up a sign – “NO”. Then the PM says she takes the word of the honorable member and we move on. For the next six months John Key will be saying it’s a conspiracy theory and a media beat-up.

It’s a great story all the same.
Vlad the Impaler 71

29 October 2008 at 11:46 pm

If anyone disputes what has been said about who owns NZ news then take a good look at APN on google then have a search through the shareholder data pdf file on APN’s front page. Run some of these shareholders through Wikipedia. We ought to have laws governing mainstream media monopoly.
How can we have democratically free and fair elections otherwise?

http://www.apn.com.au/
dave 72

29 October 2008 at 11:48 pm

Boooooooooooooooring. The Herald won`t have anything juicy tomorrow. there’s nothing to write about. The smoking gun had no smoke and wouldnt fire.
rave 73

29 October 2008 at 11:49 pm

Redlogix I draw the conclusion that Key was in two places at once. In Auckland where if he didnt actually run the first Elders’ scam there is no way that he could not have known about it. And at the same time he was on the phone to Krieger offering him advice on the parlous state of the NZ economy and the state of the dollar.

Key has no morality when it comes to money as he said in “Who is JK” following orders is all there is. Krieger is a bit of a maverick why would JK have to work for Bankers Trust in NY to work for Krieger? 1987 was after all one hell of a year. The stinking fish is 21 years old.
Ms M 74

29 October 2008 at 11:51 pm

Umm. Question. What do you call it when an article is published on a news website containing a certain piece of information when published in 2007 but when that same article is accessed today it no longer contains that piece of information?

Yes I do have a link for the original article as it was cross posted in it’s entirety on a discussion blog on the day it first appeared on the news site in 2007.

The information now omitted is, err, pretty pertinent to when John Key left Elders as it makes mention of a specific 1987 event. The article no longer alludes to that event.
sweetd 75

29 October 2008 at 11:55 pm

“It should not need to be said that John Key was completely innocent of any wrongdoing whatsoever,” Mr Sturt said.

“For any politician to hint or suggest otherwise would be absolute rubbish and pure mischief-making.”

http://www.stuff.co.nz/vote08/4743294a28435.html
Tim Ellis 76

30 October 2008 at 12:11 am

I struggle again to see the point of these smears against John Key.

There were two H-Fee payments. The first was in January 1988. The second was in September 1988.

John Key was head of the foreign exchange dealing room at Elders New Zealand in January 1988. The first H-Fee payment was designed and managed by Elders Australia. There is no evidence that John Key had anything to do with that payment. The person who designed it and the person who received it, have denied repeatedly that Key had anything to do with the payment. Charles Sturt has publicly pointed out that Key had nothing to do with the payment.

John Key resigned from Elders in June 1988.

The second H Fee took place in September 1988. Again, the people involved in that transaction, and Charles Sturt, have said that Key had nothing to do with that transaction.

Key joined Bankers Trust after leaving Elders. Andrew Krieger’s “raids” on the New Zealand dollar took place before Key joined BT.

That’s what all the evidence to light says.

Are you guys really this desperate?
r0b 77

30 October 2008 at 12:22 am

I struggle again to see the point of these smears against John Key.

What “smears” Tim? Various facts have been reported, but I don’t see any “smears”.

Are you guys really this desperate?

You should direct your question to The Herald, which broke the story. Currently their article on this subject concludes “Read more in tomorrow’s NZ Herald, plus exclusive online audio of Key’s 2007 interview”. They seem to think they’re on to something big. I guess tomorrow we’ll find out eh? Sleep well…
Tim Ellis 78

30 October 2008 at 12:35 am

Sigh. Okay, r0b, I’ll bite. You want to know what smears.

John Key had joined Elders Merchant Finance in 1985.

True. He joined Elders New Zealand.

He was head of foreign exchange from 1985 until he left Elders.

Not true. He was head of the New Zealand dealing room. He had no position of authority at Elders Australia, which had its own forex unit.

Key told the media and the Serious Fraud Office that he left in 1987,

There’s no evidence he said that to the SFO. He made a comment to the Herald, which he corrected several months ago.

before the H-fee transactions took place in January and August 1988:

Wrong. Key never made reference to the first (Australian) H-Fee transaction, because there was never an allegation that he had anything to do with the first transaction, or had any knowledge of it. The second transaction was in September, not August.

“Just one small issue: Three months before any of those deals got decided, I had left Elders.’.

Key was referring to the September transaction. Key resigned from Elders in June 1988, three months before the September H-Fee transaction. Key’s statement was true.

Key has also said that, if he had been working at Elders when the H-fee transactions went through, he would have been making the transactions.

And what Key has said hasn’t contradicted that. Key left Elders before the New Zealand H-Fee transactions. He had nothing to do with it.

Actually, as now established by the Herald, Key left in June 1988, after the first H-fee.

The first H-Fee being the Australian transaction that Key had no knowledge or involvement in.

That means John Key was the head of Elders Forex when massive illegal transactions were being conducted by that business group.

Wrong. Key was in charge of the dealing room in New Zealand, when an Australian forex group began a massive illegal transaction.

Key himself says that he would have been the one making the transactions.

No he doesn’t.

It remains to be seen if Key actually signed off the deals, but he clearly knows more than he led us to believe.

Wrong, and yet another smear. Numerous people, from the person who received the transaction, to the person who arranged the transaction at Elders Australia, to the people who ran the SFO investigation into the transaction, have made clear that Key had nothing to do with the transaction. It doesn’t remain to be seen if Key signed off the deals. If he had signed them off, then he would have spent jail time, as Jarrett and Hawkins did.

Why else would he lie about the date that he left Elders on multiple occasions?

Wrong again. There is no evidence that Key lied once, let alone on multiple occasions. There is evidence that Key gave an incorrect piece of information to the Herald, which Key subsequently and immediately corrected. If that is dishonest and constitutes a lie, then every piece of incorrect information that SP comes up with (and there’s plenty of that), is dishonest and a lie.

Facts have not been reported r0b. “Facts”, in SP’s case, have been invented. This blog post is the very anatomy of a smear.
r0b 79

30 October 2008 at 12:53 am

You want to know what smears.

What you list is a bunch of factual claims, some of which you dispute (and you may be right or wrong, I’m not an expert on this case), but none of which constitutes a “smear”.

Only the last one “lied on multiple occasions” looks like a smear if it isn’t true. But of course true is what it may be eh? Why don’t we both wait until tomorrow and see what, if anything, The Herald has up its sleeve? They are still teasing us with “Read more in tomorrow’s NZ Herald, plus exclusive online audio of Key’s 2007 interview”…

G’night.
milo 80

30 October 2008 at 1:08 am

Okay, I guess I’ll get banned for this, but here goes. As you ban me, just note that I have defended Standard posters on kiwiblog at times, and criticised actions by National and kiwiblog posters that I disagree with.

You shriek “LIAR” at John Key over any unanswered question, minor inconsistency or (perfectly normal) minor difference in recollection or interpretation. You engage in defamations, beat-ups and generally do anything to personally attack John Key. Yet the misrepresentations in your stories are far greater than any inconsistencies in John Key’s. You are hypocrites, and strangers to the truth. If John Key is a liar, The Standard are liars four times over.

Frankly, this behaviour disgusts me, and I hope none of you are ever in a position of political power, where your rank hypocrisy and double standards could be imposed on a wider audience.

The stink of your intellectual dishonesty makes me want to puke.
Swampy 81

30 October 2008 at 2:15 am

“Lie” is practically a swear word in politics where it is frequently used as a denigratory slur against an opponent in contexts that would never be entertained in everyday life.

If you’re going to keep throwing claims like that about, you should be providing some evidence. Just because so and so said such and such is not evidence.
r0b 82

30 October 2008 at 2:21 am

Wassamatter Milo – you seem a bit tense?

You’ve long had an unhealthy fascination with this blog, up to and including describing participants as “Labour party brownshirts in the assault on free speech”. You’ve described the government as an “enemy of democracy” that “seeks to outlaw disagreement”. Do you think it’s possible that your judgment may just be a teeny bit biased? Just a bit? Maybe?

Anyway, hope you wake up in a better mood tomorrow, perhaps by then the whole story will have fizzled out eh?
Killinginthenameof 83

30 October 2008 at 2:53 am

Interesting, a large number of kiwibloggers appear to be sitting on information regarding the possibility of a dangerous pedophile being on the loose in New Zealand. I find this deeply concerning, for the safety of every bodies kids, a complaint should be made to the police immediately. Of course, kiwiblog will need to be subpoenaed for the IP address’ of the posters who have this evidence, and them all taken to court at witnesses.

Whether or not the alleged event actually happened, they all seem quite sure that it occurred, why else would they feel comfortable accusing somebody of such a serious crime in public? As they are this confident, does any one else here find it repugnant that they are sitting on information, that is possibly costing the safety of our children (regardless of whether the event occurred or not), to release it at a more politically advantageous time? National, Farrar, Whale and their other supporters are practically facilitating the molestation of children for their own electoral (and financial) gain.
Ms M 84

30 October 2008 at 3:42 am

Tim

“Just one small issue: Three months before any of those deals got decided, I had left Elders.’. Herald Friday Aug 24, 2007

Key was referring to the September transaction. Key resigned from Elders in June 1988, three months before the September H-Fee transaction. Key’s statement was true.

Tim, sorry but that quote is in reference to the deal making that happened in 1987 not the 1988 September H-Fee transaction. From the same article:

Mr Key said he left Elders Merchant Finance in 1987 three months before the “H-Fee” was dreamed up and knew nothing of it.
Doug 85

30 October 2008 at 5:40 am

Great headline in the New Zealand Herald!!

‘Neutron bomb’ on Key proves fizzer for Govt.
Says it all.
higherstandard 86

30 October 2008 at 7:07 am

KITNO

Agreed it’s disgraceful that a vile urban legend continues to circulate and be given air about Peter in an attempt to smear him and Helen by association.

Now how do you feel that similar behaviour has been demonstrated yet again by Mike Williams and the Labour party according to today’s papers ?
Robinsod 87

30 October 2008 at 7:17 am

Williams is a fuckin idiot but the Herald’s treatment of the story is weird – why would they run a story they knew didn’t stack up as if it did only to cut the feet out of it the next day? I reckon they decided to sting Labour via Williams and he walked straight into it! I thought the guy was supposed to be an operator???

After this cock-up National’s gonna claim any attack on their policy or capability is part of a smear campaign – and they’re gonna get away with it…
higherstandard 88

30 October 2008 at 7:24 am

Sod

Agreed – This idea people have that the political parties back room boys are Machiavellian geniuses is so much drivel – on the evidence to date in NZ the senior management and strategists in the political parties are just as likely to be of the buffoon variety as those in the public sector and private industry – and in my experience the competent people in those two spheres are grossly outnumbered by the morons.
Tim Ellis 89

30 October 2008 at 7:27 am

Robinsod,

I really doubt the Herald did a sting on Williams. Williams reportedly went to Melbourne, and took a couple of Labour Party research unit researchers with him, to trawl through the 13,000 pages of evidence. The reports say that it was Williams who delivered the “evidence” to the Herald. The “smoking gun” was apparently John Key’s signature on the dealing slips in the transactions, which SP hinted at in this post, when he wrote:

It remains to be seen if Key actually signed off the deals, but he clearly knows more than he led us to believe.

I don’t doubt that SP was fed information from the Labour Party research unit on this. This comment clearly says to me that the Labour Party thought there was evidence that Key had signed off on the deals.

It was Williams who fed the information and rumours of the “smoking gun” to the Herald. Somebody–almost certainly in the Labour Party research unit–also fed the same rumours to Fairfax, as the Dom Post makes clear this morning.

You’re quite right robinsod, this is a major cock-up from Labour. The smoking gun that Labour was holding has shot themselves in the foot.

[sorry to burst your bubble, Tim, it’s just a turn of phrase. SP]
Robinsod 90

30 October 2008 at 7:37 am

Tim – I don’t mean they active sought to sting him but I figure he bumbled along with that shit and they thought “here’s a chance to make a fool of Labour” – they knew there was no “smoking gun” when they ran the “smoking gun – more tomorrow” story yesterday – why would you do that if not to set Williams up for a fool?
Rod 91

30 October 2008 at 7:43 am

WOW! Talk about a smoking gun … this from the Herald:

Labour minister and campaign strategist Pete Hodgson was more forthcoming: “Either [the Herald] have been misled or the Serious Fraud Office has been misled – I don’t know. If the SFO has been willingly misled, issues of perjury arise, but I’m a veterinarian, not a lawyer.”

Guilty of nastiness as charged … wasn’t he the beat them up guy from last election – in Dunedin wasn’t it?

Go back and get your kicks from emasculating cats, Pete.

And maybe you could give the author of the post above a job smearing on ointment, he’s good at smearing.
Tim Ellis 92

30 October 2008 at 7:46 am

Tim – I don’t mean they active sought to sting him but I figure he bumbled along with that shit and they thought “here’s a chance to make a fool of Labour’ – they knew there was no “smoking gun’ when they ran the “smoking gun – more tomorrow’ story yesterday – why would you do that if not to set Williams up for a fool?

That might well be true, robinsod. Williams lured the Herald over to Melbourne last week to trawl through the court documents, on the promise of the great smoking gun. It may well have been by last night that the Herald decided that the smoking gun was non-existent, and that the real story was the Labour Party president, and a couple of Labour Party researchers muck-raking and spreading dirt to smear John Key. It looked last night when the story broke that the news was going to be pretty sensational–it turned out this morning that it was indeed sensational, but not the story that we thought it was going to be.

I heard from a Labour Party source–and I’m not blowing smoke here, it was the husband of a Labour Party candidate at a meet-the-candidates meeting, and I’m happy to name the candidate’s husband and the date of the meeting where he said it to me in the conversation–that there was supposedly a whole lot of dirt on John Key, relating to the H-Fee. That was over a month ago. The Labour Party have been peddling this muck for some time to anybody who will listen.
higherstandard 93

30 October 2008 at 7:48 am

Rod

Indeed one of the most bizarre comments by a politician since John Bank’s screeching effort about poodles and rubber stamping fetishes etc.
vto 94

30 October 2008 at 7:51 am

Such a shame I have to depart for the whitebait-soaked boondox again today – the election is just starting to get interesting.

What with Peters exposed as a simple out and out liar again. And now with labour’s neutron bomb blowing up in its face. (both hardly surprising given that that ever present force called karma lives so vibrantly. why do people ignore it?).

There was a bit of a push back to the left in the polls. I suspect that swing, which would have swung back to the nats etc anyway, will reverse with extra force now. Thanks Winston Bjeikle-Peterson (he sounds like him more and more every day – does anyone manage to understand the garble that comes out of his mouth).

The election is next weekend – people’s decisions will be starting to firm. 2c.
NeillR 95

30 October 2008 at 8:09 am

I reckon they decided to sting Labour via Williams and he walked straight into it!

I think “sting” is too strong. Take the cartoon in this morning’s Herald. If the Herald was really after Williams, then it would have been him getting egg on his face in the last frame, not Key.

As for the rest, there’s no doubt that Labour has been throwing allegations around about this for some time. Helen Clark is trying to distance herself from it, but given the amount of resources that Labour’s thrown at it, she must have had a significant involvement. If only they’d spent all that time and effort on trying to fix the country’s woes.
Carol 96

30 October 2008 at 8:12 am

What strikes me as strange, is that this story came from the NZ Herald, supposedly on the basis of info given to them by the Labour Party. If Labour thought that had some incriminating evidence, wouldn’t they have given it to either TV One or TV3 in time for their evening news?

It all seems to me like an attempt by NZ Herald to defuse whatever Labour had on Key, or to bury the rumours floating around on this.

Either Labour doesn’t have anything, or they’re still holding what they think is the damning evidence.
Tim Ellis 97

30 October 2008 at 8:15 am

On this point, DPF alleges this morning that the Standard deleted a post from Batman on this issue, dated 13 October. Where has this post gone? Is this the same Batman who leaked material to the Dominion Post on the H Fee, which was almost certainly produced by the Labour Party research unit?
IrishBill 98

30 October 2008 at 8:21 am

Tim, that would be this post:

http://www.thestandard.org.nz/the-road-to-lonsdale-street-part-1/

It certainly seems that we got the same material as the Dom Post. One of my comrades ran the first piece and then we had a look into it and decided it wasn’t firm enough to run with. I assumed yesterday the Herald had something more concrete because they were headlining it. I guess that old saying about “assume” stands true.
vto 99

30 October 2008 at 8:22 am

Yes Tim Ellis, I just saw that too. Farrar asks some good questions re The Standard. Wonder if anyone would care to answer…

The one re whether any authors here are parliamentary etc staffers is worthy. I have wondered this myself given the amount of detailed info and links that comes pouring out in defence of all things labour from some posters here.

Not that there would appear to be anything wrong with that I guess, unless it is perhaps in breach of employment norms or is a little deceptive and devious. r0b, you make such posts and obviously care a great deal about your politics, which is all good. What you think? Feel free to ignore as it is a little intrusive given the anon nature of this site.
Andrew 100

30 October 2008 at 8:27 am

The first post was writen by an ‘Author’ called batman:

http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:k37MswLjRjIJ:www.thestandard.org.nz/author/batman/+Batman+%22thestandard%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=nz

Now it’s posted as a ‘Guest Post’. Where did Batman go? Was he an author? Albeit for one post. Would be interesting to see where his IP address leads to?
Tim Ellis 101

30 October 2008 at 8:29 am

Ah yes, thank you IB. I assumed from what DPF wrote that Batman’s post had been deleted, but I see now that it had merely been changed with an update.

I assumed yesterday the Herald had something more concrete because they were headlining it. I guess that old saying about “assume’ stands true.

It really does puzzle me why SP and several other commenters at the Standard got so excited by it yesterday. It is clear that some on the Left were absolutely vehement that the smoking gun–John Key’s signature on the dealing slips–had been uncovered, which is why SP no doubt hinted that the Herald possibly had evidence that John Key “signed off” on the transactions.

My reading, however, is that as of last night’s news bulletin, when One News ran with the story, that the PM was distancing herself from the story from that point. She said she hadn’t “handled” the issue. She must have known that the evidence didn’t stack up, and that the other story–that Mike Williams took several Labour Party researchers to Melbourne to trawl through the documents on a fishing expedition for the smoking gun–would become the big story.
Fool 102

30 October 2008 at 8:37 am

A fishing trip with the hope of flushing out some reaction from national?

Combined with a cap in hand bagging expedition to the Australian Labor Party perhaps? For a media workshop?

Looking for a new job Mike?

[lprent: don’t use e-mail addresses in th name field – changing to something more suitable. Also adding to moderation to draw your attention to it]
IrishBill 103

30 October 2008 at 8:37 am

Tim, yeah one of the standardistas (who will go unnamed) decided it deserved its own author as it was part of a series being anonymously emailed to us. Others, including myself, didn’t believe that was an appropriate way to do it so we changed it to a guest post on the same day, dug into the story and then decided there wasn’t enough hard evidence to run with it any further. That’s why there was no part two.

Ironically we thought it had too much potential to backfire. It seems others on the left didn’t.
John Stevens 104

30 October 2008 at 8:39 am

Irish – your comment on assumption reminds me about the old Steve Segal movie. Always stuck in my head.
Goon 1 ‘He is dead.’
Goon 2 ‘Did you see the body?’
Goon 1 ‘No, but I assume he is dead.’
Goon 2 ‘Assumption is the mother of all fuck ups.’
Carol 105

30 October 2008 at 8:42 am

Another point that puzzles me:

There’s been rumours of Labour holding a neutron bomb for some time, which they were going to drop during the campaign. Yet the Herald story yesterday tallks of Williams going to Melbourne in the last week to trawl through court records. If they already had sufficient evidence, or were missing one small piece, why wait til the last week for the trip to Melbourne?
coge 106

30 October 2008 at 8:43 am

Well at least Labour knew it was time to “call the vet”
& put Hodgson on the job. Time that old nag of a party was put down. What the public really need to know is whay Williams & a team of Labour party researchers used taxpayer money for this latest sojourn to Melbourne. Also Clark distancing herself from the issue, meant she had prior knowledge of it in that she knew there was a very good chance of blowback. If there was anything it the story she likely would have front footed it.
expat 107

30 October 2008 at 8:50 am

Sounds like the Standard and Labour are awfully close to libel.

You don’t want to make accusations that are untrue and the SFO have made clear are untrue and you can’t prove, do you?

Another drop of the ball by the research team.

H1 and H2 must be incandescent.

[lprent: Nowhere near libel. Perhaps you should read the actual posts rather than other peoples comments. But thats right you’re a troll…. You haven’t been able to read in the past, why should you now? How many times have I banned you?]
vto 108

30 October 2008 at 8:51 am

Clark says the story is not one she is running…

Huh? I don’t know who she thinks would believe that. The master/mistress of deception. Surely that is a lie.

Another example of the reins of power tainting those who hold them too long (one of many several for Clark). As ever in the filed of human history.

She must go. And if she doesn’t I predict whe will blow apart during a fourth term.
Tim Ellis 109

30 October 2008 at 8:52 am

There’s been rumours of Labour holding a neutron bomb for some time, which they were going to drop during the campaign. Yet the Herald story yesterday tallks of Williams going to Melbourne in the last week to trawl through court records. If they already had sufficient evidence, or were missing one small piece, why wait til the last week for the trip to Melbourne?

Carol, you’re asking people not involved in Labour Party’s strategy to justify Labour Party strategy.

Labour have clearly been talking up rumours of a neutron bomb for some time. These rumours have appeared from various posters here at the Standard, through comments made by press gallery journalists, to hints from senior Labour politicians. This has several effects: if a neutron bomb did exist (even if they didn’t have it), it flushes it out. If they didn’t have the neutron bomb, then it potentially intimidates John Key in a game of psychological warfare. Thirdly, if they didn’t have one, the mere hint that there was one, and consistently talking it up, convinces many (including several Standard commenters) that the neutron bomb must exist.

Why wait for the last week for Melbourne? I suspect, and it’s just my opinion, that Labour realised it didn’t have the smoking gun, felt desperately about the poll position and desperately hoped that the smoking gun existed in the court documents.

It is my belief that the Labour Party campaign has been structured entirely around rumour-mongering of the smoking gun: the “this one is about trust”, the “two Johns”, the “slippery John” attacks, the obsession among Labour Party sympathisers with John Key–have all been pre-cursors to the neutron bomb, supposed to be released today–which would confirm and validate every claim the Labour Party has made about John Key’s credibility. Instead of validating those claims, the non-existent neutron bomb has destroyed those claims, and destroyed Labour’s credibility.
Ms M 110

30 October 2008 at 8:52 am

Coge excellent news the vets on the case! I said last night the story is not H-Fee but what Key told the investigators and it seems Hodgson agrees with me. Either he lied to the Herald about leaving Elders in 1987, and ultimately lying to the New Zealand public or he’s lied in 1991 when being investigated as one of many H-Fee witnesses.
Billy 111

30 October 2008 at 8:54 am

This is truly hilarious. You guys were soooo excited at the top of this thread and now you’ve just kind of…run…out…of…steam.

Williams’ phone is switched off. Pete Hodgson is in hiding and Helen has said all she has to say about the issue.
Billy 112

30 October 2008 at 8:58 am

Ms M,

How can we trust a man who got wrong by six months the date on which he left a job 20 years ago?

Make a sentence out of these words: clinging power desperately to.

IrishBill: let me reiterate my earlier comment: So what you’re saying is after it came up on the radar as a serious issue and knowing that it could be used by Labour against him and having filed a statement with the Australian authorities about it he then got the date wrong in an interview with the Herald? An interview which he set up to set the record straight on the matter? Excuse me if I find that very hard to believe.
Tim Ellis 113

30 October 2008 at 9:00 am

Ms M, the vet came by this morning, at approximately one minute after four o’clock, to euthenaze the horse. It has been dead for five hours. You may find it therapeutic, but you aren’t achieving anything by continuing to flog it.

There isn’t any evidence Key “lied to the Herald about leaving Elders in 1987”. There is evidence Key made a mistake in referring to his departure year as 1987, which he subsequently corrected as 1988. That departure year did not change the substance of Key’s story–that he wasn’t involved or had any knowledge of the first H-Fee transaction (which was undertaken by Elders Australia, where Key did not work), and that he departed Elders New Zealand three months before the second transaction.
dave 114

30 October 2008 at 9:00 am

Boooooooooooooooring. The Herald won`t have anything juicy tomorrow. there’s nothing to write about. The smoking gun had no smoke and wouldnt fire.

Sorry I was wrong. the Herald did have something. to write about. Neutron bomb on Key proves fizzer for the Government

Bwhahahahahahahahaha.
Carol 115

30 October 2008 at 9:05 am

Tim, my qestions aren’t to anyone in particular. They are just ones that occur to me, and indicate things that don’t quite add up for me. I think the righties are speculating pretty wildly about this, and drawing conclusions too early.

There seems to be a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes on both the left and right IMO.

The Herald breaking of the story yesterday always seemed strange to me, and I wasn’t expecting it to result in any conclusive evidence.

I am really just waiting to see how things play out.
Ms M 116

30 October 2008 at 9:05 am

Billy Hmm.
expat 117

30 October 2008 at 9:11 am

Major major fuckup by the Research Unit – and the NZH journo’s will be as livid about the duplicity as H1 and H2 are about the rank incompetence.
Billy 118

30 October 2008 at 9:14 am

Ms M,

I suppose the only sensible conclusion we can come to is that it is part of an international conspiracy of bankers and media-owners. I am pretty sure George Bush is part of it too (although how he found time after master-minding that whole 911 thing I do not know). One thing is for sure, if they could fake a moon landing covering up a 26 year old’s involvement in a major international fraud would be easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.

Noticed how the serious lefties have gone quiet and its only the conspiracy nuts who are left trying to run this?
Billy 119

30 October 2008 at 9:17 am

IrishBill,

It seems you are kind of on your own on this. Mike Williams has turned his phone off. Pete Hodgson has nothing to say. Neither does Helen. Why I wonder? Maybe because this thing barks like a dog, Phil.
coge 120

30 October 2008 at 9:17 am

Carol, my guess is the left will defend this story to the hilt, too late for them to back down having thrown their weight behind it. They are still trying to work out an angle to spin it.

How do Kiwi taxpayers feel about their money being
wasted on this Melbourne sojourn? Appalled. I’m curious to know the amount it costed us.
Tim Ellis 121

30 October 2008 at 9:17 am

Carol:

There were two possible conclusions to what Labour Party was doing, digging up dirt.

1. Conclusive evidence that John Key is a crook, or;
2. Conclusive evidence that the Labour Party is prepared to rumour-monger and throw mud at John Key, in a desperate attempt to smear him.

Both of those options are big, big stories. Mike Williams lured the Herald to Melbourne, purportedly to show the Herald evidence of the first option. The evidence didn’t exist. The smoking gun–John Key’s signature on the dealing slip–did not exist. Mike Williams was unable to uncover anything that the SFO didn’t uncover relating to the complex H Fee. The SFO found that Key had nothing to do with the H Fee. He wasn’t even investigated, he was so remote from it.

So there was not conclusive evidence that John Key is a crook. Therefore, the other option, given that the Labour Party has been promising for a long time that they would produce evidence of Key’s misdeeds–and find out not to have that evidence–shows the Labour Party as being involved in the most disgusting dirty-tricks campaign that New Zealand has seen. That is a huge story.
Dom 122

30 October 2008 at 9:17 am

It’s okay – if Key becomes PM he’ll be dethroned by the lie(s) that he’s told that are still waiting to bite him in the bum but that simply haven’t risen the surface yet.

Karma…it’s a great thing.
vidiot 123

30 October 2008 at 9:19 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhcjRoU0C7g

Not so much a bomb, more a dance.
Roflcopter 124

30 October 2008 at 9:20 am

If you’re gonna have a smoking gun, make sure you’re holding it the right way around before pulling the trigger.
Janet 125

30 October 2008 at 9:25 am

There seems to be a bit of an effort by the right to defuse this whole Key issue on this site. Says much – they are really fearful that even if the details are fuzzy Key is tarred with the brush of the nasty money trader mentality that has caused the current crisis. Well this has just reminded people that self-centred, money grabbing, don’t care who or what you hurt attitude is anathema to NZers. But this is the ‘fresh face’ of the National Party.

Here is a man who was involved in selling NZ Rail to Fay Richwhite, and doesn’t think it is necessary to declare his shareholding when an MP asking questions about the companies involved.

It is all so unethical. How can anyone justify it?
Carol 126

30 October 2008 at 9:25 am

Tim, you’re speculating wildly. I’m just asking questions and waiting to se how things play out. IMO, the left doesn’t need any neutron bomb. Even if they get elected, key won’t last long

The right has spent a lot of time over the last 2 years trying to dig dirt on & smear Labour MPs and NZ 1st. How much money have they spent on that? It’s not surprising that Labour has retaliated with similar tactics.
Billy 127

30 October 2008 at 9:26 am

It seems the righties have taken over the Standard. Viva la revolucion.

Get the feeling they’re all just a little bit embarrassed?
the sprout 128

30 October 2008 at 9:28 am

“if he has nothing to hide, why all the lies?”

Indeed, you really do have to wonder. Either he:

1. has a remarkably idiosyncratic selective memory, a bit like Owen Glenn

2. has a tendency to make shit up on the go, a bit like Jenny Shipley

3. has something to hide, a bit like Rodney
higherstandard 129

30 October 2008 at 9:29 am

Careful one of those multiple blog personality nutters like Billy Vlad the impaler might get upset and come after you.
NeillR 130

30 October 2008 at 9:29 am

It’s okay – if Key becomes PM he’ll be dethroned by the lie(s) that he’s told that are still waiting to bite him in the bum but that simply haven’t risen the surface yet.
I’d expect this kind of post on Facebook or Bebo but not a site that purports to hold serious discussions about politics. Maybe you’ve come to the wrong place – seriously.
expat 131

30 October 2008 at 9:29 am

LOL.

Labour have just burnt all bridges with the Nations media on this one!

The ‘brains trust’ on the 9th floor have really really fucked this one up!

Labour trawls for Key ‘smear’

‘Not a scintilla of evidence’ linking Key to scandal

By VERNON SMALL and ELISABETH SEXTON – The Dominion Post | Thursday, 30 October 2008

ACCUSATIONS: National leader John Key is facing questions about his time at Elders Merchant finance.

LATEST: Labour has been digging through John Key’s past in an attempt to link him to sham currency deals, in what National is labelling a desperate smear campaign.
Tim Ellis 132

30 October 2008 at 9:38 am

Janet:

Here is a man who was involved in selling NZ Rail to Fay Richwhite,

No, Janet. That is wrong. John Key was currency trading at BT at the time. Clearly a very different unit that worked on SOE privatisation. I don’t know what you do for a job, but surely you understand the concept of different business units within an organisation. Like, let’s say, for example, that there is evidence that Pete Hodgson, Mike Williams, Helen Clark, some Standard posters, Heather Simpson, and much of the Labour Party Research Unit are actively involved in digging up dirt and spreading innuendo about a supposed “smoking gun” linking John Key to corrupt activity. Just because there is evidence of that doesn’t mean that Phil Goff is involved in that activity.

You’re engaging in some pretty weak guilt-by-association there Janet. By your standard, you must think pretty lowly of Helen Clark’s association with Winston Peters, who has been found by the Privileges Committee to be a liar.
Felix 133

30 October 2008 at 9:40 am

vto, whe?

Freudian slip? 😉
dave 134

30 October 2008 at 9:47 am

Let’s say, for example, that there is evidence that Pete Hodgson, Mike Williams, Helen Clark, some Standard posters, Heather Simpson, and much of the Labour Party Research Unit are actively involved in digging up dirt

Let’s say that Helen Clark has already come out and said its not a story she is involved in. I believe her.
Daveski 135

30 October 2008 at 9:51 am

I’m in and out of touch with real world due to various commitments so was interested to see how things panned out this morning.

What a joke. There are some decent people here on the left who one day will front up and admit what a cock-up this has been. Labour has indulged in high-risk personality politics and seems to have failed. Couple this with their treatment of Owen Glenn and you paint not a particularly pleasant picture of where Labour is at.

Frankly it is quite sad. Helen clearly has talents, is driven, and manages her team well. But these desperate events so how far Labour has plummeted if this is how it believes it needs to win the election.

You’d have to think if this is all Labour has got, National will continue to sleep walk to victory. I agree than National has failed to sparkle this campaign but it looks like there will get three years to rebuild while sitting on the treasury benches.
vto 136

30 October 2008 at 9:53 am

hee hee felix, no. just big fingers hitting the ‘w’ instead of the ‘s’. perhaps i need some filipino fingers…
Matthew Pilott 137

30 October 2008 at 10:01 am

“Mike Williams lured the Herald to Melbourne, purportedly to show the Herald evidence of the first option.”

He lured them there? I heard he went there – I didn’t hear that the Herald went with him. Is that true?

“ Therefore, the other option, given that the Labour Party has been promising for a long time that they would produce evidence of Key’s misdeedsand find out not to have that evidenceshows the Labour Party as being involved in the most disgusting dirty-tricks campaign that New Zealand has seen.”

As I understand it, the ‘neutron bomb’ call came from the right. Labour have not been promising any such thing. Do you really think that the media and Labour would sit happily on something substantial? That’s just not credible, Tim. The Dominion Post mentions that Fairfax, along with a govt department in Victoria, investigated the signature, and found it to not be Key’s.

They considered it worthy of investigation. It turned out that it was not Key’s signature. In your mind, Tim, does that mean it should not have been investigated. Do you feel the same way, for example, about unsolved crimes – that they should not be investigated (ignoring the clear logical flaw in your reasoning)?

Given the remarkable similarity between Key’s signature and the one on the cheque, it would only be prudent to investigate. Imagine if Labour did not do so, nor Fairfax, Key became PM and then the cheque was uncovered? That would be a disaster, far beyond the National Party.

Why you consider this investigation to be part of “the most disgusting dirty-tricks campaign that New Zealand has seen” is beyond me, Tim. Just because the cheque was not signed by Key does not mean it should not have been investigated.

According to you, Tim, every police investigation that does not result in a sentence must also be a dirty tricks campaign against the accused, if that is your criteria.

I assume that you also think The Herald, Fairfax Newspapers, TV1 and TV3 are all complicit in this dirty-tricks campaign that labour was “involved in”. Off ya high horse, lad. You also might want to check out what a dirty ticks campaign looks like – this ain’t one, and to throw allegations around like that makes you look very naive and very excitable.
higherstandard 138

30 October 2008 at 10:11 am

Mat

It had been investigated at length around 20 years ago by the SFO.

Sturt the head of the SFO at the time was on the radio this morning.

“John Key was simply one of scores of innocent people interviewed by the SFO in this investigation.”
There was “not a scintilla of evidence” linking him to anything untoward, Mr Sturt said.

The Labour party was looking for dirt to smear Key end of story.

In relation to the H-Fee people have also conveniently forgotten that the government of the time was also criticised for benefitting at the expense of Equiticorp creditors and shareholders by turning a blind eye to the H fee transaction.
The government was ordered by the courts to pay $268m as its share of liability for the sale of NZ Steel. The judge at the time said the government “unjustly enriched’ itself through the shonky deal.’

Now who was the government at that time ?

More to the point can we get this election over and done with and get stuck into planning to do about the current state of NZ’s economy ?
Matthew Pilott 139

30 October 2008 at 10:18 am

“The Labour party was looking for dirt to smear Key end of story.”

If they had found something, then it would still be ‘dirt’ to ‘smear’ him with? Oh, that’s an interesting take. Is that what the police do? I’m not equating teh two, because Labour, the New Zealand Herald, Fairfax, TV1 and TV3 are clearly not the police, but if they found he did something wrong then he deserves to have it brought up. Like Tim, you look very naive and excitable.

“More to the point can we get this election over and done with and get stuck into planning to do about the current state of NZ’s economy ?”

I believe both parties are working towards that, as both parties would want to have a plan, should they win. Unfortunately it’s not as sexy as h-bombs or Monaco! Incidentally, gosh our economy is doing well, compared to our trading partners and other countries. Aren’t we lucky the good Doctor got rid of all that debt.
milo 140

30 October 2008 at 10:22 am

r0b – absolutely my judgement is biased, No question. And yes I enjoy a good bit of political invective, (as do you). Sometimes I’ll get the better of you, and sometimes you or your friends will get the better of me. But I do try hard not to engage in personal attacks and intellectual dishonesty.

If you can find cases where I have done so, well I’ll eat my electrons.
higherstandard 141

30 October 2008 at 10:28 am

“Incidentally, gosh our economy is doing well, compared to our trading partners and other countries.”

Eh – the PREFU was bad the next update from the RB may be worse we have not performed particularly well in the OECD rating that the PM was looking to improve our position in.

But kudos for the government for setting up the “Cullen” fund, Kiwisaver and retiring public debt – this is to be applauded.

On the Elders/Equiticorp issue – you miss my point that if there was anything there it would have been found by the SFO at the time – to suggest that Mike Williams and Labour party staffers would find something that had been missed is laughable – to suggest that they were doing it for reasons that extended much beyond an attempt to smear Key is also naive.

As I said when this story broke if Key had done anything wrong I would expect him to feel the full force of the law come down on him – but that I doubted there would be anything to it as it had been thoroughly investigated previously.
jo zinny 142

30 October 2008 at 10:35 am

Hamish,

thank you for that information..unable respond late evening last, so apols if you inconvenienced.. however.. you wrote:â€”

There were two H-Fee’s (or scam transactions). One from the Australian branch of Elders, and one from the branch in New Zealand. The one from New Zealand was after Key had left in 1988, so Key himself was not personally involved.

Going off the information on the standard’s blog can I take it (datewise) that the enzed-originated scam payment was made 7 September.?

Further, your answer suggests someone reasonably well-briefed on the context of these dealings. Could you therefore explain what these later proven illegal or unlawful payments were for? What was the deal..? Why two payments etc..
Tim Ellis 143

30 October 2008 at 10:38 am

Matthew, this was not an unsolved crime. It was a crime where the perpetrators had been convicted, some twenty years earlier. The only piece of slightly interesting material is that John Key’s signature was similar to an Australian executive. Despite the fact that the authorities concluded that Key had absolutely no involvement in either transaction, that the person who received the transaction, the person who organised the the transaction, and the person who investigated the transaction, considered Key to be irrelevant to the transaction–the Labour Party persisted.

And what did they find? Again, a signature that was similar. Let’s visit fantasy-land for a moment, and pretend that 26 year old John Key, sitting in the forex dealing room at Elders in New Zealand, has the authority to write sixty million dollar cheques on behalf of Elders Australia. Are you with me? Right. Don’t you think that somebody might have noticed Key’s signature on the cheque?

It wasn’t Key’s signature. The smoking gun didn’t exist. Labour have been going around telling people that there is a smoking gun relating to Key and the H Fee to anybody who will listen. I can tell you for a fact Matthew that a mid-level Labour Party organisation figure, and husband of a Labour Party candidate, told me precisely this a month ago. I’m quite happy to name the person involved, and the date of the conversation, if you challenged me on that.

This has been a spectacular and humiliating back-fire for the Labour Party Matthew. I don’t doubt that you honestly did believe that the smoking gun would be produced today. It’s easy to say after the fact, but the very idea of a smoking gun was just ludicrous to begin with.
Ianmac 144

30 October 2008 at 10:55 am

You might expect that John Key was able to enunciate a clear vision of where he would take NZ into the future.
You would expect that he could explain in succinct terms how he would do that.
You would expect that his attention to detail, like recollection of dates,would be excellent.
I know that perception is personal but in the extended interview with Catherine on Nine to Noon this morning, I think he failed on all these factors. I believe that Catherine on our behalf, was like Audrey Young and a little uneasy about his likely performance as our future PM, on the grounds of lack of transparency.
This to me is the guts of the doubts leading to the need to look under the rocks. Would it have been necessary had it been on Don Brash’s integrity? Most unlikely.
Matthew Pilott 145

30 October 2008 at 11:09 am

Hi Tim, it’s me, really. The website keeps logging me out and not letting me back in under my registered name.

There were some inconsistencies in Key’s story, which I think made it sensible to investigate. That they did not turn up anything serious does not mean they should not have been investigated.

“I don’t doubt that you honestly did believe that the smoking gun would be produced today.”

Really Tim? You don’t doubt I genuinely believe something I have never implied, said or even mentioned? Are we still talking about that fantasy-land of yours? What was I talking about earlier – naive and excitable? The second is really showing through today. If I thought htere was something it would be because The Herald implied as such, not for any other reason.

“Let’s visit fantasy-land for a moment, and pretend that 26 year old John Key, sitting in the forex dealing room at Elders in New Zealand, has the authority to write sixty million dollar cheques on behalf of Elders Australia. Are you with me? Right”

Ah, in a previous job I was in I had authority for transfer payments up to $NZ30m. I’m not talking myself up – it was not an important, powerful or senior role by any stretch of the imagination – I’m just pointing out that it’s fantasyland for you only through ignorance and your tendency to assume you know the Facts.

So the smoking gun didn’t exist. Well and good – you only find that out by looking for it, don’t you think?

HS, I can only gather you don’t understand what a smear is, along with Tim. If Key had dome something wrong, and this was proven, it would not be a smear. Genuine question: Which of the following two is a smear?

1 – Republican activists trying to paint Obama as a terrorist and a muslim

2 – Hollow Men accusations leading to the fall of Don Brash

I’m tending to agree with you and Tim, in that it seems odd that Labour think there was something the SFO missed that they could pick up. But in saying that, he did deny any involvement and say he was gone by the time it all went down, yet actually was at Elders, apparently, when bad stuff happened. Therefore, it is something worthy of looking into. And it’s still not a smear.
Lew 146

30 October 2008 at 11:21 am

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

I can’t believe anyone gives this any credence. When the boss of the Serious Fraud Office says there’s no culpability, there’s no damned culpability.

And it’s a particularly bizarre set of circumstances to believe the SFO when it comes to Winston and not when it comes to John.

L
r0b 147

30 October 2008 at 11:28 am

The one re whether any authors here are parliamentary etc staffers is worthy. I have wondered this myself given the amount of detailed info and links … r0b, you make such posts and obviously care a great deal about your politics, which is all good. What you think? Feel free to ignore as it is a little intrusive given the anon nature of this site.

vto, usually I wouldn’t confirm or deny anything about myself – I like a world where personal details don’t matter, and it’s about the quality of the arguments. But FYI I am not a staffer or employed politically in any way, and I don’t live or work in Wellington. I’m just a random member of the Labour Party.
jo zinny 148

30 October 2008 at 11:36 am

Hi All,

to my hearing this morning JK said “absolutely not” to plunket’s question of his involvement in the aforementioned scam dealings. which is one answer – and way of answering – that question. In so doing it is also issue closed, he would wish. as indeed others here would, too.

let us take it to be so on the face of it. Though not without facing the follow-up. The mention and matter of a “smear”. What is the “smear”? His word, and somewhat slavishly followed by a number of commenters on this blog. okay, all are entitled to their opinion, wheresoever it comes from. BUT are they talking about the same thing..?

SMEAR then, what is the smear.? And why the assertion of it? so soon after such an emphatic denial.?

Is it projecting JK-style – front foot and all that (which to a batsmen lessens the odds of correctly defending his wicket or scoring) – or otherwise political and manipulating belief around something else. Distracting.? For instance.

And if so, why? What on earth could be fraught about recalling the circumstances – difficulties faced for working in that scam environment. impacts upon a fellow, albeit not personally involved in the subject which was more than likely the topic of significant conversation. Around today’s equivalent of the water-cooler. Face it, who among such folk would want to be ignorant of such matters otherwise.?

Believe you me a very good question.

Not answered at all by today’s politician. Whose manner and denial stamps him ABOVE questioning and common concerns. An autocrat.

How do kiwis get along with guys in office who are anything but the friendly vote-catching characters they have been posterizing..
Tim Ellis 149

30 October 2008 at 11:42 am

Matthew, I apologise for saying you believed that a smoking gun would be produced today. I confused somebody else’s post as coming from you.

So the smoking gun didn’t exist. Well and good – you only find that out by looking for it, don’t you think?

Matthew, several Labour Party figures have been spreading the rumour for some time that the smoking gun did exist, and that it would be released at an appropriate time. That exercise was not an attempt to clarify a few minor inconsistencies in John Key’s previous public statements. It was deliberately designed to smear John Key with the suggestion that he was involved in a major fraud. SP bought into that smear yesterday with this very post. You will note I broke down SP’s argument with the following:

http://www.thestandard.org.nz/the-h-fee-explained/#comment-99255

Now, let’s say you think there might be a smoking gun. Is it a smear to tell everyone that you have a smoking gun, when you don’t, hoping that just by saying there is one, that there’s a greater chance that if there is such a thing, it will be produced? I think so. And that’s what the Labour Party did.

The Labour Party were looking for information to discredit John Key. It backfired.
Matthew Pilott 150

30 October 2008 at 11:54 am

Tim, no worries there. From what I can see, Labour thought what they had was very serious. I can understand why, looking at the signatures in question. I’d imagine that is what anyone who has been mentioning this was speaking about. That was proven to be wrong, and I suspect that they won’t be mentioning it again – it’s still not a smear – discrediting someone through actions they knowingly took, and then attempted to conceal would not constitute a smear in any sense. They were wrong about the information, though, and it didn’t help their cause.
milo 151

30 October 2008 at 11:56 am

vto – I agree with r0b. I don’t think the identify of the authors important, it’s the ideas that matter.

(Actually, I’m really Dick Cheney, and posting here is what I do to relax)
Pascal's bookie 152

30 October 2008 at 12:06 pm

“(Actually, I’m really Dick Cheney, and posting here is what I do to relax)”

It’s all good fun till someone gets shot in the face.
Vlad the Impaler 153

30 October 2008 at 10:10 pm

As predicted, the NZ Herald ( read: National’s Own Propaganda Paper) repressed the facts and told only half the story.

Why did the Herald fail to mention the name of the executive whom they claim signed the cheque? If it was Ken Jarrat why not say so and if, as the Herald seems to be claiming, the signature was Ken Jarrat’s, why does he sign JK and not KJ?

Not over for me. My suspicions were aroused when Key started telling lies
about the dates he worked at Elders. Suspicions deepened when the Herald failed to name the alleged executive who signed the cheque. Was it because people would ask, why would this person sign his initials backward as in J K ( John Key) not K J ( Kenneth Jarrat)

We only have the Herald version of events. Is that enough for you?
Tim Ellis 154

2 November 2008 at 9:15 am

Good one Vlad. It wasn’t Jarrett’s signature. You must be the only person in New Zealand who still believes it is Key’s signature.
kiwidada 155

2 November 2008 at 4:06 pm

No it wasnt Ken Jarrats signature on the cheque as we learnt from Stuff today. It was according to these infamous media whores…. Maxwell Nicolls.

It is no surprise then the Herald failed to tell us this. Who in their right mind would believe such a fallacy? What a laugh.

And dont give me that old line about the Serious Fraud Office or Charles Sturt either. Charles Sturt is a well known National-ACT Party stooge. Anyone who knows anything about the Winebox knows that Charles Sturt claimed to have read tens of thousands of pages involving tax fraud in about half an hour, a tax fraud so complex not even experienced accountants could follow it. If Charles Sturt says John Key was investigated and cleared then you can guarantee he was not.
Ianmac 156

2 November 2008 at 4:20 pm

As I said elsewhere the column by Eugene Bingham on the Herald yesterday 2 Nov, is no longer on-line as far as I can see.
Its removal from the menu Election 08 after a day seems a bit odd.
But still have it. Check signature detail:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz-election-2008/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501799&objectid=10540463&pnum=0
kiwidada 157

2 November 2008 at 5:00 pm

Ok and I say the initialled signature is John Keys. The J is the same as is the strange little hill in the bottom of the K.

The initials definitely are not MN, they are JK.

I do not trust John Key. I believe that he would lie and lie about this, just as he lied and lied about the shares he had in NZ Rail to parliament and to the press until he was caught red-handed by the TVNZ reporter who had the details of his 100,000 shares in her hand.

The story about the date of the dinner he also fabricated, as his credit card being used, and the Elder’s employment dates he gave to the media.

He was involved up to his sleazy neck, and if nobody else can see this then they have not come across many bad liars.
paw prick 158

2 November 2008 at 5:15 pm

Kiwida
are you serious? or just stupid,
maybe your time would be better spent looking into Shane jones and cash for passports, or how much HC knew about winston.
this one is a non event

[lprent: I’m flagging you as a probable flamer troll from your comments. Nothing said of any major import, looks like it comes out of a troll phrasebook, and a distinct lack of thought. Look at Policy and lift your standard.]
te ururoa 159

2 November 2008 at 6:01 pm

Hey paw prick!! The guy is right. The signature is the same as Key. See for your self. You want the issue to die. Yeah I can see why, man. Your party would not do to well if the rest of the country woke up to your man being a thief.

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Sapphi’s SubstackBy Sapphi

13 hours ago
Cutting Through An Inundation of Dipshit Racists

Hi,Watching New Zealand from afar offers a strange perspective. It can be a good thing — distance from Aotearoa helped keep me sane while I reported on abuse at New Zealand’s biggest megachurch over the course of a year. It helps fuel my silly podcast. But it can also be ...

David FarrierBy David Farrier

13 hours ago
This is bad news

The speech yesterday by Treasury’s Chief Economic Advisor warning that the books are in worse shape than forecasted looks like it’s part of a softening-up process for either more cuts or a longer wait to get back into surplus. The speech was a highly unusual public preview of Treasury’s Half-Yearly ...

PolitikBy Richard Harman

15 hours ago
Skeptical Science New Research for Week #47 2024

Open access notables Projected increase in the frequency of extremely active Atlantic hurricane seasons, Lopez et al., Science Advances: Future changes to the year-to-year swings between active and inactive North Atlantic tropical cyclone (TC) seasons have received little attention, yet may have great societal implications in areas prone to hurricane ...

Skeptical Science

24 hours ago
Chicken Kiev

Chatting in the supermarket this morning, I found I needed to lunge for the chicken drumsticks.Coping mechanisms: who hasn’t felt a greater need for them lately?When it all gets too much, I turn to demonstrating handy butchery hacks.It wasn’t that she’d said anything wrong, our friend, not at all. We ...

More Than A FeildingBy David Slack

1 day ago
The year is 2024 and it’s 1984

This is written in response to the highly significant open letter from a group of economists that was today addressed to Christopher Luxon. The year is 2024, and it’s 1984. The country is reeling from a record Olympic medal gold haul, while the globe grapples with the choice of the ...

Sapphi’s SubstackBy Sapphi

1 day ago
The IPCA has failed

Back in 2022, RNZ took an in-depth look at the "Independent" Police Conduct Authority and its handling of killings by police. These are the most serious test of oversight, and you would expect the police's use of lethal force to receive the most severe scrutiny. But despite the police regularly ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

1 day ago
Thursday 21 November 2024

The Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti arrived at Parliament on Tuesday – the size is being debated but estimates range from 42,000 to 100,000. The Prime Minister is defending not attending due to some of the organisers being affiliated with Te Pāti Māori. The national gang patch ban came into force ...

NZCTUBy Jeremiah Boniface

1 day ago
‘These budget cuts are counter-productive and make no sense’

I spoke to former Productivity Chair Nana this morning about the letter he and a group of other economists sent to PM Christopher Luxon to urge the Government to urgently suspend cuts to spending and investment for the sake of the economy, struggling businesses and the wellbeing of vulnerable ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

1 day ago
ACT’s Astroturfing & A Co-ordinated Attack on Te Pati Māori

Unity on the Streets / Unity at the TableAfter the Hīkoi, all three right wing Coalition leaders came together to push the idea that the 42,000 - 50,000 + strong Hikoi was somehow less potent and brave, and more illegitimate than the energy and crowd displayed.Prime Minister Christopher Luxon 20-November: ...

Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui

1 day ago
Durability of carbon dioxide removal is critical for stabilizing temperatures

This is a re-post from the Climate Brink The world is emitting over 40 gigatons of CO2 per year, contributing to an accelerating warming of the planet. The world needs to cut emissions rapidly to be remotely on track to meet our Paris Agreement goals of limiting warming to well-below 2C, and we ...

Skeptical Science

1 day ago
I Love My Leather Jacket

I wear my leather jacket like a great big hugRadiating charm - a living cloak of luckIt's the only concrete link with an absent friendIt's a symbol I can wear 'till we meet againOr it's a weight around my neck while the owner's freeBoth protector and reminder of mortalityIt's a ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

1 day ago
Throwback Thursday: Will “Auckland Transport” Survive?

With Auckland Transport’s future up in the air under Mayor Wayne Brown’s proposed CCO reform, we’ve dug way back into the archives, to unearth this post originally published in March 2010. As you’ll see, many of the debates that were being had when AT was first proposed continue to ...

Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland

1 day ago
Economists call on PM to suspend budget cuts for the sake of the economy

Nicola Willis’ budget cuts are under fire from economists for having no clear rationale and worsening the recession. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, November 21: The news at ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

2 days ago
The end of policing by consent

National has appointed a new police commissioner. And he explicitly rejects policing by consent: Asked if he subscribed to policing by consent, he said he did not. “I don’t talk about policing by consent. I talk about trust and confidence, and it is fundamentally important that the police have ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

2 days ago
The Treaty Principles Bill: A Who’s Who

David Horatio Waterbed SeymourFringe politician and dweeb transformed successfully by ThinkTank money into a well-oiled soundbite robot.Currently programmed to say: Equal rights for all New Zealanders Equal rights for all New Zealanders Equal rights for all New Zealanders Was previously programmed to say:I am a proud libertarian andI am a ...

More Than A FeildingBy David Slack

2 days ago
Kinleith mill closure shows need for industrial strategy

NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is calling on the Government to deliver an economic and industrial strategy for regional manufacturing, rather than just expressing sympathy for job losses, following the announced closure of Kinleith mill in Tokoroa. “The closure Kinleith mill in Tokoroa is not just devastating for ...

NZCTUBy Jeremiah Boniface

2 days ago
27% of kids going hungry, up from 21% in a year

One in four Kiwi children live in households where food runs out often or sometimes. Photo: Getty ImagesKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, November 20: The lead: The official annual Health Survey found sharp ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

2 days ago
Transport modelling is an illusion

This guest post by Tim Adriaansen, an advocate for accessibility and sustainable transport, originally published on LinkedIn and cross posted here with permission. People prefer cars, right? Probably not. Here’s why. Granted, most people in English-speaking countries use a car to get around. This simple reality underpins our transport ...

Greater AucklandBy Guest Post

2 days ago
Young Maori take over

Neither Wellington nor Parliament has ever seen anything like it before. The Police said there were more than 40,000 but however many there were, yesterday’s Hikoi to Parliament was a monumental event. It was almost three times the Foreshore and Seabed martch of 2004 and many,many times bigger than ...

PolitikBy Richard Harman

3 days ago
Gordon Campbell On The Hikoi Aftermath

The euphoria from yesterday’s hikoi may be transitory, but is no less valuable for that. It is pretty rare for the left to feel itself to be in the overwhelming majority, and speaking as the voice of the people. Lest that momentum be lost, the organisers will no doubt be ...

WerewolfBy ScoopEditor

3 days ago
Sabin 33 #3 – Solar panels generate too much waste and will overwhelm landfills

On November 1, 2024 we announced the publication of 33 rebuttals based on the report "Rebutting 33 False Claims About Solar, Wind, and Electric Vehicles" written by Matthew Eisenson, Jacob Elkin, Andy Fitch, Matthew Ard, Kaya Sittinger & Samuel Lavine and published by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia ...

Skeptical Science

3 days ago
What’s the time Mr Seymour?

Mr David Seymour crawling up to the ceilingThe sun don't shine the sun don't shine the sun don't shine at allMamma Pappa say you should go to school, I don't know what forNow that I've grown up and seen the world and all its liesSong: Southside of Bombay"Ake, ake, ake" ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

3 days ago
Submit to defend te Tiriti!

The Justice Committee has called for submissions on National's racist and constitutionally radical Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill. Submissions can be made at the link above or by post, and are due by Tuesday, 7 January 2025. But I'd get in quick, in case National grows a spine ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

3 days ago
We need to talk about Kevin

All happy families are alike; each unhappy family has a Drunk Uncle Kevin in there somewhere. If your Kevin is anything like the ones I know, he was getting along happily enough without having to think too much about the Treaty Principles Bill apart from bloody good job, onya guys ...

More Than A FeildingBy David Slack

3 days ago
The hikoi

Like everyone else (everyone who wasn't there, anyway), I've spent the morning watching the hikoi march on Parliament. The pictures are astounding: parliament grounds and the surrounding streets are full, and there are still people backed up along Lambton Quay. The police are estimating 35,000 people, and that's a floor ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

3 days ago
Why Govt & NZ Inc should boycott & regulate Facebook

The CEOs of Westpac NZ and Kiwibank say Facebook is rife with fraud but reporting scam ads gets no response. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, November 19: The ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

3 days ago
How should we talk about change?

A better world isn’t just possible, it’s desirable. And that’s how we should frame a lot of our conversations around making a greater Auckland. As an example take urban climate action. A climate friendly Auckland: Is free from congestion Enables people to travel how they choose Is filled with ...

Greater AucklandBy Connor Sharp

3 days ago
AMA + Holiday Webworm Merch!

Hi,It’s AMA time again — so anything that’s on your mind that you wanna ask, ask away in the comments. This is one of my favourite things to do with full Webworm members, who are the heart of this community of Worms. Journalism? Documentary making? Short Poppies? Cats? Podcasting? What ...

David FarrierBy David Farrier

4 days ago
Discount Code for Webworm Merch!

Hi,So there’s a bunch of new stuff on the Webworm store (www.webworm.store) — just in time for the Holidays. Read more ...

David FarrierBy David Farrier

4 days ago
Trying to defuse the tension

There were urgent moves yesterday at Parliament to try and defuse the tension building up over ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill. The Bill’s author, ACT leader David Seymour, told reporters that he understood the Justice Select Committee met yesterday to discuss how long it should take to consider submissions on the ...

PolitikBy Richard Harman

4 days ago
An Irritable NZ Pawn – David Seymour Admits Treaty Principles Bill will clear the way for deve...

This morning I discovered a post I’d written 10-11 months ago, lamenting how New Zealand’s ACT Party and their foreign and local surrogates would play out anti-Māori propaganda - which I believe they have long prepared for.At the time, it was a plea for action and readiness from my fellow ...

Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui

4 days ago
Gordon Campbell On The Hikoi Arrival, And Tyler Childers

Politicians like to bang on all about the need to heal society’s racial/economic divisions, but in their actions they’re more keen on stoking those divisions, with the Treaty Principles Bill being the classic example. The Bill seeks to dilute the Crown’s responsibilities to Māori at the same time as it ...

WerewolfBy ScoopEditor

4 days ago
Socially Backwards and Fiscally Forwards: the False Ideological Divide and the “Conservative” Li...

Nearly two weeks on from the US election, and we are still mentally wrangling with the results. How did this happen? Which voter demographics went where? What did the Democrats do wrong? Meanwhile here in New Zealand, we’re left wondering how this will apply to us and what this means ...

Sapphi’s SubstackBy Sapphi

4 days ago
Kaamos: Accepted

I appreciate that A Phuulish Fellow has been fairly quiet recently. That’s a combination of two things – comparatively little in the way of relevant material to discuss (at least until The War of the Rohirrim comes out next month), and my general work on The Secret Non-Fiction Writing Project. ...

A Phuulish FellowBy strda221

4 days ago
Here’s how governments could fix their Paris climate commitment failures

This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Governments around the world face a conundrum. Virtually none are on track to meet their Paris climate commitments. That includes the United States, which committed to cut its emissions at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030 but is only on track for 32-43% cuts ...

Skeptical Science

4 days ago
Unstoppable.

Too Big To Fail: Forty-three years after the 1981 Springbok Tour protests, Maori defenders of te Tiriti, by their own efforts, and using their own resources, are poised to descend on the capital with upwards of 100,000 followers at their back, and no force in front of them even remotely ...

Bowalley Road

4 days ago
Katherine Trebeck – An Alternative Economic Narrative

The era of neoliberalism has been destructive on so many levels, with a huge growth in wealth and privilege for the one percent. A hollowing out of the state; fraying of the safety net; inadequate government investment in infrastructure; and continued environmental degradation has resulted in damage on a vast ...

Fabians

4 days ago
In a Manner of Speaking

In a manner of speakingI just want to sayThat I could never forget the wayYou told me everythingBy saying nothingOh, give me the wordsGive me the wordsThat tell me nothingOh, give me the wordsGive me the wordsThat tell me everythingSongwriter: Winston TongNext Tuesday, the subscription price for Nick’s Kōrero will ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

4 days ago
Monday 18 November 2024

The NZNO have announced a nationwide strike for December over its pay dispute with Health NZ, who have put a 1 per cent cap on pay rises. The Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti and Treaty Principles Bill remain front and centre in the media, with the impacts of the Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke-led ...

NZCTUBy Jeremiah Boniface

4 days ago
Shipley warns Seymour’s bill is ‘inviting civil war’

The divisive Treaty Principles Bill is not just a risk for the National Party, it’s a risk to civil order and unity, warns a National Party grandee. Photo: Getty ImagesKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

4 days ago
A clearer network for the City Rail Link?

This post was originally published on Linked In by Nicolas Reid. It is republished here with permission. Auckland is now just a year or so away from having the keystone of its urban rail network complete. As I wrote about here, the City Rail Link will be a literal game changer for ...

Greater AucklandBy Guest Post

4 days ago
National’s support base is wobbling

If ACT leader David Seymour intended the Treaty Principles Bill to drive a wedge into National’s support base, he may well already be succeeding. By midnight on Thursday after the Maori Party haka in Parliament, National MPs were being deluged with emails and messages from their members calling them out ...

PolitikBy Richard Harman

5 days ago
2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #46

A listing of 33 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, November 10, 2024 thru Sat, November 16, 2024. Story of the week Our Story of the Week is completely "meta" (no, not that Meta). It's about our exploring how ...

Skeptical Science

5 days ago
Grifter Eftpos Tamaki at it again

..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Self-appointed “Bishop” and proto-fascist, Brian Tamaki was at it again on 16 November, blocking Auckland’s southern motorway, SH1.This time, the target of his ire wasn’t the Civil Unions Act; covid lock-downs; mask mandates; or ...

Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy

5 days ago
Rip up a bill, lead a haka are words to live by

I cannot stop grabbing people by the lapels, or shoulders, or similar, and raving at them about the tiny miracles in my ears.I can hear again! There could not be a more satisfied customer in all the world.In a noisy cafe I am even catching words that Karren cannot, she ...

More Than A FeildingBy David Slack

6 days ago
Unintended Consequences

Take the baitYou pay the priceIt's much too lateFor good adviceYou know and I know that our good things' throughBecause there's consequences for what we doConsequences for me and youWriters: Kevin Robert Hayes, David Nagier, Bonnie Adele Hayes.Fallout from the first readingOne News began last night by saying that tens ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

6 days ago
Thank you, driver!

Today, Saturday 16th of November, is Auckland Transport’s Bus Driver Appreciation Day! Saturday 16 November marks the third annual Auckland Transport (AT) ‘Bus Driver Appreciation Day’, and this year we are encouraging all of New Zealand to thank their driver or let the bus go first if you are in ...

Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland

6 days ago
Totally Normal: Holiday Edition

Hi,If I was to accurately sum up my mental state over the week, I’d just say that I got a huge fright from my own shadow.I’d nipped out for an 11pm neighborhood stroll, just to calm down after a day of stress and screens. The Cure and Fazerdaze’s new record ...

David FarrierBy David Farrier

7 days ago
We Are Not Listening

The current rise of populism challenges the way we think about people’s relationship to the economy.We seem to be entering an era of populism, in which leadership in a democracy is based on preferences of the population which do not seem entirely rational nor serving their longer interests. ...

PunditBy Brian Easton

1 week ago
More lawlessness from National

On Tuesday, sick of government stonewalling, the Waitangi Tribunal issued a rare court order, ordering the Minister of Health to release unredacted documents within 48 hours showing its reasoning for disestablishing Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority. The government's response to the lawful order of a court? Yeah, ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

1 week ago
National’s tyrannical “foreign interference” law

Yesterday, under cover the the biggest political fight of the year, National quietly - covertly, even - introduced anti-foreign interference legislation. The bill is the product of a years-long work-program aimed at countering shit like this and this, and there's unquestionably a need to do something to counter foreign states' ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

1 week ago
The Haka Represents The Best Of Us

A few months ago, I was in an audience watching a Haka-Kapa and as I watched children dance and sing and sway and shout and beat, I couldn’t help but think “The Haka represents the best of us.”Yes, yes - there will be a thousand voices that rush forth to ...

Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui

1 week ago
Adding up the climate cost

St Mary’s Bay housing left hanging: Climate risk is systemically underestimated in the climate scenarios used by central banks, and a new report warns 10,000 houses are set to become uninsurable in Aotearoa. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, here’s the top six news items of note in ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

1 week ago
Auckland chafing at Bishop’s housing intensification orders

One of the major problems the Government has in implementing its ‘going for housing growth’ strategy is that it isn’t giving much funding help to councils. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

1 week ago
Friday 15 November 2024

The Treaty Principles Bill continues to dominate political news, with it passing its first reading in the House. Parliament was briefly suspended and Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke suspended for 24 hours after leading a haka that was joined by opposition MPs and the public in the gallery. Willie ...

NZCTUBy Jeremiah Boniface

1 week ago
Weekly Roundup 15-November-2024

Happy Friday, welcome to another round-up of interesting stories about what’s happening in Auckland and other cities. Feel free to add your links in the comments! This post, like all our work, is brought to you by a largely volunteer crew and made possible by generous donations from our readers ...

Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland

1 week ago
Are We The Waiting?

And screamingAre we we are, are we we are the waitingAnd screamingAre we we are, are we we are the waitingForget me nots, second thoughts live in isolationHeads or tails and fairy tales in my mindAre we we are, are we we are the waiting unknownThe rage and love, the ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

1 week ago
The Hoon around the week to November 15

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on the latest climate news, including from COP29 this week; on the US Presidential elections, Israel vs Gaza/Iran/Lebanon, Ukraine/Nato vs Russia/North ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

1 week ago
First Tea and Toast, now Milo — why do NZ’s best beverages need so much defending?

Only two months ago, Nicola Willis had to step in to stop Health New Zealand cutting tea and toast for post-birth parents, and now Lester Levy is riding to the rescue with a welcome message for all: our health workers can once again drink Milo, and will no longer need ...

Sapphi’s SubstackBy Sapphi

1 week ago
Gordon Campbell on the folly of making apologies in a social vacuum.

Day One of the Treaty Principles Bill…and everyone got what they wanted, and did what they liked. Heated words were exchanged. Culturally appropriate acts of outrage were performed. David Seymour got to play the victim card. Willie Jackson got kicked out of class. A comically red-faced Mr Speaker bellowed “Order, ...

WerewolfBy ScoopEditor

1 week ago
Skeptical Science New Research for Week #46 2024

Open access notables Microbial solutions must be deployed against climate catastrophe, Peixoto et al., Nature Communications [comment]: The climate crisis is escalating. A multitude of microbe-based solutions have been proposed, and these technologies hold great promise and could be deployed along with other climate mitigation strategies. However, these solutions have ...

Skeptical Science

1 week ago
The PM gets some extremely valuable legal advice for free

You can pay a great deal of money for the services of a KC. So just what would some peerless legal writing from 40 or so of them be worth, do you reckon?Priceless, that’s what. It’s not even the half of it, but this is my favourite part of the ...

More Than A FeildingBy David Slack

1 week ago
D-day for the government

The government's Treaty Principles Bill is up for its first reading today - bought forward in a rush in a desperate effort to avoid the hikoi which is currently marching on Wellington. But the Prime Minister won’t be there for it – he’s literally running away to Peru! But he ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

1 week ago
97% of submissions did not want no-cause evictions, Trump chooses a Russian spy for US Intelligence ...

Good morning, and I’m sorry I’ve been away for a couple of days.I’ve been focusing on the Hikoi, and also testing out sentiment on the Treaty Principles Bill. It’s complicated, and the Treaty Principles Bill will be debated in the House today. The Government’s own lawyers have told them the ...

Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui

1 week ago
Government must vote down ACT Members Bill that would undermine workers’ rights

NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is calling on the Government to vote down an ACT Party Members Bill that would undermine workers’ rights by making it easier for employers to fire workers. Last week ACT MP Laura Trask’s Employment Relations (Termination of Employment by Agreement) Amendment Bill was ...

NZCTUBy Jeremiah Boniface

1 week ago
Seymour causes thousands of unjustified absences by forcing kids to fight for their rights instead o...

The State would like to remind you that they are in control. They manage your employment prospects, and can destroy the job market you and yours rely on by mass-cancelling construction projects, cutting funding, and firing a good chunk of our public servants. They wield the mechanisms that provide scrutiny ...

Sapphi’s SubstackBy Sapphi

1 week ago
The Weight of the World

As the weight of the world Hangs on your shoulders The weight of the world Starts to take over again And over again All that you once loved, now you hate So slowly relearn how to meditate To have and to hold And never let go Can you feel it ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

1 week ago
Thursday 14 November 2024

The Treaty Principles Bill is set to have its First Reading in the House today, as the Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti continues. More than 40 KCs have written to the Prime Minister and Attorney-General outlining their “grave concerns” about the substance of the Treaty Principles Bill, while an academic and ...

NZCTUBy Jeremiah Boniface

1 week ago

Release: Government should be transparent on live exports

Targeted consultation on reinstating live cattle exports by sea won’t allow the New Zealand public to have their say. ...

Labour Blog

12 hours ago
NZ’s global climate rankings plummet as Govt removes agriculture from ETS

The Government has passed legislation to remove agriculture from the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) while Aotearoa’s reputation on climate action plummets. ...

Greens

1 day ago
Failed boot camp experiment must end

As legislation to set up boot camps passed its first reading, the Green Party urged the Government to abandon this failed policy experiment for the good of our rangatahi. ...

Greens

1 day ago
Gender-affirming care must centre evidence and health needs, not political posturing

The Ministry of Health has today released an evidence brief regarding the use of puberty blockers in gender-affirming healthcare, amid moves by the government to limit access. ...

Greens

1 day ago
Release: National doesn’t care about manufacturing

The National Government is walking away from our manufacturing sector with constant reports of closures and job losses. ...

Labour Blog

1 day ago
Release: David Parker speech – Piketty, Inequality and Climate Change

David Parker's speech from the University of Auckland's forum on Piketty, Inequality and Climate Change in September 2024. ...

Labour Blog

1 day ago
Release: Youth mental wellbeing no longer a priority for Child Poverty Minister

Louise Upston has revealed her diminished vision for vulnerable youth against a backdrop of snubbed advice, scrapped priorities, shifted goal posts and thousands more children projected to fall into poverty. ...

Labour Blog

1 day ago
Release: National’s lack of climate action taking NZ backwards

National Government’s backward-looking climate policy has seen New Zealand fall seven places on the Climate Change Performance Index to 41 out of 63 countries measured. ...

Labour Blog

1 day ago
Release: Simple reason for drop in emergency housing

When the Government says it has reduced the number of people in emergency housing, what it means is it is stopping people from accessing it in the first place. ...

Labour Blog

1 day ago
Govt’s child wellbeing strategy ‘shallow and shameful’

The Government is turning its back on children by not only weakening child poverty reduction targets, but also removing child mental wellbeing as a priority focus in their Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy. ...

Greens

1 day ago
Release: A historic win for Samoan communities

Labour warmly welcomes the Restoring Samoan Citizenship Bill as it passes its third reading, before becoming law. ...

Labour Blog

1 day ago
Government plan to reinstate live animal exports a “national disgrace”

The Government has taken a giant step backwards by reinstating live animal exports. ...

Greens

2 days ago
Pasifika justice as Member’s Bill passes final reading

Teanau Tuiono’s Member’s Bill, the Citizenship (Western Samoa Restoration) Amendment Bill, has passed its third reading and will become law. ...

Greens

2 days ago
Release: Minister of Education thinks New Zealand ends at the Bombay Hills

The Minister of Education has shown complete disregard for rural communities and their school bus routes in Question Time today. ...

Labour Blog

2 days ago
Economists sound alarm on Government’s slash-and-burn approach

A group of prominent economists has released an open letter to the Government, raising grave concerns about the far-reaching consequences of its fiscal policy. ...

Greens

2 days ago
Release: Smoking numbers up under Costello’s watch

National’s repeal of Labour’s smokefree legislation has taken New Zealand further away from achieving a Smokefree 2025 and a smokefree generation. ...

Labour Blog

2 days ago
Release: Call for Palestine recognition by NZ, Australian and Canadian MPs

Parliamentarians from Australia, Canada and New Zealand have written an open letter to their respective Prime Ministers calling on them to recognise Palestine. ...

Labour Blog

2 days ago
Justice Select Committee opens floor for Treaty Principles submissions

Today, the Justice Select Committee has decided to officially open submissions for the controversial Treaty Principles Bill. ...

Greens

3 days ago
Power of the people on full display as hīkoi approaches Parliament

Today, Hīkoi mō te Tiriti arrived in Wellington, with thousands gathering to march in unity against the divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...

Greens

3 days ago
Hypocrisy as Te Whatu Ora contractor bill balloons

Te Whatu Ora’s bill for contracting and consulting staff has ballooned by nearly 20 percent under the National Government, breaking a promise they made during the election campaign to cut contractors. ...

Labour Blog

4 days ago
Release: Growing pressure to scrap Section 7AA Repeal Bill

The newly released Section 7AA Repeal Bill's select committee report is further evidence that the Government should scrap it. ...

Labour Blog

5 days ago
Government’s move to monetise access to nature a slippery slope

The Green Party is voicing serious concerns over the Government’s proposal to charge for access to public conservation land, released today. ...

Greens

1 week ago
Green Party condemns the passage of Treaty Principles Bill

The Green Party condemns the passing of the Treaty Principles Bill at first reading, and is clear that the fight is not over. ...

Greens

1 week ago
Stand Up for Te Tiriti

Te Tiriti o Waitangi is our country’s founding document. It forms the basis of the relationship between Māori and the Crown – and the Aotearoa New Zealand we live in today. ...

Labour Blog

1 week ago
Release: Over 15,000 sign Labour’s open letter to Luxon

As the hīkoi to Parliament continues, Labour has sent an open letter to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in a last-ditch attempt to get him to kill the Treaty Principles Bill. ...

Labour Blog

1 week ago
Fast Track Bill threatens environment, climate and reputation

The fast-track legislation passing its second reading in Parliament is another step towards environmental ruin. ...

Greens

1 week ago
Greens join King’s Counsel in calling for Treaty Principles Bill to be abandoned

The Prime Minister must answer the call from a group of senior lawyers of the King’s Counsel to abandon the divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...

Greens

1 week ago
Chris Hipkins’ apology statement to state and faith-based care survivors

...

Labour Blog

1 week ago
Release: Labour formally apologises to state and faith-based care survivors

Labour joins with the Government in unreservedly apologising for the abuse, neglect and trauma including torture in state and faith-based care and for ignoring the voices of survivors for too long. ...

Labour Blog

1 week ago
Green Party stands in support of survivors of abuse in care

Today, the Green Party stands alongside the survivors of abuse in state care and faith-based care as the Government issues an historic apology. ...

Greens

1 week ago
Green Party calls for conscience vote on Treaty Principles Bill

The Green Party has written to the Speaker of the House requesting he enable a personal vote on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...

Greens

2 weeks ago
Govt move to exclude journalist risks chilling effect

The Green Party is alarmed by the Government’s move to exclude a journalist from covering this week’s apology for the survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care. ...

Greens

2 weeks ago
Without action, an apology will be empty air

For tomorrow’s apology to survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care to hold any water, the Government must not pursue the same policies that drove the abuse in the first place. ...

Greens

2 weeks ago
Release: Concerns remain over tobacco interference

Concerns about the tobacco industry’s ability to interfere in government policy making remain, despite the inability of the Office of the Auditor-General to investigate the Government’s decision to halve the excise tax on heated tobacco products. ...

Labour Blog

2 weeks ago
Urgent wake-up call on climate

The Climate Change Commission’s latest advice indicates Aotearoa needs to be stepping up on climate action. ...

Greens

2 weeks ago
Green MP’s Meme-ber’s Bill set to save the world

Break out the punchlines and dust off your meme folder: Green Party MP Kahurangi Carter’s Copyright (Parody and Satire) Amendment Bill was pulled from the Ballot yesterday. ...

Greens

2 weeks ago
Release: Poroporoaki: Ta Robert (Bom) Gillies

Kua hinga te manawa kairākau o Te Rua Tekau Ma Waru Tiwhatiwha te po! Kakarauru i te po! Ka rapuhia kei hea koe kua riro! Haere e te Ika a Whiro ki o tini hoa kua ngaro atu ki te Pō ...

Labour Blog

2 weeks ago
Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principles Bill

The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...

Greens

2 weeks ago
Release: Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principle...

The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...

Labour Blog

2 weeks ago
NZ must pursue independent foreign policy

The Green Party says the need is greater than ever for Aotearoa New Zealand to pursue an independent foreign policy. ...

Greens

2 weeks ago

Child Protection Investigation Unit established

A new Child Protection Investigation Unit is being established to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children in care, Minister for Children Karen Chhour says. “The report released by the Royal Commission into abuse in state care shows us all the risk of not acting immediately when there are serious ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

6 hours ago
Speech at United States Business Summit 2024

Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Ka mihi ki te mana whenua ko Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei. Kia ora and good morning everyone. Thank you Fran and Simon for inviting me here today, and importantly your leadership of this forum over several years now. I want to acknowledge David Gehrenbeck, Deputy ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

6 hours ago
Record number of submissions received on granny flat proposal

Nearly 2,000 submissions have been received on the Government’s proposals aimed at making it easier to build a granny flat of up to 60 square metres without a resource or building consent, RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk say. “This is the highest number ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

8 hours ago
District Court Judge appointed

Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Rebecca Guthrie as a District Court Judge. Judge Guthrie was admitted to the bar in 1997 following her graduation from the University of Canterbury in 1996 (LLB, BA). She commenced her legal career in Hastings in 1997 before moving to London in ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

9 hours ago
Appointments strengthen Predator Free 2050

The latest Predator Free 2050 Board appointments will help to strengthen biodiversity efforts across Aotearoa New Zealand, Conservation Minister Tama Potaka says. Mr Potaka today announced two appointments to the Board of Directors of Predator Free 2050 Limited, a key player in the wider Predator Free 2050 Programme. “The Predator ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

10 hours ago
New facility in Christchurch will improve the lives of young New Zealanders

Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey today opened Kahurangi, an innovative and much-needed facility for Canterbury’s Child, Adolescent, and Family Mental Health Services. “The new state of the art outpatient facility opened today will be a gamechanger for the way mental health is delivered for young people in Canterbury,” says Mr ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

10 hours ago
Driver safety screens to be installed on Auckland buses

Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed news from the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) that bus driver protection screens will be installed across Auckland’s bus fleet by 2026.“The Government is committed to improving the safety of working environments for bus drivers, and Budget 2024 allocated $15 million of Crown funding over ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

10 hours ago
Government action provides Southland farmers more time to meet plan requirements

The Government is taking action to ensure Southland farmers and growers are not affected by unreasonable regional farm plan deadlines, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard say.“Cabinet has agreed to provide more time for farmers and growers to comply with regional rules ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

1 day ago
Bill reaffirms Government’s commitment to crack down on serious youth offending

The Oranga Tamariki (Responding to Serious Youth Offending) Bill had its first reading at Parliament today. The Bill reaffirms the Government’s commitment to crack down on serious youth offending, Minister for Children Karen Chhour says. “In recent years we have seen an unacceptable spike in youth offending. “This Bill makes ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

1 day ago
Critical milestones for earthquake buildings review

Fairer, more sensible rules about managing earthquake risks are a step closer with the passing of legislation and the appointment of an independent chair to provide expert advice, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The Government is committed to reinvigorating our cities and regions to support economic growth, ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

1 day ago
State of the art radiology machine for Auckland

People in Northland and Auckland will benefit from a new machine for cancer treatment installed at the Regional Cancer and Blood Service at Auckland City Hospital. The MV5 linear accelerator, or LINAC machine, officially opened today targets cancer tumours with pinpoint accuracy. Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says this new, ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

1 day ago
Foreign Minister to visit Europe

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Europe for high-level talks with France, Germany and the United Kingdom next week. "Since taking office almost a year ago, the Coalition Government has emphasised the importance we place on New Zealand's traditional and likeminded diplomatic and ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

1 day ago
First arrests made under gang patch ban

Police have made their first arrests under the new gang patch legislation, with two gang members arrested, says Police Minister Mark Mitchell. “Just before 11 this morning, Police in Wairoa apprehended a gang member for wearing a patch to the supermarket. He has been arrested and will now face enforcement ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

1 day ago
Better support for victims of sexual violence

The Government is proposing two major changes to name suppression laws that will put the views of victims of sexual violence first, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “We are committed to restoring law and order and these two proposed changes will help ensure the victims of crime are put at ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

1 day ago
Government moving forward with Regional Deals

Cabinet has agreed to invite all regions to submit proposals for Regional Deals between central and local government that drive economic growth and deliver the infrastructure our country needs, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop say. Inviting all regions to propose a Regional Deal that boosts ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

1 day ago
MSA pilot participant update

One of the ten young men selected to participate in the Military-Style Academy Pilot has allegedly reoffended. Children’s Minister Karen Chhour is disappointed but says it would be naïve to think that none of these young men would reoffend. “I’m saddened that this young person has not taken this opportunity ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

1 day ago
Fighting for Kiwis in Trade

Delivered at Auckland Trade and Economic Policy School Good morning and thank you Deputy Vice Chancellor Lithander for your warm welcome and for inviting me to open Auckland Trade and Economic Policy School today. A Special thanks to the University of Auckland, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

1 day ago
Attendance rates increase, again

Associate Education Minister David Seymour says that school attendance is continuing to rise. In Term 3 of 2024 51.3 per cent of students attended school regularly, an increase of 5.3 percentage points from 46 per cent in Term 3 of 2023. “This Government has prioritised student attendance and it is ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

1 day ago
Improving the lives of young New Zealanders

Ensuring New Zealand is the best place in the world for children and young people is the vision at the heart of the Government’s new Child and Youth Strategy, Child Poverty Reduction Minister Louise Upston says. “Childhood represents a huge opportunity to set people on a positive path towards living ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
Government continues work to reinstate livestock exports by sea

The Government is reinstating the trade of livestock exports by sea while ensuring the highest standards of animal welfare, says Associate Minister of Agriculture Andrew Hoggard.“The Government will introduce legislation changes to reinstate the trade, enhance oversight, and strengthen requirements for exporters to identify risks and manage the welfare of ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
Speech to the National Quality Forum 2024

Tēnā koutou katoa – it is a pleasure to be here today. I would like to begin by acknowledging the important leadership role you all play in ensuring a quality health system New Zealanders can trust. There is enormous clinical expertise in this room covering a wide range of disciplines. ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
New Zealand’s COP29 National Statement

Tēnā koutou katoa. Mr President, Excellencies, Delegates. New Zealand, and all nations represented here today, are already dealing with the impacts of climate change. Our households, businesses, and economies are bearing the costs of its effects. The choices we make now will shape the severity of these impacts for generations ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
Latest Quarterly Investment Report released

The Government has released its second Quarterly Investment Report (QIR) which shows substantial work still to be done by agencies to improve investment reporting and meet the Government’s expectations, Infrastructure and Acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “New Zealand has significant infrastructure and investment needs. The Government is determined to get ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
New Zealand supporting loss and damage fund

Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced New Zealand will contribute NZ$10 million to the new Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage while at the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan. “New Zealand is joining the global effort to address the significant challenge of responding to ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
Gang crackdown begins at stroke of midnight

The free ride for gangs is over when the clock strikes midnight tonight, with tough new laws officially coming into effect, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith and Police Minister Mark Mitchell say. “Gang patches will no longer be able to be worn in public. To earn the right to wear a ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
LGFA increases borrowing capacity to support high growth councils

The Government is welcoming the decision by the Local Government Funding Agency to increase access to financing tools for fast growing councils to support greater investment in critical infrastructure, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown says.“Communities across the country are facing an infrastructure deficit and significant population growth is projected in ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Temporary Traffic Management costs revealed

The Government has revealed that over the past three years, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has spent an eyewatering $786 million of taxpayers’ money on road cones and temporary traffic management (TTM), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“When I became Minister, I was surprised to learn that that NZTA did ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Jurisdiction of Disputes Tribunal to double

Legislation that will double the financial jurisdiction of the Disputes Tribunal from $30,000 to $60,000 has passed first reading in Parliament today, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith. “We need to improve court timeliness and access to justice so that Kiwis and get on with their lives. Court delays affect everyone, the ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Protecting New Zealand from foreign interference

Legislation that will specifically criminalise foreign interference and strengthen espionage offences has passed first reading in Parliament today, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “It is normal and appropriate for states to interact and work to influence one another. This encourages cooperation and can have mutually beneficial outcomes. “However, the reality ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Significant milestone for Canterbury Road of National Significance

Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed news that the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board has approved funding towards pre-implementation and early works on the State Highway 1 (SH1) Belfast to Pegasus Motorway and Woodend Bypass Road of National Significance (RoNS). “Reaching this significant milestone is a reflection of our Government’s ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Health survey results to help drive change

Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says findings from the annual Health Survey highlight the need to continue driving better health outcomes for New Zealanders. The New Zealand Health Survey is an annual snapshot of key metrics measured from July 2023 – July 2024. Findings released this morning include: In 2023/24, ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Final push needed to get to Smokefree 2025

A renewed effort to get people to quit smoking will build on what has worked to date and target the groups who most need support, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello said today. “The latest New Zealand Health Survey results show the daily smoking rate at 6.9 per cent and we ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
New diplomatic appointments

Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced four new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Next steps for Regulatory Standards Bill

Regulation Minister David Seymour has today announced the next steps in the Government’s plan improve the quality of regulation by opening consultation on a proposed Regulatory Standards Bill. “New Zealand's low wages can be blamed on low productivity, and low productivity can be blamed on poor regulation,” says Mr Seymour. ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Red Tape Tipline goes live

Minister for Regulation David Seymour has today announced that the Ministry for Regulation’s Red Tape Tipline is now live. “We want to hear about your red tape horror stories. From today, New Zealanders will have a say on how they are regulated through an online portal,” says Mr Seymour. The ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Youth Parliament 2025 announced

The Minister for Youth Matt Doocey has today announced the eleventh Youth Parliament will be taking place in 2025. “Youth Parliament offers a unique youth development opportunity to young people from across New Zealand to experience the political process and learn about how government works,” says Mr Doocey. “The two-day ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Police stats show promising change

After nearly a year in Government, Kiwis have seen significant change across law and order with promising early results shown across some Police statistics, says Police Minister Mark Mitchell. “In August 2023, I told New Zealanders that if they had not started to see a change in public safety within ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Better coordination of anti-scam efforts

With the launch of Fraud Awareness Week, the Government is committing to new coordination efforts across industry and government to combat online scams, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Online financial scams are a growing problem for New Zealand. New data released today shows that Kiwis lost nearly ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Minister to consider 7AA select committee report

Minister for Children Karen Chhour will consider the recommendations made by the Social Services and Community Committee in its report back to Parliament on the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill. “I want to thank the people who made submissions and those who appeared before the committee in ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Defence Minister to attend ASEAN meeting

Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus in Vientiane, Laos. “We need to take every opportunity to engage with our international partners, given the increasingly unstable geo-political situation,” Ms Collins says. “New Zealand has a long-standing commitment to this ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago

ACT’s David Seymour won’t ‘bow down’ to his hapū leaders

They have pleaded with the ACT leader to stop what they say are abusive violations of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. ...

Radio NZ – political

3 hours ago
Former political figure who abused teens loses name suppression

However, his name remains under wraps as he has already indicated he will appeal. ...

Radio NZ – political

3 hours ago
Educating young people about social media would be far more effective than a ban – Finland can sh...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Grantham, Lecturer in Communication, Griffith University Shutterstock The federal government’s proposed social media ban for under-16s has sparked widespread debate, affecting millions of young Australians, their families and educators. But will it actually work? While the aim behind this ban ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

3 hours ago
Ant stings can be painful. Here’s how to avoid getting stung this summer (and what to do if you do...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Robinson, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland AG-PHOTOS/Shutterstock With the start of summer just days away, many of us will be looking forward to long sunny days spent at the beach, by the pool, out ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

3 hours ago
Is using the Future Fund for housing, energy and infrastructure really ‘raiding Australia’s nest...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Crosby, Professor, Monash University Chichimaru/Shutterstock Australia has a seriously big “nest egg”. The Future Fund – our sovereign wealth fund set up in 2006 – now manages about $230 billion. Specifically, its remit is to “invest for the benefit ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

3 hours ago
Women are less likely to receive CPR than men. Training on manikins with breasts could help

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Stokes-Parish, Assistant Professor in Medicine, Bond University Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock If someone’s heart suddenly stops beating, they may only have minutes to live. Doing CPR (cardiopulmonary resusciation) can increase their chances of survival. CPR makes sure blood keeps pumping, providing oxygen to ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

4 hours ago
The Friday Poem: ‘Boyhood’ by Art Nahill

A new poem by Art Nahill. Boyhood I hate the way the dog cowers when I raise my voice. After all this time together she’s still not sure what I’m capable of. As kids with too much time we sprinkled salt on slugs plucked from summer gardens watched them shrivel ...

The SpinoffBy Art Nahill

6 hours ago
The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending November 22

The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Jonathan Cape, $26) The slight, superb winner of the Booker Prize ...

The SpinoffBy The Spinoff Review of Books

6 hours ago
‘Wanted’ for war crimes over Gaza: Israel’s Netanyahu, Gallant face ICC arrest warrants

Democracy Now! NERMEEN SHAIKH: In The Hague, the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during Israel’s assault on Gaza. In a statement, the ICC said the Israeli leaders had, ...

Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report

7 hours ago
New Child Protection Investigation Unit announced by Children’s Minister

The unit will be up and running by early next year, Children's Minister Karen Chhour says. ...

Radio NZ – political

7 hours ago
In-person submissions on Treaty Principles Bill to be at Parliament or by video call

In-person submissions on the Treaty Principles Bill will all be held at Parliament or by video call. ...

Radio NZ – political

7 hours ago
‘Got my support’ – Christopher Luxon stands by Erica Stanford after ‘stupid ...

The prime minister says it wasn't appropriate behaviour but that Erica Stanford had apologised. ...

Radio NZ – political

7 hours ago
Gang chapter president’s patch seized in first 24 hours of ban

The first arrest was made just three minutes after midnight, with 11 more to come. ...

Radio NZ – political

7 hours ago
Government slammed for pushing on with boot camps amid trial

Labour has accused National of ignoring the evidence. ...

Radio NZ – political

8 hours ago
The unspoken rule of conversation that explains why AI chatbots feel so human

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Celeste Rodriguez Louro, Chair of Linguistics and Director of Language Lab, The University of Western Australia Rroselavy / Shutterstock Earlier this year, a Hong Kong finance worker was tricked into paying US$25 million to scammers who had used deepfake technology to ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

8 hours ago
Who were Caracalla and Geta, the cruel and unhinged Roman brother emperors depicted in Gladiator II?

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Hanaghan, Senior Research Fellow in Latin Christianity in Late Antiquity, Australian Catholic University Warning: this article contains mild spoilers. When Gladiator I was released in 2000, I was a high school Classics student and the film brought Classical literature to life ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

8 hours ago
Gang patch ban: The first 24 hours

The first arrest was made just three minutes after midnight, with 11 more to come. ...

Radio NZ – political

9 hours ago
New Zealand Government Urged To Back ICC Arrest Warrants For Israeli Leaders Without Equivocation

“We are waiting for our government to announce it will arrest Netanyahu and Gallant immediately if they set foot in Aotearoa New Zealand” says PSNA National Chair John Minto. ...

Scoop politics

9 hours ago
Justice Committee Makes Further Decisions About Submissions Process For The Principles Of The Treaty...

The committee plans to hold hearings in the week starting Monday, 27 January and the weeks starting 10, 17 and 24 February 2025. ...

Scoop politics

9 hours ago
Watch live: Christopher Luxon faces questions during power station visit

It comes as Labour accuses National of not listening to evidence about boot camps. ...

Radio NZ – political

9 hours ago
Survivors of abuse in care know how redress should work – will the government finally listen?

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Winter, Associate Professor in Political Theory, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images When Prime Minister Christopher Luxon stood in Parliament last week to apologise to survivors of abuse in care, his words were among many fine speeches by ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

9 hours ago
Review: The Day of the Jackal is a riveting and ridiculous ride

Eddie Redmayne’s globe-trotting assassin thriller on TVNZ is worth putting your phone down for. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. This is a vulnerable thing to say as someone who often writes about television for a job, but boy am I really ...

The SpinoffBy Alex Casey

9 hours ago
RNA editing is the next frontier in gene therapy – here’s what you need to know

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Flora Hui, Research Fellow, Centre for Eye Research Australia and Honorary Fellow, Department of Surgery (Ophthalmology), The University of Melbourne IoanaB/Shutterstock The United States Food and Drug Administration has just approved the first-ever clinical trial that uses CRISPR-Cas13 RNA editing. Its ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

11 hours ago
Yes, you still need to use sunscreen, despite what you’ve heard on TikTok

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Lee, PhD Candidate, Dermatology Research Centre, The University of Queensland Karolina Grabowska/Pexels Summer is nearly here. But rather than getting out the sunscreen, some TikTokers are urging followers to chuck it out and go sunscreen-free. They claim it’s healthier ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

11 hours ago
Humans are killing off the old and wise animals that hold nature together. Here’s what must change

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keller Kopf, Senior Lecturer in Ecology, Charles Darwin University Laxmikant Ameenagad, Shutterstock In humans and other animals, ageing is generally associated with a decline in biological function. But scientists are now discovering older animals perform vital roles in populations and ecosystems. ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

11 hours ago
A man scouring Google Earth found a mysterious scar in the Australian outback – and now scientists...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matej Lipar, Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University Author provided/Google Earth Earlier this year, a caver was poring over satellite images of the Nullarbor Plain when he came across something unexpected: an enormous, mysterious scar etched ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

11 hours ago
Design as a movement: how First Nations people take ownership of their cultural stories through fash...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Treena Clark, Chancellor’s Indigenous Research Fellow, Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney Once located 250 metres to the east of the Art Gallery of South Australia, the grand beaux-arts style Jubilee Exhibition Building was constructed to house the ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

11 hours ago
‘We need more doctors’ – Support for new Waikato medical school

The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists says a third medical school and more students in Auckland and Otago are both needed. ...

Radio NZ – political

12 hours ago
Cricket balls can concuss and even kill batters – at all levels, helmet use must be taken seriousl...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Annette Greenhow, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, Bond University Linda George/Shutterstock The ten-year anniversary of the death of much-loved Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes falls on November 27. The 25-year-old’s life was tragically cut short in 2014 when a bouncer ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

12 hours ago
Hold the roosters, no economic dawn yet

Treasury likely to downgrade economic forecast while Chris Bishop says the government won’t be ‘a slave to a surplus’, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Recession will be deeper and last longer — Treasury At a recent Spinoff ...

The SpinoffBy Anna Rawhiti-Connell

12 hours ago
Knowing superstitions aren’t real doesn’t stop us behaving superstitiously – why?

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephanie Gomes-Ng, Senior Lecturer of Psychology, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Former New Zealand prime minister John Key has three white rabbits painted on his helicopter, a nod to his “massively superstitious” habit of repeating “white rabbits” three times at ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

13 hours ago
Government slammed for pushing ahead with boot camps while trial still under way

The coalition has "absolutely no intention of listening to the evidence that comes out of their experiment", Labour MP says. ...

Radio NZ – political

14 hours ago
Smoke and mirrors in tobacco debate

Labour claims Government is ‘cherry-picking’ smoking trends data to hide decade-first increase in daily smokers The post Smoke and mirrors in tobacco debate appeared first on Newsroom. ...

NewsroomBy Fox Meyer

14 hours ago
Smoke and mirrors in heated tobacco debate

Labour claims Government is ‘cherry-picking’ smoking trends data to hide decade-first increase in daily smokers The post Smoke and mirrors in heated tobacco debate appeared first on Newsroom. ...

NewsroomBy Fox Meyer

14 hours ago
Treasury bangs the drum on ‘unsustainable’ superannuation

The Government’s economic adviser is sending a message it doesn’t want to hear – superannuation is increasingly unaffordable The post Treasury bangs the drum on ‘unsustainable’ superannuation appeared first on Newsroom. ...

NewsroomBy Tina Morrison

15 hours ago
Victims of sex offending welcome shift on name suppression laws

A man abused by a former political figure is "immensely relieved" at a government proposal to end secrecy around sex offenders' identities. ...

Radio NZ – political

15 hours ago
This week three parties stood together – can they withstand the storm to come?

There is plenty yet to play out, but the next election is at this rate shaping up as trio versus trio, writes Toby Manhire. A subplot of this week’s historic hīkoi mō te Tiriti has been the sight of the three opposition parties presenting a unified front. Te Pāti Māori ...

The SpinoffBy Toby Manhire

15 hours ago
All 33 malls in Auckland ranked from worst to best

From the low lows of abandon empires to the high highs of a mall done just right. This is the second in the Malls of New Zealand series, where we rank the malls in major centres. Next week: Wellington. A note from the editor: This is the hardest ranking we’ve ...

The SpinoffBy Group Think

15 hours ago
The cost of being: A clothes-mad 20-something who walks everywhere

As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a 27-year-old apartment-dwelling marketing exec explains her approach to spending and saving. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here. Gender: Female. Age: 27. Ethnicity: Pākehā. Role: Marketing exec at ...

The SpinoffBy The Cost of Being

15 hours ago
Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 22 November

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15 hours ago

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