Collins touting cars with her buddy Cam

Written By: - Date published: 9:21 am, October 17th, 2015 - 39 comments
Categories: Judith Collins - Tags: ,

Scoop broke the story last week – MP Judith Collins “Brand Ambassador” For Car Dealer. Lovely euphemism, “Brand Ambassador”, don’t you think? Almost as good as The Herald’s “Brand Insight”. Money rules. But I digress.

Stuff followed up the story yesterday – National MP Judith Collins under fire for her deal as a brand ambassador.

Why has Judith Collins been bragging so much about her new car?

Well, she’s been crowned brand ambassador for Peugeot, DS and Citroen at an Auckland car dealership.

The former justice minister has been posting promotional updates on social media about driving around in her flash new car.

The partnership, which is free of charge, is for six months. In that time, she gets to drive around with petrol costs paid for, in exchange for raising the profile of Southern Autos Manukau.

A Minister is not allowed to endorse products (Cabinet Manual 2.87), but as a lowly MP Collins is within the law. A wise MP might hold themselves to higher standards, but no one has ever accused Collins of being wise.

One of the interesting angles to this grubby little story is that it shows that Collins’ use of Slater’s blog seems to be alive and well.

(Donot link for your convenience)

39 comments on “Collins touting cars with her buddy Cam ”

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  1. DS 1
    17 October 2015 at 9:38 am

    The only good thing about all this is with Judith driving around in a signwritten car, she might actually be seen in Papakura in normal life and not appearing in the area just for photo ops.

  2. savenz 2
    17 October 2015 at 12:48 pm

    Has it got swamp Kauri cup holders?

  3. Draco T Bastard 3
    17 October 2015 at 12:57 pm

    A wise MP might hold themselves to higher standards, but no one has ever accused Collins of being wise.

    Or of having any standards.

    • Tracey 3.1
      17 October 2015 at 3:26 pm

      this is the former tax lawyer who doesnt understand co flict of i terest or ethics. tax lawyers make money from ignoring intent and fi ding loopholes. you can take the woman out of tax law but not the tax lawyer out of the woman

      • AmaKiwi 3.1.1
        17 October 2015 at 7:01 pm

        Don’t trust lawyers. They can’t tell right from wrong.

        • Grindlebottom 3.1.1.1
          17 October 2015 at 7:31 pm

          Yes they can, it’s just that they learn to recognise the difference between the moral and legal concepts of right and wrong, and when to exploit the differences. Still a good reason not to trust them 🙂

        • Tracey 3.1.1.2
          18 October 2015 at 6:40 pm

          those that choose to ignore codes of personal and professional ethics cant. But that is true of all people

    • AmaKiwi 3.2
      17 October 2015 at 7:00 pm

      + 100 Draco

      “Or of having higher standards.

  4. Tracey 4
    17 October 2015 at 3:23 pm

    shaking head.

    she is treating voters like fools. especially national voters.

  5. Gabby 5
    17 October 2015 at 3:52 pm

    I assume that’s taxable?

  6. Mrs Brillo 6
    17 October 2015 at 4:22 pm

    Doesn’t this cry out for the question:

    “Would you buy a used car from this woman?”

  7. Henry Filth 7
    17 October 2015 at 5:09 pm

    “. . . brand ambassador for Peugeot, DS and Citroen . . .”

    Peugot and Citroen I know, but who are DS?

    • AmaKiwi 7.1
      17 October 2015 at 7:04 pm

      In some circles, DS means “dominance and submission.”

      Does that fit Collins?

    • marehemo 7.2
      19 October 2015 at 1:08 pm

      DS is the new prestige arm of Citroen.

      dee ess is phonetically similar to ‘goddess’ in French.

      Citroen used the DS prefix for their older top line models and are now reviving it as a luxury brand. (perhaps like Toyota have done with Lexus)

  8. Ink Pink 8
    17 October 2015 at 5:33 pm

    What an excellent arrangement.

    Taxpayers aren’t having to pay her petrol or transport costs and if a person buys a new car from Southern Autos Manukau and mention her name they will make a donation to the Community Crime Watch patrol in Judith’s electorate of Papakura.

    I only wish that every MP could make a similar arrangement instead of sucking up taxpayers money to fund themselves.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 8.1
      17 October 2015 at 7:47 pm

      You never did understand conflict of interest? Or your narrative depends on you not understanding it?

      Why are you corrupt?

      • Ink Pink 8.1.1
        18 October 2015 at 9:30 am

        Based on the definition of corrupt (“having or showing a willingness to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain”) I am not and neither is Ms Collins unless you can prove she is benefiting personally from this arrangement.

        But based on the article even the Green’s Co-Leader James Shaw acknowledges that the arrangement is legal, and based on other news sources has even used social media himself to endorse various company’s and products that he supports.
        http://tinyurl.com/ngh26zn

        • One Anonymous Bloke 8.1.1.1
          18 October 2015 at 9:38 am

          That’s a conveniently narrow definition of corrupt you’ve adopted. At least it indicates a certain level of self-awareness.

          • Ink Pink 8.1.1.1.1
            18 October 2015 at 4:10 pm

            Its a fairly standard sort of definition of corrupt as per various dictionaries. What sort of definition do you want to make up?

            • One Anonymous Bloke 8.1.1.1.1.1
              18 October 2015 at 4:57 pm

              For example, insistence on legality is a dead giveaway: the letter of the law and all that.

        • Tracey 8.1.1.2
          18 October 2015 at 6:42 pm

          thanks judy

    • Tracey 8.2
      18 October 2015 at 6:41 pm

      yeah cos she isnt beholden to them in any way. its a one sided deal 🙄

  9. Srylands 9
    17 October 2015 at 8:34 pm

    What she is doing is brilliant. All MPs should be encouraged to seek sponsorship. Except the Greens. They poisoned that well back in 2006 when they opposed Mcdonalds sponsoring road safety programmes in schools.

    • mickysavage 9.1
      17 October 2015 at 8:45 pm

      So all MPs should be beholden to corporate interests to further subsidise their already large paychecks. You are being serious?

      • Pat 9.1.1
        17 October 2015 at 9:14 pm

        there is an argument that could be made….if a government inits entirety is beholden to corporate interests why not individual MPs?

    • dukeofurl 9.2
      18 October 2015 at 11:53 am

      So Collins loves the idea because it saves Taxpayers money:

      “The dear-old taxpayer under parliamentary service, they have to pay the costs of MPs’ use of cars for parliamentary business,” she said. “I get to drive around cars for my work, and my work is saving money so it’s saving taxpayer’s money.”

      Funny that she didnt think of that when she was touring various businesses in China connected to her husband- all at taxpayers expense.

      Its a bit rich for Madame Oravida to claim fronting for a private business while an MP is ‘saving money’
      One of her previous excuses was “its on the way to the airport”

      If only she went on an essentially private trip to China and PAID FOR IT HERSELF, she would still be a minister. LOL

      • Gabby 9.2.1
        18 October 2015 at 2:40 pm

        One way or another, I’m betting the dear old taxpayer is still paying.

        • dukeofurl 9.2.1.1
          18 October 2015 at 3:53 pm

          Shes being a bit crafty about ‘saving the taxpayer money’

          For reimbursement of vehicle expenses;
          “Members are also reimbursed for using their own cars when travelling on parliamentary business, except if they are working within their own electorate. The rate is 62c a kilometre.

          “If they are responsible for a constituency, they are entitled to an allowance of $8000 to $20,000 a year, depending on the size of the electorate. Alternatively, they can claim a car allowance, ranging from $7200 to $18,000 depending on the size of the electorate.
          An electorate MP also has the option of converting the constituency allowance for one year to help with the purchase of a vehicle.”

          Doesnt seem to be any savings here as she cant claim for mileage within her electorate ( but she hasnt done so for many years and now lives in St heliers)
          The electorate allowance is unrelated to whether a car is bought or not. Can she claim 62c per km, when it isnt her own car ?

          The other dodge is she has Papakura Crime Watch Inc branding , but this is to allow Southern Autos to claim deduction otherwise they would be up for fringe benefit tax.

          As usual for Judith, its all so dodgy, so to make it work she would have a very favorable lease, probably in name of the Crimewatch group ( which sound like her local party offshoot)

      • Tracey 9.2.2
        18 October 2015 at 6:43 pm

        i thought she had stopped working for us months ago. just seems to be working for judith these days

  10. Esoteric Pineapples 10
    17 October 2015 at 9:07 pm

    My suspicion is that the majority of ute and SUV drivers vote National.

  11. Smilin 11
    19 October 2015 at 8:48 pm

    Lawyers hold mortgage on all due process, how else would they make money, waiting to get paid like the rest of us not likely .
    A bit like a bob each way with them they get paid win or lose

  12. Incognito 12
    20 October 2015 at 6:30 pm

    ”I’m not doing it for myself, I’m doing it to help Papakura Crimewatch Patrol. So actually it’s a win-win.”

    Spot the glaringly obvious self-contradiction.

  13. Just Me 13
    21 October 2015 at 8:35 pm

    There is not much point in being just an MP. Instead, and in the instance of Judith Collins, there is need to be the centre of attention on top of being an MP.
    To put it mildly but it does appear ALL MPs on whatever side of the House they sit on tend to ONLY look after Number One i.e themselves.
    With this revelation by Judith Collins I can hardly see her as being meritable to being a future Prime Minister of New Zealand. But then we all know the Devil Looks After HIs Own even when it’s in the form of Judith Collins.
    Still it’s obvious she is not happy with the goodness knows how much it has cost the NZ taxpayers the recently purchased Beemers that she probably has access to. Lets just hope she doesn’t hoot about the Auckland Domain in one of the Beemers like Douglas Graham’s son did so many years ago. I guess again the NZ taxpayers paid for that repair job.
    Who knows but the Auckland car dealership has probably, behind the scenes, been promised a NZ taxpayer funded contract to provide vehicles to National MPs within the next 24 months.