The past fortnight has seen a number of breaking stories each of which raises concerns about the motivations and goals of this Government. It makes you wonder whether the pursuit of self interest is an embedded feature as opposed to a bug.
Each story of itself should be the subject of intense review. And at least with some of them I suspect that they will continue to unravel as more details emerge.
First up National’s New Plymouth MP David MacLeod managed to *forget* $178,000 in donations. He must have misunderstood the part of the return that says that donations include “any money, goods or services that are donated to a candidate, or a person on the candidate’s behalf, for use in the candidate’s campaign for election”. His defence, that he thought that donations only applied to those received during the campaign year should not normally have legs although he did manage not to include a $10,000 donation that had been made during that period. A defence of gross incompetence may work and avoid a finding that he engaged in a corrupt practice. This is a story however that will continue to be subject to scrutiny and I am pretty sure there will be a police investigation.
There are three burning questions. MacLeod said that he only spent $22,826.51 on campaign expenses. What did he spend the remaining $184,835.49 on? And if he gave the money to Head Office will they file an amended return of donations? And did he give a heads up about the Fast Track Projects Bill to Phil Brown, someone whose donation was originally hidden from view and someone who has a significant interest in Trans-Tasman Resources, an entity that withdrew its application for approval to mine the Taranaki seabed and which is on the list of entities that have been invited to submit a fast track approval application.
A hidden significant donation from someone with interests in a company seeking fast track approval to do something they have previously failed to get consent for do not engender confidence that our system is free from undue influence.
Then there was the appointment of an Act MP with significant links to big pharma to a special role involving Pharmac. David Fisher at the Herald has reported (premium link) that Act MP Todd Stephenson has been appointed to a special role representing Pharmac’s new government minister who is David Seymour.
He has significant investments in pharmaceutical and biotech companies according to the recently released Parliamentary Pecuniary Register.
The issue was subject to some robust debate in Parliament this week. From Hansard:
Hon Carmel Sepuloni: Will he maintain the standards that New Zealanders expect of their Government and stand down Mr Stephenson from his role, or is he unwilling to challenge David Seymour’s exploitation of a loophole which allows a pharmaceutical industry plant to assist the Minister responsible for Pharmac?
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: No, I think there is a—
Hon Peeni Henare: Well, he’s not here for the arts! [Laughter]
SPEAKER: All right. OK, that’s enough—we’ll hear the answer in silence.
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: There is an answer to that questioner, which is that we reject the premises on which the question is based. But let’s go further here. That questioner now made an allegation and without any evidence, any proof, in this House, and is defaming someone without any care for her responsibility.
Big Pharma hates Pharmac. Someone with such clear interests and links should not be allowed near Pharmac.
Then there was the unusual circumstances relating to National allocating $24 million to Gumboot Friday. From Radio New Zealand:
The chairperson of I Am Hope, which has received millions in government funding, donated thousands to the National Party ahead of the last two general elections.
On Wednesday, the coalition government pledged $24 million over four years to the charity’s initiative, Gumboot Friday.
National committed to the funding boost as part of its coalition agreement with New Zealand First.
Public records show the chairperson of I Am Hope, Naomi Ballantyne, donated thousands to the National Party in recent years.
In 2020, she donated $20,600 to National’s campaign. Ahead of last year’s election, she made three separate payments totalling $6,840.
Ballantyne only became chair of the charity earlier this year, months after the coalition agreement had been signed.
The funding is not contestible and what will be cut to pay it remains unclear. The Government’s justification, that every dollar invested returns $5.70 comes from Impact Lab, a company co-founded and chaired by ex-PM Bill English.
And to add to the sense of unease it was disclosed that Bill English’s fee of $500,000 for his report to be used to gut Kainga Ora would be paid for out of funds set aside for the provision of transitional housing places.
Get that? Funds set aside for temporary accommodation for individuals and whānau who don’t have anywhere to live and urgently need a place to stay is being used to reduce social housing.
Because it does not matter how angry Chris Bishop gets. The Government’s proposal for 1,500 new social houses represents a cut on what has happened previously.
And no review of dodgy behaviour would be complete without a reference to Shane Jones.
Last week it was reported that Jones had an undeclared dinner with Barry Bragg who is the deputy chair of the coal mining company Stevenson Group. Bragg subsequently wrote asking that the Te Kuha coal project be included in the list of projects seeking listing in the fast track legislation.
Jones claimed that the dinner was not included in his ministerial diary because it was very much a last-minute thing.
It then transpired that there were two other attendees, Bathurst Resources chief executive Richard Tacon and Federation Mining vice president Simon Delander. Bathurst is New Zealand’s biggest coal miner, and Federation Mining is developing the Snowy River gold mine near Ikamatua, on the West Coast. Bathurst funded an independent candidate for the West Coast at the last election and his presence appears to have caused Damian O’Connor to lose the seat.
Jones claimed that the whole incident was a cock up. He would have been more correct in saying that it involved multiple cock ups and a failure to disclose that there were three attendees when he was first rumbled. This presumes that there was no element of deception involved which on the face of it appears to be unlikely.
Former Broadcasting Minister Clare Curran was hounded out of Cabinet because of two undisclosed meetings with Radio NZ’s head of content Carol Hirschfeld and entrepreneur Derek Handley.
The stakes with Jones involving huge projects that could cause extreme environmental devastation are much higher.
There is a quickly developing stench about this Government. Hidden donations, uncontested funding for organisations led by a donor, reports prepared by a former National MP to justify this funding and the gutting of social housing, and hidden dinners involving a potential decision making Minister and heads of organisations that are then invited to submit fast track applications.
And the defence offered is essentially this is a series of cock ups.
Maybe the Government is well intentioned but incompetent. Or maybe its role is to represent its sponsors. And it is not skilled enough to hide what is increasingly clear.
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