Wong resigns from Parliament

72 comments on “Wong resigns from Parliament ”

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1. Carol 1

   14 December 2010 at 11:02 am

   TVNZ, NBR & TVNZ are reporting that this will result in a by-election in Botany. RNZ has just said the resignation date has been set for the end of January (20th, I think), so as not to inconvenience the people of Botany….(?) But, IMO, it does delay the by-election a little, while Key will hope this will end the investigations into Wong’s dealings.
   • Lanthanide 1.1

     14 December 2010 at 11:06 am

     From stuff:

     “Wong said this morning that it was “my decision” and her resignation was effective from January 17 next year. She had not been asked to resign by Prime Minister John Key or the party.”
     …
     “She had made the decision not to receive any salary or personal entitlements from 20 December.

     “I have timed my resignation to ensure that the by-election will not impact on the holiday break of my Botany constituents, and I have also taken into account the work agenda of the National-led Government,” Wong said.”

     All I can say is good on her for not trying to claim salary out through February as she could’ve.
     • Bunji 1.1.1

       14 December 2010 at 11:21 am

       She’s claiming salary out until January… When you’ve been caught with your hand in the till normally you’re out on your ear straight away…
       • Bunji 1.1.1.1

         14 December 2010 at 11:40 am

         I’ll correct myself – she’s only claiming salary until the 20th apparently, so just 1 last week’s bonus.
         • Jim Nald 1.1.1.1.1

           14 December 2010 at 12:04 pm

           Salary or not, it now seems more likely that pansy was already going to leave last month.

           Remember panic pants’s perplexing parliament-portfolio presser?
           http://thestandard.org.nz/now-whos-the-fckwit/#comment-269716

           Well, the timing then wasn’t that good? The timing is better now?

           Pansy’s valedictory speech this afternoon has been in the making for weeks.
           • Carol 1.1.1.1.1.1

             14 December 2010 at 3:06 pm

             It begins…..”It was beyond my wildest dreams….” and admits to one breach of travel perks… and Sammy’s work in China only related to Supreme Hovercraft….. and on and on about what a wonderful MP she’s been, leading the way for immigrants and a multicultural society.
         • Lanthanide 1.1.1.1.2

           14 December 2010 at 12:05 pm

           Not really a ‘bonus’. It does take time to get your affairs in order when you’ve publicly announced that you’re leaving – all the loose ends of work need to be tidied up, other people might recall they need to chase you up about something, got to clean out your desk etc etc. 1 week actually seems pretty short to get it all in order.
           • Akldnut 1.1.1.1.2.1

             14 December 2010 at 12:34 pm

             It’s still a bonus Lanth – she’s got a whole month to get her shit together and get the hell out of Dodge.
     • bbfloyd 1.1.2

       14 December 2010 at 5:43 pm

       so she’s decided to make a show of foregoing some of her salary…. well woopdydoo!!! what a saint she must be!!
2. Anne 2

   14 December 2010 at 11:10 am

   OK. Now the real investigation begins
   1. What is really behind John Key’s desperation to avoid an Inquiry?
   2. Was Pansy’s official portfolio of Womens Affairs and Ethnic Affairs a sham?
   3. Was her unofficial portfolio… Minister for National Party fundraising – Asian region?
   4. Was there an unspoken agreement that John Key would turn a blind eye to the personal overseas business activities in return for lots of dosh?
   5. Is that dosh now sitting in the secret Waitemata Trust?
   • Jim Nald 2.1

     14 December 2010 at 11:21 am

     Indeed. Good questions.
     May I suggest (5) should be a more open-ended question, eg What secret trusts are there and where might the dosh be sitting (err be laundered) now?

     Gone. by. lunchtime.
   • Jared 2.2

     14 December 2010 at 9:33 pm

     I wouldn’t get so precocious about secret trusts…
3. Bright Red 3

   14 December 2010 at 11:16 am

   that 17th Janurary date is important. there doens’t have to be a byelection if the PM says the general election will be within 6 months and 75% of Parliament consents – the last saturday six months after 17th Jan is 16th July. After the Budget but before the cuts start to be felt.
   • Jim Nald 3.1

     14 December 2010 at 11:25 am

     Ah ok. Pansy presents a good donkey excuse for an early general election.
     Great pansy ponzi scheme to crowd out today’s news about the government’s bad economic management.
     Well done, johnny boi!
     • Jim Nald 3.1.1

       14 December 2010 at 11:39 am

       Ok, I see that the Botany by-election will be 5 March.
       Key will be keen to have this one victory in the lead-up to the general elections.
4. Tammy Gordon 4

   14 December 2010 at 11:19 am

   Another by-election. Labour HQ must have mixed feelings about the efficacy of Pete Hodgson’s dirt digging ability….
5. pollywog 5

   14 December 2010 at 11:23 am

   Good riddance Pansy and i’d expect a visit from the fully armed po po looking to charge your ass for fraud and hopefully they’ll investigate former PM Shipley too.

   cos no way should we the taxpayer be subsidising your continued travel in perpetuity just cos y’all sucked the public tit hard for x amount of years
   • Bored 5.1

     14 December 2010 at 3:49 pm

     fat chance, Auditor General is part of the Nact protection squad.
6. mickysavage 6

   14 December 2010 at 11:25 am

   Wong gone …
7. tc 7

   14 December 2010 at 11:26 am

   No anne, now the really serious whitewashing begins as key and co desperately attempt to cover up their tracks in this sordid affair hoping they’ve bought enough time to do so.

   Credit to Pansy, she can’t hold the seat with any credibility after this so has done the right thing.
   • Anne 7.1

     14 December 2010 at 12:00 pm

     @tc
     I meant some good investigative journalism from beyond the NAct government. Agree, the really serious whitewashing has already begun. I mean, Key didn’t tell her to go… she did it all by herself… he didn’t have nuffink to do with it… it was her choice alone.
8. gobsmacked 8

   14 December 2010 at 11:43 am

   It’s going to be fun watchng Key go into full Spin Reverse on by-elections.

   “Not really a safe seat … majority doesn’t matter … we won, that’s the main thing … lower turnout … cut and paste from Labour in Mana …”
9. Craig Glen Eden 9

   14 December 2010 at 11:53 am

   Credit to Pansy???? Like fun she has gone to try and shut down a AG inquiry. They new it was bad news so released all the news at once. Government books in the shit oh and their goes Pansy all on the same day. Takes the heat off Keys role in the whole affair and protects the brand.

   English will have to front for economy Johnny will not be seen till next week, see ya peeps.
10. Deadly_NZ 10

    14 December 2010 at 12:04 pm

    And she still will not admit that she has been lying to the NZ public about her husbands shonky business dealings on the tax payer dollar.. I hope the Audit ALL her travel and any that have been lied too then a prosecution of her and her husband should go ahead!!
11. Francisco Hernandez 11

    14 December 2010 at 12:07 pm

    Well done to anti-corruption rort-buster Pete Hodgson for outing this corrupt disgrace of a woman. This has probably been the most corrupt government since Muldoon,
    • big bruv 11.1

      14 December 2010 at 12:42 pm

      “This has probably been the most corrupt government since Muldoon,”

      Ha ha ha….have you forgotten the nine year reign of terror under the thoroughly corrupt Helen Clark?
      • Lanthanide 11.1.1

        14 December 2010 at 12:47 pm

        No, just none of us lived through your version of reality. Thankfully.
      • mickysavage 11.1.2

        14 December 2010 at 2:38 pm

        In a far away parallel universe there is a Helen Clark who was not an intelligent principled and accomplished leader but evil and corrupt and base. Big bruv spends his time in this parallel universe. This is the only rational explanation I can come up with for his comments.
      • Irascible 11.1.3

        14 December 2010 at 3:05 pm

        I presume you are referring to another country in a parallel universe? Key has certainly demonstrated that money speculators live in a corrupt universe if his government is an indication of the sort of work environment he worked in.
      • Robert Atack 11.1.4

        14 December 2010 at 6:04 pm

        I don’t think Labor was any more corrupt than any other party, they are all corrupt, or extremely stupid?
        No party has the ability, brains, or backbone to look at the reality of our collective future.
        They are all no better than the leaders of Easter Island, while the statue carving society was thriving, except our leaders and us think we are smarter.
        They are a bit like a religious group, with all the middle management (public servants) covering up the child molesters at the top.
        Blind Spot http://www.filmbaby.com/films/3368 covers why they and 99% of us, can’t get our heads around the end of growth. Look down the page and see who is interviewed, compare the intellect of these people with the f@%kwits in Wellington.
        With what they have told me (via movie), I am 100% convinced that Kiwi Saver is the biggest scam foisted on New Zealand wage earners, and it was a corrupt (or stupid) parliament that voted for it … all of them?? So many people cry about the carbon tax as being a scam … as it will not stop runaway green house effects, yet KS is dependent on the destruction of the environment and a prop for the financial sector, it is free money. It is like the bale out money given to the banks, except it is coming from people who will need that money very soon.
        I think Helen and co set us up for a fall, and now John is giving us the push.
        We are one of the only things in nature that kills its host, cancer is the other.
        If we are locked into 2 degrees warming, that could be the end of the Amazon, gasp gasp.
    • Treetop 11.2

      15 December 2010 at 1:55 pm

      Fran Hern, more truer words could not have been spoken. Muldoon certainly did things behind the scene and NO one dared cross him. Every inquiry Muldoon had in his time he ran from the inside. Erebus families got a secret paypot of $30,000 – $100,000 and Air NZ was then run by the government. Arthur Allan Thomas would not have got his commission of inquiry were it not for Pat Booth. As for Colin Moyle there will be some writing on the December 1976 inquiry in the New Year, (a condensed version of the inquiry).

      I think that Key is not honest and he to is hungry for power and will not relinquish his hold on it, just like Muldoon.

      It will be interesting to see how Key conducts himself over the Pike River Mine inquiry.
12. higherstandard 12

    14 December 2010 at 12:39 pm

    TROUGH TROUGH TROUGH TROUGH….. only 120 to go.
13. big bruv 13

    14 December 2010 at 12:41 pm

    So the “corrupt” Wong resigns…..when will the corrupt Chris Carter do the same?

    Oh hang on…..I forgot, there are different standards for Labour or ex Labour party MP’s
    • Lanthanide 13.1

      14 December 2010 at 12:47 pm

      If Chris Carter had used his travel money for business, then this would be the same. But he didn’t, so it isn’t.
      • big bruv 13.1.1

        14 December 2010 at 12:51 pm

        “His travel money”?????

        Typical response from a socialist, the money is not his, it belongs to the tax payer.
        • Pascal's bookie 13.1.1.1

          14 December 2010 at 12:59 pm

          Psst, hey, bruv…

          When you pay something, like a debt for example, the money you use to pay it with is no longer yours….

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98hO97ky-sA
          • Bazar 13.1.1.1.1

            15 December 2010 at 6:32 pm

            When you’ve PAID for something with money, that money is no longer yours.

            But in the case of Chris Carter, the money he used to pay with wasn’t HIS, but the TAXPAYERS. It then became someone elses, as the service became PAID.

            Or who do you think was paying for his travel if it wasn’t paid by himself?
        • Bunji 13.1.1.2

          14 December 2010 at 4:47 pm

          speaking of money that’s not yours – have you paid your debts yet bb?
          • lprent 13.1.1.2.1

            14 December 2010 at 5:11 pm

            Ummmm WikiLeaks wasn’t it?
14. randal 14

    14 December 2010 at 12:51 pm

    another BOAGEY bites the dust.
    • Bored 14.1

      14 December 2010 at 4:11 pm

      Its quite intriguing the number of damaged or ingenuous people that Boag has inflicted on us via the Nats. The lady McBeth of NZ politics.
15. big bruv 15

    14 December 2010 at 12:54 pm

    I imagine you guys will want to make a big deal of this, I can understand why that is the case given the shocking state of the countries finances.

    Anything to deflect from the horrendous mess the corrupt Labour government left Key and the Nat’s with.
    • Bunji 15.1

      14 December 2010 at 2:14 pm

      What, 9 years of surpluses, that Bill English said had left the finances in a good state?

      Truly horrendous big bruv.
    • Bored 15.2

      14 December 2010 at 3:46 pm

      BB, you are definitely tendentious, severely economic with your use of truth. I am Bored, and its you who is boring the rest of us.
    • bobo 15.3

      14 December 2010 at 4:27 pm

      2 long years
16. infused 16

    14 December 2010 at 1:26 pm

    You gotta love life over at The Strandard……

    The opening line for Pansy is…..

    Corrupt former National minister Pansy Wong has finally done the right thing and resigned from Parliament.

    Yet their line for jailed corrupt Field was…..

    Six years jail for Field

    Heh, never in our camp.
    • lprent 16.1

      14 December 2010 at 2:37 pm

      And your point is? Both of them stated exactly what happened at the relevant times.

      I suspect that our headline when Pansy Wong gets convicted would be something like “X years jail for Wong”.

      And before you start waffling on about how we didn’t condemn Field when he was dropped as a minister and left the Labour party – well the site wasn’t running then. From memory we did do some writing on his chances before the election and the result.

      I think that you’re trying to run the silly old fact-free double standard game. That just pisses me off.

      But if you can’t compare apples with apples with regards to this site then I’ll probably send you off with some time to figure out the difference between apples and oranges.
      • Herododus 16.1.1

        14 December 2010 at 4:15 pm

        Panys has not been found of anything corrupt … yet LP. I am waiting for the request for an AG inquiry. As PW has signaled her intention there is no reason for Labour to delay this, unless there is not sufficient evidence of total wrong doing just a wee oversight.
        If for nothing else then for history to record PW wrongs, if there are any !!!
        • lprent 16.1.1.1

          14 December 2010 at 4:18 pm

          Could be waiting a while. The AG has ruled out looking at it. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10694293

          I guess someone will have to lay a complaint with the police which would be the next step.

          However I really just put that sentence in to reinforce the apples/oranges analogy to whoever it was (infused?)
          • Carol 16.1.1.1.1

            14 December 2010 at 4:25 pm

            Labour may be making a compaint against Wong:

            http://www.3news.co.nz/Labour-lay-further-allegations-against-Wong/tabid/419/articleID/190822/Default.aspx

            Tue, 14 Dec 2010 2:28p.m.

            Pansy Wong’s resignation as a National MP may not be the end of the embarrassing saga with Labour presenting a further allegation to Parliament about Ms Wong and her husband’s interests in China.

            Labour has just shown Parliament what they claim is further documentary evidence showing Ms Wong attended another business event involving a hovercraft business while on a taxpayer-funded trip to China in 2008.

            Translated documents were shown as evidence she was welcomed to the company.

            Labour leader Phil Goff claimed earlier today the party had evidence the Wong’s dealings in China were more extensive than those revealed in reports into her misuse of MP expenses.
17. Graeme 17

    14 December 2010 at 3:19 pm

    i am glad she is gone. now, its time to open up the can of worms. lets have all spousal travel from all partys released and scrutinised, and with any one found to have breached the rules, having to resign immediatly. if the member is no longer sitting, then any funds are to be paid back immediatly.

    do it for the last fifteen to twenty years.
    thats the kind of open Govt i would like.
    • higherstandard 17.1

      14 December 2010 at 3:24 pm

      Won’t happen sadly, it’s a bizarre world when if she’d just spent up large on rorting the travel budget for holidays everyone would be happy and she’d still be happily sitting in parliament.

      No wonder the man in the street hates them.
18. Carol 18

    14 December 2010 at 3:36 pm

    And the Attorney General will no longer consider investigationg the Wongs:

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4455775/Auditor-General-rules-out-further-Wong-inquiry
    • Bored 18.1

      14 December 2010 at 3:48 pm

      Is this the same Auditor General who saw fit to create merry hell a few years back about election expenses? One might question partiality.
      • lprent 18.1.1

        14 December 2010 at 4:12 pm

        From memory it is a different one.
        • Alwyn 18.1.1.1

          14 December 2010 at 4:35 pm

          Yes it was a different person.
          I find it mildly amusing that on the previous occasion it was Pete Hodgson who complained about the Auditor-General getting involved and also said that the Labour Party would ignore him and that there was going to be no repayment of the money.
          He found out then, and I think he will find out again now, that the public trust the A-G a great deal more than they trust any politician. If he can’t persuade the A-G there is no way that he, or Phil will be able to persuade the public of any wrongdoing.
          If the Labour party want to continue with the campaign they are probably best keeping quiet about it in public until they have something that will persuade the A-G to have a look. To keep going on and have the A-G NOT take any notice only makes it look like an unjustified smear campaign.
          • lprent 18.1.1.1.1

            14 December 2010 at 4:41 pm

            To keep going on and have the A-G NOT take any notice only makes it look like an unjustified smear campaign.

            And what do you base that sweeping statement on?

            It never seemed to cause the NACT’s too much problem whilst they were in opposition.
            • Alwyn 18.1.1.1.1.1

              14 December 2010 at 7:21 pm

              I suggest that in a row between the A-G and politicians the politicians will never win.
              I think that is self-evident and was illustrated by the fuss over the spending during the 2005 affair. We were assured that the money was not going to be repaid by Pete Hodgson and by Winston Peters.
              In the end even the Labour realised that the public were not going to accept that and they belatedly paid it back. Winston never did and you can be quite sure that it will be brought up again and again if he does end up running again in 2011.
              The other parties who were pinged paid it back and that has been forgotten. Only Jim Anderton and the Maori Party came out looking pure. I know that the Maori Party had spent about $50 wrongly but I think that that can fairly be described as an accident.
              However attacks on the A-G backfired as the public DID trust him over the politicians.
              My argument on any further attacks on the Nats as looking like a smear campaign is that if people have to make a choice between the A-G and politicians they will always back the A-G. Anyone in that position is going to be believed. If a politician claims corruption and the A-G does not the A-G is going to be believed.
              • Pascal's bookie …

                14 December 2010 at 7:48 pm

                Going from the specific, to the general, provides a hypothesis, but only a fool would think it provides a ‘self evident’ conclusion.

                Maybe voters tend to think politicians are ripping them off, so when the A-G agrees with them, quelle surprise, they side with the A-G. It may be different when the A-G tells them that they just can’t be bothered looking into a case where an mp has resigned after weeks of saying they have no reason to resign.

                But maybe you are right, and the office of the A-G holds a high and unimpeachable position in the minds of the citizenry. How many people do you think could name the A-G by the way?
                • Alwyn …

                  14 December 2010 at 9:54 pm

                  Just two more things to say.
                  The A-G said that she had decided not to look into this BEFORE pansy Wong announced her resignation.
                  Does the name matter? Does anyone know the name of the Ombudsman?
                  Would you think people care who they are? They trust the position, not the particular person who holds it at at any given moment.
                  If Labour hope to get any traction out of this they have to provide everything to the
                  A-G and persuade her to look into it. If she still won’t give up. You can’t win and just look silly when you take on someone, or some position, that is respected more than you are. It would be like attacking Ed Hillary.
                  • Pascal's bookie …

                    15 December 2010 at 6:31 am

                    The A-G said that she had decided not to look into this BEFORE pansy Wong announced her resignation.

                    So?

                    They trust the position, not the particular person who holds it at at any given moment.
                    

                    Again, this is your hypothesis, for which you have very little evidence.

                    Saying the office of the A-G is like Ed Hillary, is just hilarious. Fergawdsake, the office is so well known that in today’s herald a political journo managed to transpose it with the Attorney-general. This happens all the time. The NBR does it as well. I’ve never seen a correction.

                    So yeah, just like Ed Hillary!!
    • interesting 18.2

      14 December 2010 at 4:04 pm

      To be factually correct there Carol she had decided BEFORE Wong resigned that there was NOTHING worth investigating.

      Your line: “And the Attorney General will no longer consider investigating the wongs” implies that she isnt going to investigate because of the resignation. Which is not true.
      • lprent 18.2.1

        14 December 2010 at 4:15 pm

        Link for that? I can’t see anywhere that says that in my brief look around.

        The dompost article that Carol linked to said

        The Auditor-General has ruled out an inquiry into National MP Pansy Wong’s spending just hours after her resignation this morning.

        My bold.

        Updated: Found it at the Herald (all I had to do was to read Dracos comment earlier in the messages)…
19. Bored 19

    14 December 2010 at 4:09 pm

    The whole Wong thing is a bit of an enigma really. How do these people think that they can get away with it? She has been the poster girl for the Nats for years, the nice cosy wholesome image of the Asian “Kiwi” doing the right thing and representing her community. All the time pretending to be the upright moral citizen, all the while being duplicitous. The Philip Field of the Nats, the person who gets chosen to represent their community on a broadly ethnic appeal and lets their side down badly. A person for whom butter would not melt in their mouth and meanwhile quietly helps themselves to our pockets. Good riddance.
    • bobo 19.1

      14 December 2010 at 4:37 pm

      is she taking the piss by doing a valedictory speech or what?
20. Herododus 20

    14 December 2010 at 4:28 pm

    Pansys final goodwill guestor- is to placve Botany onthe map. I imagine the locals would love to see all those senior Lab,Green, Nat and Act MP’s front up as they did at Mana and Mt Albert, and make themselves available and not be seen in a royal procession then pee off into the viaduct tfor dinner and stay. The local motels, cafes etc could do with the business. So thank you I imagine from Botany for Feb- Mar increase of the local economy as all that govt money will come south east, all thanks to PW. bless her 😉
21. Mrhappy 21

    14 December 2010 at 7:47 pm

    Sorry if I’ve missed something, but I’m getting confused by all the references to her just ripping off the travel perks.

    Wasn’t she (and/or) hubby doing private business from her electorate office? I would have thought that would have been grounds alone for an AG invstigation?

    Am I that wrong??

    (captcha: reasons heheheh)
22. Ianmac from the UAE 22

    14 December 2010 at 11:43 pm

    Glad that Pansy Wong has gone.
    But sad for the perception of our country honesty.
    But good that any “corruption” is dealt with.
    But sorry that the PM did not act decisively as a PM should.
    But pleased that there will be a by-election.
    But hope that Labour can improve their showing.
23. bobo 23

    15 December 2010 at 12:59 am

    small headline of a chinese company winning the 30mill kiwirail car contract,
    no mention made of sammy wongs possible involvement in tender process on msm…. amazed how this wong corruption affair is shut down so easy by national, so key will refuse to answer anymore questions saying hes not responsible for her like he did with worth,
    • Carol 23.1

      15 December 2010 at 7:32 am

      It’s not entirely shut down. There’s a new article on it this morning on Stuff:
      http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4458590/Wong-inquiry-inadequate
24. Ianmac from the UAE 24

    15 December 2010 at 7:35 pm

    A wee while ago I was talking to Max Bradford (Consultant now) who is still bitter about his being ousted by Boag. Yet when Boag appeared on the Panel she seemed to be devoid of nouse when matched with Brian Edwards.

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1. The Standard: posted on 13 December 2010 at 9:57 pm

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