Written By:
mickysavage - Date published:
8:00 am, August 16th, 2014 - 58 comments
Categories: john key, national -
Tags: cameron slater, dirty politics, nicky hager
The aftermath of Nicky Hager’s book rumbles on. The Herald this morning has further coverage on issues arising from the Book. The discussion between Cactus Kate and Slater about Hager’s address and how publishing it could put him in some danger is the subject of an article. The subsequent publishing of Hager’s address by Slater says a great deal about what sort of person he is.
John Armstrong has a prescient column about the week’s events, rightfully describing the tirade of abuse National has sent Hager’s way as “one of the most sustained efforts by National to destroy an individual’s credibility since the party’s political witch trials of the Muldoon era.”
He describes National’s tactics well:
National’s tactic has been to keep the focus on Hager and persuade people he had hidden motives for writing the book – rather than being drawn into arguments about its damning contents.
This has worked for National to some degree – somewhat to Hager’s frustration.
Key’s damage control operation was designed to both defuse and confuse. However, the Prime Minister looked and sounded distinctly uncomfortable when questioned by reporters on Thursday afternoon.
He conceded nothing. He repeatedly answered questions by saying the book’s allegations had “nothing to do with National”.
When it was pointed out to him that National was clearly implicated, he made excuses, saying he had not been briefed on the detail.
If Key’s answers sounded glib there was good reason. The vilification of Hager by Key and Steven Joyce, National’s election campaign supremo and the one designated to front for National when there is trouble, is a charade.
Their dilemma is that they have to rubbish the book as being wrong on every score when they know much if not all of it, is accurate, simply because the contents come straight out of the mouths of Slater, Ede and other National Party figures and associates.
As much as anything, Hager has simply done a compilation job. Key’s and Joyce’s deny-everything stances are not tenable for long. But if they admit Hager is right about one thing, then they have to concede he is right about everything.
Danyl McLaughlan has posted a passionate column on the consequences of the book. It is well worth a read. I particularly enjoyed these passages:
But some of the reporters listening to the PM have read the book. And when Key insists that the real dirty politics comes from the left, I think, or hope, that they’ll reflect that no one on the left is publishing the addresses of journalists online in the hope that someone assaults or murders them in revenge for writing about tax-havens, which is what Cathy Odgers, Cameron Slater David Farrar and Matthew Hooton discuss on page 91. Also, no one on the left is going around brothels trying to find out whether journalists have visited them, so they can be blackmailed, which is what Cameron Slater, the Justice Minister’s close friend, and long-term collaborator with the Prime Minister’s office is up to. No one on the left runs smear campaigns against attempted rape victims, or publishes graphic affidavits describing their political enemies having sex. There’s no one comparable to Slater on the left of politics, or blogging. He is a phenomenon unique to the National Party. Key can insist that this is all just a lie, just a conspiracy story, but people who read the book know that this is simply documentation from Slater’s emails and that the Prime Minister is lying to their faces.
So I don’t think Key’s line will work, or that this story is going away. I haven’t talked to any gallery journalists since it was released but I suspect that – if nothing else – the confirmation of the long-nurtured bitter suspicion that Key’s office has been screwing them on OIA requests by forwarding them to Slater for early publication will ensure that this story runs and runs throughout the rest of the campaign.
And this:
Whatever the wider implications, the book has had a profound effect on me, personally. Something that doesn’t come across in the news coverage about Dirty Politics, and Cameron Slater, Jason Ede, Jordan Williams, Simon Lusk et al is just how fucking awful these people are. They spend their lives trying to poison and contaminate our politics. They enjoy seeing people suffer. They get excited by the idea of breaking up the marriages of their political enemies and ruining their lives. And John Key stands up and bleats about how everything they do is fine, and the people on the left are the nasty ones. Fuck him.
Well said Danyl. Interestingly in the comments to a few of his recent posts are suggestions from people I do not recognise that I do the same as Slater. How is this for a bet? For each post identified that I have written which engages in the same sort of character assassination and muck raking that Slater does I will give $100 to Greenpeace. Go ahead. Knock yourselves out.
But back to the subject of this post. Who, in the light of Slater’s description of a deceased West Coaster as “feral” had the most reason to try and silence him and bring him down? Who had the most to lose? Was it the left? My bet is that elements within the National Party had decided that he and Jason Ede had gone too far and had to be silenced. I have seen before how during the Len Brown scandal there was considerable kick back against Slater from parts of the National Party. Maybe this time they had decided that Slater’s malign effect on politics had to end.
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Minor detail: the article with Slater’s name on it that published Hager’s details was written by Odgers.
So, she wishes him harm, has a plan to effect that harm (give or take her racist delusions about Chinese people) and puts the plan into effect using an accomplice.
Might the NZ Law Society have an opinion about this? Might the Police?
Police is under Minister Mrs Colin’s and the Law society is gutless that one wonders whether we see a drama from the roman council a few thousand years ago. None of them are independent as you might expect in a democracy. This means that the law is being adapted to suit the rich and powerful – this also reveals that NZ is more like Fiji then anybody cares to admit.
OAB
Allison Horwood is a lawyer mixed up with Slater in some seedy Tax evasion scheme company in Belize, and until a couple of days ago, so she is dirty.
Now this Odgers is as bad so do we see a pattern?
Business as usual on Planet key as the song goes so close to the truth they forced Electoral Commission to ban it.
Gag, Gag, Gag,
Awesome last paragraph, you should write a book on it…. no proof, dumb innuendo, and trying to start a new sideshow.
Mickey, I would have thought you’d be keeping your head down somewhat, because it is now becoming more and more public knowledge amongst readers that don’t indulge in blogs that for every Farrar/Slater on the right, there’s an equivalent on the left…. and it’s becoming more public by the day.
Or you can just keep rocking on, I don’t mind, but don’t complain and make excuses when your boss ends up having to answer sticky questions….. again.
Okay.
Pick five days at random and compare the entire content of the Standard with the entire content of Whaleoil.
Anyone who imagines any kind of equivalence (and that includes Josie ‘Lifestyle block’ Pagani) can put their money where their mouth is.
Right-wingers are such sensitive wee snowflakes when it come to their own feelings. But if you don’t see much of the population as being as real and human as you are, I guess it’s easy to imagine that being called a “silly bitch” and tracking someone down and hounding them with the intent to destroy their life and drive them to suicide as being about the same.
I have offered many of these tools the same challenge many times.
None have ever taken it up.
“Right-wingers are such sensitive wee snowflakes when it come to their own feelings.”
Just loved Farrar’s faux-hurt/sadness/offence/despair at Hager’s revelations – said it made him want to give up politics.
Wonder if he’ll want to be on The Panel again? Wonder if they’ll want him back? Or want Williams back? Interesting those two were ever on there in the first place. And to think Bradbury was kicked off? Danyl’s description of Slater/Williams/Lusk/Odgers is spot on.
Much like Slater’s declaration on Twitter two days ago that he’d never agree to an interview with TV3. So naturally he was on The Nation this morning.
https://twitter.com/davidfarrier/status/500391317457743872
Will be interesting if Radio NZ will want Williams, Farrar, Hooton or even Franks back on air after all of this. Imagine Williams and Farrar on The Panel now? Even Kathryn Ryan must be having second thoughts about Hooton being on her show after he emailed the name of Hager’s street to Slater. What a total crock about it “already being in the public arena, it’s all over his select committee submissions”. Odgers was talking about publishing it for the purpose of allowing thugs to go to Hager’s house. This can’t be shrugged off as nothing. Odgers sent the email saying why the address should be published. If nobody provided the address or it wasn’t published maybe it could shrugged off as jokey big talk. But then Hooton sent the name of the street, and then Slater published the full address. This is no bloody joke. Hooton is as evil as Odgers and Slater and Williams.
Shonkey and Slater have shat on to many people ,Rolfharriscopter repeating the bullying lines doesn’t make it right.
You are in league with the underhanded undermining of Democracy!
It must be your turn to spray and walk away!
are you saying slater is delusional? Or a liar? Are you saying Hager invented all the emails? To back your assertions about left wing blogs you first need to address these questions?
On the acknowledgements page Hager thanks “the National Party staffer who first suggested I work on this subject”
Noticed that too, and noticed it has completely been ignored in media discussion and questions
Be careful what you wish for as there is now a new modus operandi in place to bring civil servants to slaughter…
is a national party staffer a civil servant?
Tracy,
“Noticed that too, (no media had mentioned it was a Nat staffer that suggested Hager do the book) and noticed it has completely been ignored in media discussion and questions”
That’s because no investigative MSM Journo has read the book for MSM yet and we should challenge why not?
Cant we get opposition to bring this up?????
It at leastdeserves a suggestion of dissention in the ranks and a whole new look at all the so called resignations by deadwood…
Probably not. Might be a bit too negative.
The Hollow Men’s dedicated “to the principled conservatives in the New Zealand National Party”, too.
A better wingnut! My wish granted 🙂
Who gained the most from Brash’s stolen emails? Key … and Joyce. Who benefits from Slater’s stolen emails – Joyce . His main competition within the National party is from the Collins/Slater faction and this is one way to side-line them and it’s also likely to hasten Key’s exit from politics leaving Joyce top dog.
Awesome for the left if he has to win an election.
Not so good if he shipleys in.
+1
And Joyce as leader of the NATS??? After TricKey? He would really look like the leader of the Troglodyte’s
Good take Mickey,
I will respond to Roflcopter’s comment.
” Who, in the light of Slater’s description of a deceased West Coaster as “feral” had the most reason to try and silence him and bring him down? Who had the most to lose? Was it the left? My bet is that elements within the National Party had decided that he and Jason Ede had gone too far and had to be silenced. I have seen before how during the Len Brown scandal there was considerable kick back against Slater from parts of the National Party. Maybe this time they had decided that Slater’s malign effect on politics had to end.”
Best to look at every direction and get it out there, as Nat’s will be swiftly desperately trying to close down the subject before the thing gets viral.
I witnessed a daily spectacle of the Watergate scandal, when living in Canada.
Watergate is a study as the same thing happened with the identical deliberate stealing of opposition political party files.
I was as a Kiwi living & working in Canada during the 1970’s when Watergate broke it began the same and it built up in the very same way.
First with the removal of the Democrats Party headquarters files by supposed Cleaners, “yeah right”,
Then most public commentators and news folk all began speculating on who had the strongest motive out there to benefit from the scandal exactly as you have excellently pointed out.
In the 1970’s no Slater/Farrar types were visible, but one can now imagine they were there, but as a comparison in those times there was no such similar veiled threats or subtle hints from the Government to “silence the lambs” as Roflcoper suggests.
Rofl suggests warning that we to be aware as there will be any pressure to answer “sticky questions”.
God is this for real?
Are we already living in a police state?
Pictures in my mind of goose stepping storm troopers coming to raid everyone’s computers and interrogate all that blog? 1933 Germany again.
This picture was flashed all over the screens and now the Police Minister Bush has appologies to Tuhoi.
Since then it was repeated when the raid on Kim.com Mansion occurred what a shambles, and even during the 1951 Wharf strike, so we know they are capable of these actions.
But if Government does clearly bagain suppress free speech between all who blog, that will be far worse than what they are already doing subtlety, as they orchestrate the banning the Planet key video song and Kim.com party video.
If widespread suppression of free speech on Left blog site becomes the norm, then the electorate will at last have a serious issue to confront as they go walking to the pooling booth.that then reviles where this Government is taking us to a police state.
Nicky Hager has consistently placed himself on the line for our right to know what is going on behind the scenes and for freedom of information and to give us all “Informed consent: prior to voting.
By you doing the same as Watergate public did we found the real culprit and will do here also as we progress along the path of discovery.
Nicky Hager should be admired and supported for his fight to save our freedom and democracy and we must support his rights and ours to freedom of speech, as many great leaders have said freedom is worth dying for in many ways in the past.
“The price of freedom is constant vigilance.”
AAA+++
If the Nats were to get back in it will be a very nasty parliament as the other side of politics delve into every rotten corner of the Nats.
I like many are guilty of wondering who went after Slater, after some thought though, speculating about who might want to bring him down is just playing into their hands, don’t you think?
I would prefer to concentrate on the substance of the book and get as many people to read it as possible.
yes and this thread topic has fallen for the nat strategy of making this about stolen emails rather than the behaviours they reveal, hook line and centre
I agree the substance is most important and I am sure there will be other posts on the matter. This post is mostly about substance as well. I thought the National line that it is a left wing conspiracy is weak and deserves a response.
dfinitely and that armstrong, for now, has woken up, suggests that maybe, just,maybe, hagers book has given him the chance to comment on something he already knew some of but didnt feel the owners would publish if he led it?
Hmm
http://laudafinem.com/2014/01/30/whale-oil-aka-cameron-slater-a-very-tall-story-the-need-to-bag-a-trophy/
Good to see Armstrong writing sensibly on this. This will reflect the opinion of many traditional conservatives who aren’t comfortable about the hard right bullshit but generally won’t go so far as to do anything about it. Hopefully the tide will turn now.
Key claimed it was no coincidence that the book’s launch had followed the burning of an effigy of himself, the “f *** John Key” video, the description of Key as “Shylock” by a Labour candidate and the widespread vandalising of National’s election hoardings.
He argued that the left did not want to debate the real election issues because it could not win the policy argument. So the left was playing dirty.
Conspiracy theorist!!!
Key lost the plot when he declared a crowd of drunks crying out f.j.k was part of a conspiracy.
What’s worse, is Slater saying his emails were stolen but its okay for him to use Labour’s database?
Then the clincher, Key’s childhood mate seemingly fast tracking Slater’s government information request.
And all this is before we get into Collins and her activities.
Sure was it obvious Slater is a mud-slinger, and that Key is best mates with him. But I don’t agree that its a conspiracy to write a book going into depth about their love in, when its just journalism to enquire how far Key is up Slaters backside metaphorically pulling the strings.
I loved the comment from slater about the threats he is getting, how Hagar has to take responsibility for that.
Given slater has caused many many people to have death threats sent to them, or threats in general, and say, not my fault that people did this because of what I published, is a joke.
No. People should not threaten the disgusting Slater’s life, however if slater won’t take responsibility for his own actions, nicky should tell the fat man, to f&$k off.
Why the hate on fat people? You can despise Whaleoil without the fat abuse. If you denigrate people because of their size your usually only half a step from sexism, racism etc.
My question to Key is: so was the effigy-burning and chanting-video part of some really involved marketing for the book launch, or did Nicky Hager decide that the effigies and chanting were damaging the left and whip up a complete book full of leaked information in less than a week?
You know, since it’s “no coincidence” and all.
“This post is mostly about substance as well. I thought the National line that it is a left wing conspiracy is weak and deserves a response.”
Yes indeed, we must “delve into every rotten corner of the Nats”
Also the media as they were complicit was design it appears.
We also must remind the media dumbed down method used to cover the book, as no MSM investigative Journalist has done what we want yet.
To concentrate on the substance in the book, and of course this comes back to the difference between Watergate and Slatergate.
A complicit MSM by design, or in plain words used in Watergate, “a deliberate cover up”.
This is what incensed the public most of all in Watergate and the shame placed on Richard Nixon as he said shaking his head “I have never lied” is now being played by John Key saying “National had nothing to do with it”
Denying any involvement was Nixon’s downfall also as the evidence mounted day by day like Slatergate will.
To be honest, I don’t give a shit who did steal them. But they should be given a medal for saving our freedoms by revealing this festering wound in NZ politics. Just my opinion.
The very actions of Key and his crew expose much. As everyone knows, people leave their doors open by mistake, disgruntled employees, or enterprising hackers, can and have left open computer systems. Hey, there was a zombie supermarket a few years back in Hamilton, whose doors and lights came on in the middle of the night, the Police could not act against the shoppers since they could reasonably expected to have thought the shop open and the supermarket was illegally open… …however that’s not the case withe the Labour database. Had Key and his office had any self-control they would immediately have told Labour about the mistake, as they themselves would have like to have been. Just as a neighbor seeing you left you door open all day will inevitably worry and come over and check, finding nobody in, they close it. But Key doesn’t see any impropriety in associating with Slatter, and isn’t taking any efforts to distance himself from him.
That’s why Key must resign, how can we trust government spies having all this information when the government so poorly handles it, then when expose to using private information for political ends, has no response than to attack the messenger Hager.
Deeply disappointed with our government.
Could it be your own version of Snowden ?
A local kiwi in GCSB who used the sophisticated tools they would have available to get at Slaters secrets.
Hardly likely to be an average Joe who could do a brute force attack. Or even the more likely keyboard logger to get the passwords.
Labour now turning hard focus on Collins today and her ‘close personal friend’Slater (that sounds so familiar…) rather than scatter gun approach. They will get more traction this way.
Good strategy as she is one of the most vulnerable and culpable in this sordid little mess and probably the most linked to WO. The evidence is damning and key supposedly has her on final warning. Yeah right. So pressure will mount on him to do something.
She also goes feral when under pressure as we saw in the Horrorvida episode and will be a major liability for key in the lead up to the election is she goes postal.
Labours job is to make this the story that keeps on giving right through Nats campaign launch- in the most positive way of course!
++++++Top.
Well slater is now panicking. He is banning anyone from his site who points out that more and more what is in the book is being corroborated by other reporters, oia officials and even Judith Colin’s.
Key needs to fire Colin’s, and slater needs to be investigated for his part in hacking labours site.
“Hacking” implies illegitimate breaking into a secured, password protected, non-public site. It’s not the correct term for slater’s actions. The Labour sites were open to the public, accessible with minimal technical knowledge, and required no breaking of any security – results were even searchable on google. Need to be careful with your terms.
[lprent: Always nice to see someone so ignorant trying to invent laws that don’t exist.
Perhaps you should read the crimes act and some actual law. Start here and look down the links.
Comment again when you can at least have a minimal knowledge of the subjects you write about. ]
I wasn’t implying any legal aspects – merely stating that the term hacking doesn’t describe accurately what slater and ede allegedly did. Hager’s emails on the other hand…
[lprent: Of course you were looking at the legal aspects. You just don’t accept them. I’ve been a programmer for a very long time. Slater (and you) are delusional if you don’t understand the 2003 changes to the Crimes Act.
As soon as Slater copied the data and started saying what he would do with it he was exactly legally and morally the same as the person who got the data off the Whaleoil server. There is no difference in the eyes of the computing community, the legal community or morally. He was a thief.
But that is his legal problem and probably Hager’s source legal problem. It isn’t Hagers problem. Hager just has the problem of protecting his source. ]
Let the drip drip drip of the emails release begin. National will be forced to answer each allegation one at a time.
Get the big ones out the release the 8GB all on wikileaks.
PLEASE
Between Cathy “the forehead” Odgers and the tobacco industry/db breweries/etc did Cam actually write many posts at all? All his site seems to be is these mates of his posting u der his name and the retreading of you tubesgreatest hits….hardly “new media” as he constantly likes to bang on about…
Anyway I see the tough guy has started his usaul shrill whenever he is called out…”I’m receiving death threats! Its all yourfault msm!” Fukingblouse.
Agreed. He has a rather repetitive set of behaviours. From blustering up a story to whining about how he is the real victim when it blows up. From boasting about how brave and noble he is to the abject crawling that he displays in court.
But I guess I don’t need to tell you about that…
It was amusing to reader his posters wishfully thinking Hager would end up in court, all the while it is Slater who is in court for publishing some one elses business emails
Is not a tool entitled to complain at the damage its master does?
Interesting that Odgers seems to have taken all the posts down from her inactive blog. She began winding down a while ago but the posts were still there. Went looking for her nasty shite about “the heaving underclass” that Slater likes to bang on about but saw she’s removed all posts. Wonder when that happened? It was clear from the beginning that something wasn’t right with her and Slater, all that threatening talk like “don’t mess with Whaleoil or Cactus Kate”. What tossers. Anyway, in case people have forgotten, Odgers certainly isn’t able to erase this which is still there for all to see.
There’s a whole lot of stuff about Odgers around that media ought to start having a look at. Danyl McLauchlan’s description of her is so right:
http://tumeke.blogspot.co.nz/2011/06/hateful-cathy-odgers-as-act-candidate.html
Slater is pathetic. and his mates they show aggression till you meet them in public on their own. Probably why the ministers Collins Joyce Key and co always have ten bodyguards around them. We pay for that!!
Bet he’s really a cry baby though, loud mouths like him, Joyce and Key are all gutless without the power trip they had till now.
I honestly beleive in this case little johnny key is the tool, cam and judith are his masters, he just cant seeit. The rest of NZ can see it when they watch his performance last thursday, repeating ad infinitum “its a left wing conspiracy, I’m relaxed, hagar is a conspiracy theorist”…..he has been hung out to dry by Judith again. She really is the gift that keeps giving.
Key needs to man up and fire her.
Collins has stuff on Key we believe,.
She is still arrogant.
And yes Key is the fall guy I believe.
Yes Joyce & Collins are the executioner.
Key said when things get negative he will leave remember 2011 around the teapot enquiry
before the 2011 election?
“Key says he’ll quit politics if National loses election”
By Audrey Young
NZ Herald
5:30 AM Monday Jan 3, 2011
‘
I think its more likely that Slater’s site was looted by the fellow students of the man who died on the West Coast. He was, after all, studying IT.
On the provision of Nicky Hager’s address to Cactus Kate’s Chinese billionaire contacts, I was mightily suprised to hear Matthew Hooton hand out Nicky’s address again on Thursday’s Nine To Noon. Listen at about 13:05 – http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20145654
I’m wondering if its a breach of the Broadcasting Standards – it certainly wouldn’t be the first time Hooton has been in breach of them and a second complaint may – finally – get Radio New Zealand to consider whether or not giving space to that National Ltd™ mouthpiece is worth the effort.
Given that hager’s address is in the phone book and is the only entry for that name on the white pages website I don’t see that giving it out in the media is much of a story.