Posts Tagged ‘Donghua Liu’

Herald praises Cunliffe for CGT policy

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:30 am, May 19th, 2015 - 29 comments

The Herald has praised David Cunliffe with changing public opinion about the introduction of a capital gains tax. And rubbished John Key’s suggestion that the announced limited tax on increasing housing values is not a capital gains tax.

John Key channels Clarke and Dawe

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 7:16 pm, February 26th, 2015 - 27 comments

David Parker recaps Key’s bluster on his Donghua Liu dinner, and it’s pure comedy.

The more complete Donghua Liu timeline

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 2:34 pm, February 22nd, 2015 - 90 comments

Yesterday’s Herald revealed that Donghua Liu made a second donation to National in 2013 which was repaid to him after last year’s election.  A brief timeline was provided but in the interests of greater understanding I thought a fuller timeline would be helpful.

Jared Savage still trying for more inches

Written By: lprent - Date published: 1:23 pm, July 4th, 2014 - 12 comments

I realise that journalists have to show some column inches sometimes to justify their existence on the payroll. However the “Investigations editor” Jared Savage at the the NZ Herald appears to be overdoing that. The latest is Jared’s attempt to puff up three routine immigration letters in 2005. He really must be desperate for those extra inches. There doesn’t appear to be anything about it that holds much public interest apart from a simple desire to smear. Hardly journalism.

Irascible: The Herald and Key duck, scuttle and run as Donghua Liu story loses credibility

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 2:19 pm, June 28th, 2014 - 35 comments

It looks like the powers that be on the Herald’s editorial board are starting to realise that being a paid shill for the Key owned National Party is not as wise a move as they thought. Particularly as the realisation that the allegations fed from John Key and those around Donghua Liu are proving to be a quicksand that is sucking the already doubtful credibility of the paper as a crusading, principled record of fact away from it.

NZ Herald: Be journalists, check before ‘reporting’

Written By: lprent - Date published: 9:50 am, June 27th, 2014 - 62 comments

There is a self-serving anonymously authored editorial in the NZ Herald this morning “Editorial: Cries of bias will not stop reporting”.  Well for a start the problem isn’t with the Herald reporting. The journalism on the story has been performed by amateur journalists and facilitated by incompetent editors who didn’t check the story. This probably including whoever wrote this pathetic editorial. It appears to have been an abrupt change from their usual competent style of journalism. Of course the question has to be asked about what caused this change?

Key and Herald embarrassed as Liu statement changes

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:19 pm, June 25th, 2014 - 113 comments

The Herald has now published details of a further statement from Donghua Liu which directly contradicts previous claims.  So what did it do to ensure the accuracy of the original claims and why did it print those allegations without verification?  And who is the mysterious person who prepared a statement that with the benefit of hindsight was clearly inaccurate?

The middle of Queens birthday weekend? Yeah right!

Written By: lprent - Date published: 5:12 pm, June 22nd, 2014 - 225 comments

Ok, so according to the NZ Herald Donhua Liu is alleging that a fund raiser was held on Sunday 3rd of June 2007.

That is the Sunday in the middle of Queens birthday weekend. To say that is hardly credible is an understatement. No-one schedules fund-raisers on Sunday. They certainly don’t do it in a long weekend. And can’t the journalists at the Herald read a calendar?
Updated: This mornings Herald story looks like being more about face saving than accuracy, and the interview on Morning Report make the journalistic process at the Herald look even more dodgy.

NZ Herald – again that curious lack of detail

Written By: lprent - Date published: 2:20 pm, June 22nd, 2014 - 112 comments

I’ve been around the Labour party campaigners for a long time. I’d have expected to hear of auction sales of near to $100,000 by rumour if nothing else. It is possible that I didn’t. But then so is time travel. Quite simply the NZ Heralds reporting of Liu’s letter without any corroboration or details about where and when isn’t what I expect from journalists. It is what I expect from Whaleoil – a simple smear. I hadn’t realised that the Herald was that desperate.

NRT: An abuse of the OIA

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 4:14 pm, June 20th, 2014 - 39 comments

So it turns out that Immigration released letters from David Cunliffe and Chris Carter in support of Donghua Liu. However, the Department of Internal Affairs refused to release the letters sent by Mr Williamson and Mr Banks under the privacy and commercial provisions in the Official Information Act.  This looks like a blatantly political release decision to advance the interests of the government of the day.  Transparency of official information applies to everyone, not just the government’s enemies.

Polity: The game is the game

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 9:24 am, June 20th, 2014 - 24 comments

Rob Salmond offers some advice to the National smear team. When you screw up and start contradicting each other’s stories, you look like a pack of low-rent numpties. And it reveals your tactics for all to see, which is what you were trying to avoid in the first place. Bill English and John Key should really communicate so they don’t trample over each others stories. And the  spectacle of Michael Woodhouse changing his mind within hours about when he first saw the letter, and what he did with it? Pure comedy

Herald loses perspective

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 3:36 pm, June 18th, 2014 - 74 comments

So apparently forgetting about signing a form letter for a constituent 11 years ago is a resignable offence now.

Update: Key memory lapses

NRT: “No intention to interfere”

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 2:02 pm, May 1st, 2014 - 20 comments

When the Prime Minister found out that Maurice Williamson had contacted police over their investigation of a National Party donor on domestic violence charges, Williamson “assured [him] that he did not in any way intend to influence the Police investigation”. That is bullshit. But it gets worse. The police gave the Minister exactly what he asked for.

Williamson’s head isn’t the only one that should be on a spike.

Williamson now. How corrupt is the National cabinet?

Written By: lprent - Date published: 10:30 am, May 1st, 2014 - 199 comments

It never seems to end does it? A National Party Minister contacted a top ranking police officer after a wealthy businessman with close ties to him was arrested on domestic violence charges. The Prime Minister’s office is understood to be considering Maurice Williamson’s future as a Minister, following Herald inquiries into the phone call that he made and over his involvement with Donghua Liu’s criminal case.

Bunji: And he’s gone – resigned as a Minister