1) A secret agenda is not something that people talk about in public or when they know the information will get to the public. Therefore, the only way to expose a secret agenda with definite proof is by recording that evidence when the target does not know they are being recorded. The Police can’t just ask a drug dealer to admit their crimes, they do sting operations; just as it took a sting to reveal National’s secret agenda.
2) See John run. Run, John, run. On Tuesday, John Key was accepting the recording as legitimate before in content and as a part of politics “we are on record 24/7” he said – it was Bill English who was being hurt after all, so that was OK. But Key’s tone changed rather quickly when a member of his faction, Lockwood Smith was caught out – suddenly what had been legit was a ‘new low’, ‘dirty tactics’. But remember, those recordings could have been made yet there would have been no story if not for the fact that the senior Nats were talking about their secret agenda. If you are a politician and you make a statement as to your party’s policy in an area for which you are responsible, the public are entitled to take that statement as official policy.
3) The significance of the Nick Smith recording seems to have been missed by most media. Smith openly admits that National uses Crosby/Textor, the notorious political strategists known for using the dirtiest tricks in the book. When Nicky Hager revealed National was using C/T in June, National refused to confirm or deny. Nats have been amitting off the record to journos that they use C/T but Smith’s comments are the first public admission by a National MP.
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