August 2008

More backgrounder so you can understand the Scampi Scandal and why the secret tape was suppressed.

This is the valedictory speech of Ian Ewen-Street.

Richard, in case you hadn’t noticed, Sue is young, beautiful and highly intelligent, whereas I’m…. well, I’m not. Even my kindest friends would describe me as middle-aged, overweight and bald. Richard, that’s not a scandal, it’s a bloody miracle!

But I knew I’d chosen the right woman a few days later when we were walking through the Bowen House tunnel and came across Richard Prebble, so I stopped to introduce them. It’s not often you see him stumped for words, but he uttered not a syllable when Sue greeted him with the words “Hello Richard, thank you for making me famous!” and he was still recovering and backing off towards the travellator when Sue called out – “but watch out for my father, he still wants to kill you!” That’s my girl!!

Yes, the scampi scandal! I can joke about it now, but it was undoubtedly a difficult time for me. But a great lesson in life’s rich tapestry. A great experience in finding out who one’s friends are – or even more pertinently, who one’s friends aren’t!

My sincere thanks to all the members of the Primary Production Committee – especially David Carter, Doug Woolerton, Clayton Cosgrove, Gerry Eckhoff, Dover Samuels, Phil Heatley, Janet Mackey and Harry Duynhoven – I know I became the subject of some wonderful jokes for you, but I am also aware that your friendship and support kept me sane through that time. Thank you!

Working in the PPSC was a real highlight for me. I enjoyed the work, I enjoyed your company – including the support staff of Bob Bunch, Mary Hay and Steven Mitchell – and I shall miss you all.

But I also have to say that I am convinced that you got parts of the scampi inquiry badly wrong. I believe you shot the messenger and allowed the real culprits to get away with perpetrating one of the biggest frauds and one of the gravest injustices in NZ history.

I struggle with the suggestion from some people that there was no evidence of any wrong-doing. There was. Affidavits are sworn evidence. They have convicted murderers in the past. I agree that someone may argue that it may not be possible to string together a long sequence of events and say that they prove a certain outcome, but if you treat each piece of evidence as a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, there are more than enough pieces to see the overall picture of premeditated offending. And please don’t forget the evidence of the people who made submissions to the PPSC, but had their evidence returned because they alleged criminal behaviour and that was outside the terms of reference for the inquiry. How can you weigh up evidence if you send it back to the submitter, especially if you then claim there is no evidence?

If the next government wants to follow up on the scampi issue and restore my faith in the political system, I suggest that a good place to start their enquiries would be Helen Cull QC, the lawyer who convened the State Services Commission inquiry which ran in parallel with the PPSC inquiry. She got it right. She knows pretty much what happened, but her final report does not reflect this because her terms of reference were limited to investigating the role of the Ministry of Fisheries. I believe she should be asked to publish her real findings and the people guilty of raping and pillaging the scampi fishery brought to account.

I think the incoming government should also heed the words of former Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer when he described the criticism of the Ministry of Fisheries by both the PPSC and the State Services Commission as the most scathing criticism of a government department in NZ history. But what has happened as a consequence? Did anyone get sacked? Pensioned off? Slapped on the wrist with a wet bus ticket? No, nothing. The then CEO of the Ministry put out a press release saying that the Ministry had been vindicated. They had not. He should have been falling on his sword, but instead he continued the fantasy within the Ministry that somehow they are beyond the law, that they can ignore the rulings of the High Court and the Court of Appeal with impunity. And that they can ignore Parliament.

I believe the Ministry should also be made aware of their responsibilities under the Fisheries Act (and international treaties) to address the social and economic well-being of coastal communities. It is simply unacceptable that small fishers in such fisheries as cockles, whelks, geoducs, paddle-crabs, pilchards and others can be put out of business and their lives destroyed by the whim of ministry officials. The RMA is a tool in the toolbox of the management of fisheries, it is not an end in itself. And it most certainly should not be there for the purpose of hugely enriching a small number of fishers at the expense of others and the ecological sustainability of the fishery.

It is my opinion that this is a Ministry which needs a thorough shake-up in the upper echelons of the bureaucracy and imbued with the realization that they are public servants. They are paid to serve the public interest and they are there to manage the ecological sustainability of the fisheries of this country.

Well, my site has taken a hammering since posting the infamous secret scampi video. Now by way of a backrounder here is some filler information that tells you why this video is so explosive. It is from Hansard and the debate on Scampi. When you read this you can see why Winston Raymond peters, 63, List MP of no fixed abode is going to be squirmingthat the video has now seen the light of day. You would also do well to read Question 5 from the other day as well.

Hon KEN SHIRLEY (ACT): On 16 October 2001 Winston Peters, the leader of the New Zealand First Party, issued a press release. It was titled: “Gross incompetence in fisheries. Heads need to roll.” He was calling for a dismissal of the chief executive of the Ministry of Fisheries, and he claimed that the ministry was guilty of gross incompetence, faulty allocation of scampi quota, wanton disregard for due process, and unlawful treatment of fishers. He called on the Minister of Fisheries to invoke an immediate inquiry. He said that the allocation of scampi was to be taken away from the ministry, as it could not be trusted. Those were very serious allegations, and some even called them reckless. It was classic Winston Peters innuendo.

Six months later, on 24 April 2002, in the general debate-this very debate we are having now-Winston Peters lambasted the Minister of Fisheries for not taking action. He accused the Ministry of Fisheries of condoning corruption, aiding and abetting corruption, and involving itself in that corruption. Winston Peters said: “I will produce evidence that the ministry knowingly condoned that corruption.” He went on further to say: “In the next few weeks I intend to demonstrate with voluminous evidence and affidavits why this ministry should be removed from its job and the Serious Fraud Office asked, belatedly, to do its job.”

Eventually, a parliamentary inquiry into the scampi allegations was instigated by the Primary Production Committee, following a very high-profile Assignment programme that screened on television. One would have expected Winston Peters, having made those allegations, to rejoice at having got that inquiry but, oh no, he gave not a whisper, not a murmur. He quickly replaced Doug Woolerton, the permanent New Zealand First member on that select committee, and then spent his time focusing on narrowing and closing the terms of reference for the committee. It was all, one would say, rather curious.

The Primary Production Committee sat for several months, consumed an enormous amount of Parliament’s time, and reported on 2 December 2003. Winston Peters produced no evidence to support the reckless allegations he had made, and he certainly did not table the “voluminous evidence” he had promised. He was as quiet as a lamb, with barely a whisper.

Last night on television further allegations were made, and reference was made to a sworn affidavit. The functioning of this Parliament and its processes was raised, and the programme focused on a former member of this House-perhaps one of the most unsavoury members who has passed through this House-a Mr Ross Meurant.

It seems that a former member of Parliament, Ross Meurant, was engaged by Simunovich Fisheries as an adviser and lobbyist. Concurrent with that, of course-and a lot of people do not realise this-Mr Meurant was also hired by the New Zealand First Party and was on its payroll; actually, on the taxpayers’ payroll through the Parliamentary Service.

We were told that Mr Meurant attended several meetings, together with principals of Simunovich Fisheries. Mr Meurant’s former partner of some 9 years, Yvonne Theresa Dossetter, swears that Ross Meurant met at the Simunovich’s olive farm following the infamous Kermadec restaurant meal, and the proposal was put that the payment of $300,000 to Meurant would be a good investment for the Simunovich business. It is alleged that the deed was done, and that the money would be available from an Australian bank account. Subsequently, it is alleged that Mr Meurant boasted to Yvonne Dosseter, who has sworn an affidavit, that the money was paid, and that Meurant indeed had it in a brown paper bag.
This is an extremely serious allegation, and it brings into question in the public’s mind the functioning of our representative democracy. What we have to realise is that Winston Peters was in there with him.

Watch this video. It is the whole secret video that has been suppressed by legal action since 2004. The allegations contained in this video are explosive. It was sent to me on DVD in an unmarked brown envelope postmarked from Henderson. I do not know who sent it, though I have verified it is authentic and additional footage supplied shows it to be authentic. This video was removed from the TVNZ newsroom and was in an unknown location until Rodney Hide raised the details in parliament. Then TVNZ miraculously “found” the tapes sitting in a lawyers office.

If true then justice in respect of the select committee inquiry into the Scampi Quota allocations has seriously been perverted. Not only that you have to ask why the person who insisted on the inquiry in the first place then changed his tune during  the inquiry.

People have been beaten up and in an attempt to stop you seeing the video. I will probably get a hiding now for publishing it, but I have published it because it is very much in the public interest to do so. It appears that a parliamentary select committee has been compromised through bribery, corruption and perjury. This goes to the heart of our democracy. I am going to need legal representation after showing this  video to the world.

More important though is why has the government remained so silent on this. Under the “no surprises” doctrine, surely the Finance Minister and the Broadcasting Minister at the time must have been alerted to the explosive contents of this video, and at the time it was filmed we know that the TVNZ board was leaking like the proverbial collander to the Prime minister herself. Further the ongoing ramifications of wealthy business interests and politicians maintaining legal proceedings with huge sums attached in order to suppress this information strikes the foundations of NZ politics.

Now the information is in the public domain thanks to WOBH, where sunlight is the best disinfectant, we need to urgently look at establishing an Independent Commission against Corruption and a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Scampi Allocation and subsequent perjury allegations contained in this video. Remember we are not talking about a lowly backbencher or associate minister getting some tiling done here, we are talking about New Zealand’s face around the world, our government representative, the Foreign Minister and/or the Prime Minister.

Watch the Video

Also available at;

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If Winston Raymond Peters, 63, List MP of no fixed abode thinks a pesky little Serios Fraud Office investigation isn’t anything to flip your wig over wait until he sees the video I’m going to post shortly.

Eight new faces in Labour list – Labour announced its party list today, promoting eight new faces over some sitting MPs. [3 News Politics]

The Labour list is out and has been touted as having 8 new faces. Slight problem though one is old, as at 62 Rajen Prasad is certainly past it and Raymond Huo is hardly a spring chicken either.

So whilst they have a list they still don’t have any policy as confirmed in an email from Dinah Okeby a ninth floor apparatchik.

From: Tom S
Phone: None
Message:

Hi guys,

Am making my decision for this year’s election, and am trying to look at all the policies of the various parties to work out where I stand.

I can only seem to access the 2005 election Labour policy on your website.

Could you please send me the link to your 2008 policy?

Thanks a lot -

Tom Symonds

________________________________

Hi – thanks for your email.

Labour’s 2008 policies will be released a bit closer to the election.

I have put you on our mailing list to receive them once they are available.

Thanks for your interest.

Dinah Okeby

Private Secretary

So there we have it, from the horses mouth so to speak, Labour has no policy, none that they are willing to share at the least. What on earth is their secret agenda?

Secret tapes of the meeting between Helen Clark and Winston Raymond Peters, 63, List MP of no fixed abode have been leaked.

Stephen Franks has the transcript. (Sheesh, and I thought Stephen didn’t have a sense of humour)

Everyone by now knows that Winston Raymond Peters, 63, List MP of no fixed abode has a blog. The posts are written as if Winston wrote them.

Except he doesn’t. He hasn’t written so much as one single post at all.

If you use a semi-decent RSS reader you can find that it has a ‘Author’ field in the list of postings – useful on multi-author blogs to see who is posting. Looking at “Winston Says” I was not at all surprised to see that the authors of all of the postings so far are either Frank (the last 4) or Lauralee (the first 2), which makes me wonder if Winston can’t turn on a computer, can’t type, can’t work out to log in, can’t remember his password, doesn’t have any thoughts of his own, is he actually a remote controlled puppet?

If he is a remote controlled puppet then whose hand is up his arse?

Given that “Frank” wrote the latest drivel I wonder if “Frank” is actually a pseudonym for Tommy Gear (is that his real name?) as “Frank” seems to be living with WRP, 63, LMPONFA in order to write about the media “peering through our fence”. Hmmmm…last time I check it was Jan Trotman’s fence not “ours”.

The man is a fake from the top of his wig covered hair to his fake writings on his fake blog. Faker….or is it Fakir.

Editorial: Whatever fraud office finding, it’s time to pull plug on Peters – New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is one of the great survivors of our political history. But the possibility that he might survive the storm now battering him does not alter the fact that he should not. It is possible that… [NZ Herald Politics]

The Herald on Sunday editorial pulls no punches and why would they after the NZ Herald has been horribly besmirched by Winston Raymond Peter, 63, List MP of no fixed abode.

They call for Clark to show some decisiveness and cast WRP, 63, LMPONFA adrift into electoral oblivion. She won’t for some strange reason and is clinging to his political corpse with all the will she can muster.

It is confirmed labour are broken-arsed. They have no money and their own Electoral Finance Act is slapping them silly. To make matters worse they have been on the bludge from Owen Glenn again despite bad-mouthing him all over town.

I agree with John Key when he says we have a bizarre situation where Labour trusts Owen Glenn enough to go on the bludge when they are short of readies but the moment he opens his mouth to spill the beans on Winston Raymond Peters, 63, List MP of no fixed abode all of a sudden he is “confused” and “drunk” and “can’t tell one maori from another”.

“The prime minister now needs to tell New Zealanders on how many occasions she raised the contradictary version of events with Mr Peters and Mr Glenn, and furthermore, why she didn’t instruct Mr Peters to directly contact Mr Glenn when he clearly refuted his version of events in February,” said Key.

Helen Clark does indeed need to come clean. It is her, specifically, that has the secrets and the secret agenda. Honesty and truthfulness are not familiar companions of the Prime Minister it seems. Less than 80 days out from an election it is Labour that is bereft of policy and Labour that is short of cash. Just what is their secret agenda? Why are they hiding their policy? Why does their state-funded website not have any new policy since 2005?

Labour are out of money, out of ideas and soon to be out of government.

Hone Harawira is a man known for his blunt views. Today in the Sunday Star Times he has been more blunt and frank than usual.

“They’re suffering from the arrogance of being in power too long. At the moment they’re a coalition corpse. They’re gone, and anybody who is associated too closely with them is likely to be gone as well.”

Indeed, and so ironic given Helen Clark’s penchant for corpse cuddling. A note to Phil U…..Where’s Labour’s partners?….evaporating is where.