National is missing Cameron Slater

Written By: - Date published: 9:05 am, June 15th, 2016 - 33 comments
Categories: housing, Media, national, paula bennett, same old national, spin, the praiseworthy and the pitiful, you couldn't make this shit up - Tags: , ,

Paula Bennett dirty politics

Graphic courtesy of the outstandingly good Kupu Hou twitter account.

So in the space of a week or so Paula Bennett has gone from potentially being the next leader of the National Party to the person who has leapfrogged Nick Smith on the list of Ministers most likely to be dumped.

I am sure that Judith Collins is smiling from ear to ear.

Because put to one side how evil it was for Bennett’s office to smear Hurimoana Dennis in an effort to denigrate Te Puea Marae’s efforts to house families in need it is also so stupid for Bennett’s office to smear Hurimoana Dennis in an effort to denigrate Te Puea Marae’s efforts to house families in need.

I mean what made her or her minions think that secretly attacking the chair of the Marae was a good idea because the Marae was embarrassing her government?  The cause of the embarrassment was not the Marae, it was because tens of thousands of kiwis are homeless and this Government does not care and the Marae is actually doing something to help.

The most important aspect of the attack is that it was an attempted sneaky under the radar attack using a staff member rather than the Minister herself to release the information.  Maybe it was all a crazy accident but in these post Dirty Politics days it does not feel so.

Paula initially said that she was not really aware of the background but then said that her press secretary did release the information but thought it was in the public arena. This seems implausible.  It is much more likely that this was an attempted smear.  An anonymous attempted smear.

It is sad that this appears to be the only response this Government is equipped with when facing a crisis. Instead of acknowledging that there is a homelessness crisis and trying to deal with the homelessness crisis it attacks someone associated with an organisation trying to actually house the homeless.

How feeble. How stupid. How inhumane. How hamfisted. You mean to say that the person in charge of the office responsible is a Minister?

If National does not want to be accused of dirty politics then its minions should not play those stupid games.  They may have worked a couple of years ago but the tide is clearly turning.  You can see this by the response of the media.  They will no longer tolerate being treated as pawns.  There is clearly a renewed interest on the part of the media to do their jobs. We have a new class of reporters of the calibre of the reinvigorated John Campbell and Maiki Sherman and Mihi Forbes. They will no longer tolerate these sorts of games.

National should hang its head in shame.  No doubt it rues the days when it could feed Cameron Slater with all sorts of information and be confident that he would smear the innocent victims without the slightest sense of guilt. He has been shown to be a hypocrite, someone who railed against name suppression but sought it, someone who accepted a very generous offer of diversion but has refused to accept that he committed wrong but for a while he did National’s bidding.

At least he was more competent in smearing people. Even if the law suits are starting to mount up and more and more people are demanding justice against all of the lies that he and his associates have told.

But this latest event marks a new low when the head of a Marae looking after the homeless has had sensitive information released about him by a Minister’s office clearly with the intention of smearing him.  Whoever is responsible needs their head read for a brain and their body checked for a heart.

https://twitter.com/DavidSlack/status/742581794113916933

33 comments on “National is missing Cameron Slater ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Sabine 1
    15 June 2016 at 9:20 am

    What does the Police say about that. After all this ‘investigation’ was not in the public domain, but now is.

  2. Greg 2
    15 June 2016 at 9:22 am

    So how did the staffer even know about the investigation, unless she dug it up.
    Or someone in Judith Collins camp gossiped.

    • dv 2.1
      15 June 2016 at 9:39 am

      Paula was told by the investigatee ( is that a word) in the spirit of being up front and honest.

      • te reo putake 2.1.1
        15 June 2016 at 10:33 am

        And that’s kinda the point. Bennett passed the information to the staffer. The primary responsibility lies with her. The secondary responsibility, the actions of the staffer, also lie with her.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 2.1.1.1
          15 June 2016 at 12:06 pm

          Or the staffer was present at the meeting. Either way it’s on Bennett; an embodiment of Grey’s Law if ever there was one.

          • dv 2.1.1.1.1
            15 June 2016 at 12:15 pm

            Would the investigatee be as forth coming if there was a presser there?

            • One Anonymous Bloke 2.1.1.1.1.1
              15 June 2016 at 12:21 pm

              It’s hard to know, because he’s not commenting. My impression from the Checkpoint report is that he doesn’t seem the sort to be so easily intimidated.

    • Neil 2.2
      15 June 2016 at 4:57 pm

      That’s what I cant understand is that the staffer had absolutely no reason to dig up the info, So the only plausible explanation is that either Bennet dug the info up or Colin’s knew about it & passed it on to Bennet, who then instructed the staffer to leak it to media.

  3. Johan 3
    15 June 2016 at 9:34 am

    Perhaps Paula just can’t help herself? According to the world famous scientific break-through study by Prof Ritchie Poulton, Bennett may very well carry the MAOA gene and combined with childhood abuse would make her a perfect candidate for abusing opponents;-))))

  4. Colonial Viper 4
    15 June 2016 at 9:40 am

    Would be very surprised if Bennett did this of her own volition.

  5. Bearded Git 5
    15 June 2016 at 10:00 am

    Bennett referred to “one of her staff” when questioned about the leak, as though it was some anonymous minion.

    It turns out to be her press secretary no less. It’s blindingly obvious the PS was briefed to leak this. The minister carries the can-she must go.

    The Maori Party should be pulling its already lukewarm support for the government.

  6. Patrick 6
    15 June 2016 at 11:17 am

    For me the question is why this information would ever be part of any conversation that the Minister or her staff had with anyone about homelessness or the activities of the marae, even if such information was believed to be “public knowledge”? It is only germane to a conversation that has as its aim or purpose to undermine the individuals or organisations involved. So it is really irrelevant who raised it since the real question is why was it being raised at all?

    Perhaps David Seymour should start with MPs and staff when promoting a set of values for people to sign up to!!!!!

  7. TC 7
    15 June 2016 at 11:31 am

    Keep it up national, show the citizens of nz exactly what you are about.

  8. North 8
    15 June 2016 at 12:26 pm

    It’s the sort of thing about which, if it were in a school, the principal would be writing a letter home to the parents. Expressing concern about wee Paula’s (and little Johnny’s) continuing reflections of ill-character.

    I’ve always asked how decent parents could ever hold out the despicably low standards of this executive as a model for the behaviour of their kids. You just wouldn’t do it !

  9. Bill 9
    15 June 2016 at 1:43 pm

    So here’s a thing about this.

    According to Bennett, even a dodgy bastard (if the spin is to be believed) gets that homelessness is unconscionable and that something has to be done about it. And the (allegedly) ‘neerdaeweel’ that he is, he goes out and becomes a part of ‘doing the right thing’.

    Given all of that, where does that leave Bennett and her cronies?

    • weka 9.1
      15 June 2016 at 1:53 pm

      Lol. Scummier than the people they think are scum (I have no idea what the Chairman is being investigated for, so that’s a comment about National).

  10. dukeofurl 10
    15 June 2016 at 2:40 pm

    More detail
    “Asked by Radio New Zealand if her office had been making unsolicited calls to journalists to let them know about that cafe conversation or the police investigation, Ms Bennett said not that she was aware of.
    In a follow-up statement issued this afternoon, Mrs Bennett said she a member of her team had told her they had discussed the police investigation with a reporter, “briefly at the conclusion of a phone call about a work matter”.
    “The staff member in question assumed the information was in the public arena.”

    TVNZ has confirmed that a One News reporter, based outside of the Parliamentary press gallery, was contacted by a staff member from Mrs Bennett’s office.

    Interesting that TVNZ news website doesnt give a byline on the Bennett smear story ?

    • BM 10.1
      15 June 2016 at 2:49 pm

      Sounds like a rogue employee, be interested to know who it is and if they’re politically connected.

      • Johan 10.1.1
        15 June 2016 at 3:27 pm

        BM, sounds like you need to do some simple thinking, all the facts are out there.

        • reason 10.1.1.1
          15 June 2016 at 3:49 pm

          Bms just being a troll johan ……. I’m not sure he knows what honesty is. …..

          well he probably does …. but its not something he concerns himself with.

      • McFlock 10.1.2
        15 June 2016 at 4:07 pm

        lolz

        BM trying to blame Labour for Bennett’s sleaze…

        Good luck with that.

      • Richardrawshark 10.1.3
        15 June 2016 at 4:09 pm

        Your party got caught again doing dirty politics and playing a game of left vs right.

        The right they should be looking for doesn’t involve playing games with people for political point scoring.

        Time you sucked it up and dropped the nat’s till they can show they are true right wingers, not sicko’s like what invaded the nat’s at present.

        Good government transgresses political ideology and when you get that excellent point we all will benefit.

        Do you think the current governments way of politicking is ok?

      • framu 10.1.4
        15 June 2016 at 4:58 pm

        “be interested to know … if they’re politically connected.”

        they work in the MPs office – you figure it out

  11. Moose 11
    15 June 2016 at 4:12 pm

    A very senior ASEAN diplomat told me that he and many others feel that National Party government members I quote “behave like gangst3rs” (sic). Still have the messages.

  12. ianmac 12
    15 June 2016 at 4:20 pm

    The great thing about Bennett’s shameful behaviour is not so much the issue now, but the reaction from Media.
    After this how likely is it that National will use Dirty Tricks against Opposition members in the future?