David Shearer

ᔥ Kiwiblog

David Farrar has come up with a good idea. I think it has much merit and David Shearer should really look at this as a way to extricate himself from the ditch he has dug so far.

We definitely need a full inquiry into this. The problem is that if the National Government establishes an inquiry into the actions of a Labour Minister, it looks hopelessly partisan no matter how credible a person is appointed.

But if David Shearer was to come out and agree to an independent inquiry, and agree on the terms of reference with the Prime Minister – then that would be a great sign of bipartisanship – and would allow the true facts to be established.

The whole case is very murky. The person who helped Liu apply for citizenship was a fundraiser for the Labour Party. His brother worked for Shane Jones. Liu had donated to at least three MPs (two Labour, one National) and may held fundraisers at his restaurant which may have raised tens of thousands of dollars. And not only was the citizenship granted despite the official advice, a Labour MP arranged a special citizenship ceremony in the Maori Affairs Select Committee Room at Parliament just a few days later.

Speaks for itself, but David Shearer was in full frontal attack when going after John Banks on Breakfast.

Very different to the David Shearer that fronted on Larry Williams NewstalkZB show last night.

ᔥ NZ Herald

John Armstrong has excoriated the double standards of Labour leader David Shearer:

A straightforward case of glasshouses and the indiscriminate chucking of large rocks by Labour’s leader therein?

David Shearer took a firm line on John Banks’ recent troubles, demanding the Act leader be stood down as a minister while police investigate whether he breached local body electoral law.

That stance has come back to bite Shearer big-time in the form of Labour MP Shane Jones and the case of his four-year-old ministerial approval – despite officials’ advice – of citizenship for a Chinese millionaire who also happened to be a donor to the Labour Party.

The Prime Minister is accusing the Labour leader of hypocrisy. John Key is right. In failing to stand down Jones from his front bench, Shearer has not been 100 per cent consistent in applying the same standard to one of his MPs as he demanded should be applied to Banks.

John Armstrong forgets that John Banks was a private citizen whereas Shane Jones was actually a minister when he made the decisions.

He goes further:

That said, the conjunction of citizenship approvals, claims of having mates in Parliament and political donations make for a nasty smell which needs the application of political disinfectant. Jones could make life a lot easier for Shearer and things a lot clearer if he explained exactly why he approved Yan’s citizenship despite Yan being red-flagged by Interpol. Jones, however, is not commenting until Yan’s trial on fraud charges is over.

One thing that all political pundits and tragics should be aware of…that when Trevor Mallard is flinging around accusations about some sort of dodgy behaviour in National then he is covering from similar behaviour coming to light about one of Labour’s own. Labour attacked John Banks because they knew the Bill Liu case was coming up and they were hoping to bury their dodgy and shonky dealings under the political death, or so they hoped, of John Banks.

ᔥ NZ Herald

There is a reason that David Shearer won’t act on the Shane Jones corruption allegations. It is the Beaumont Effect.

If he acts and Shane jones exits parliament then the next person on the Labour list is Carol Beaumont. Shearer would lose a vital vote and David Cunliffe would gain one. Neither Shearer nor Labour really need another hard left unionist back in parliament.

Labour MP Shane Jones has spoken publicly for the first time on his granting citizenship to a Chinese businessman against official advice, saying he stands by his decision.

It comes as Prime Minister John Key accused Labour leader David Shearer of being “hypocritical” in demanding Act leader John Banks be sacked while accepting his own MP Shane Jones’ word he had acted properly in the case.

Mr Shearer yesterday said he accepted Mr Jones’ assurances that he followed proper processes when he approved a citizenship application by William Yan, also known as Bill Liu, in 2008.

At the time, there was concern about Yan’s multiple identities and a warrant for his arrest in China.

Yan has pleaded not guilty to charges of falsifying immigration documents and his trial in the High Court at Auckland ended yesterday.

The judge is expected to make a reserved decision on Thursday.

We will all know when Labour are serious about winning back power. They will show they have a moral compass. At the moment they are oscillating from one disaster to the next.

Trevor Mallard and Andrew Little have shown contempt for the law, their peers and their opponents by acting like school boys over being served papers. David Shearer should have told them to arrange to receive the papers and either go to court or apologise, as by avoiding being served they give the impression they think they are above the law.

Shearer himself has had an absolute shocker on the Shane Jones Bill Lui scandal. Whatever this blokes name really is he should never have been given citizenship and should never have had a function in the Labour caucus room celebrating getting his citizenship. A moral leader would have asked Jones to leave parliament.

The problem for Labour is while they have ethical and moral issues surrounding them they cannot put pressure on National over their ethics violations. An opposition is supposed to be very moral, and Labour are not.

It looks like Shane Jones is getting squirrelly…

What’s going on in Labour?David Shearer says Shane Jones will answer questions but Shane’s changed his mind and won’t.

— H du Plessis-Allan (@hdpaONENEWS) May 21, 2012

Not sure that is going to work, neither is being silly with names:

“Ching Chong Ming”On the phone, how Shane Jones referred to the Chinese millionaire on fraud charges. (aka Yong Ming Yan)

— H du Plessis-Allan (@hdpaONENEWS) May 21, 2012

ᔥ Stuff.co.nz

David Shearer is in full damage control mode and dancing on the head of a pin in trying to explain the actions of Shane Jones in the Bill Liu affair. Unfortunately if you are explaining you are losing:

Labour leader David Shearer says he has received assurances from Shane Jones that he followed due process in granting citizenship to Bill Liu, also known as Yong Min Yan, when he was associate immigration minister.

Yan is currently on trial on four counts of fraudulently using documents to gain access to New Zealand and one count of making a false statement.

Last week the court was told that Yan boasted to immigration officials that he had MP friends who would ensure he got citizenship.

Shearer today said he would not stand Jones down from his responsibilities.

After hearing the allegations, which he took seriously, he had spoken to Jones and sought the assurances.

Over the weekend he had talked to other MPs who were aware of the issues involved and he had also reviewed the information Jones had at the time.

“Having looked at the material we have available, it appears that the process which Yong Min Yan (Bill Liu) was granted citizenship was considered and proper.”

He said Labour did not have access to departmental files, but was relying on information retained by Jones about the case.

Jones had denied any pecuniary association with Liu.

“He has received no money, gift or travel.”

“Shane is not a friend of Mr Liu. He believes he has met him on one or two occasions.”

David Farrar busts that lame excuse wide open:

So $8,000 was donated to Dover, from someone living at the address registered to a staff member in Shane Jones’ office.

It is obvious Shane Jones approved the citizenship because his very good mate Dover Samuels asked him to do so. Just as Damien O’Connor used to grant residency to almost anyone Taito Philip Field asked him to. Dover was a beneficiary of donations from Liu, as were other MPs. Was Jones aware of this? Was Jones aware that Liu’s restaurant had hosted fundraisers which can bring in tens of thousands of dollars, none of which gets disclosed as they count as coming from each individual who attended.

ᔥ NZ Herald

The NZ Herald has finally woken up to the fact that in the court in Auckland there is an apparent case of political corruption unfolding that doesn’t involve National, or ACT, or John Banks. But it took a Wellington based gallery journalist to right it because David Fisher is still fixated on fruit bowls.

David Shearer, who was quick to call for John banks to resign or be stood down doesn’t think there is anything untoward in the Bill Liu case that warrants Shane Jones or indeed David Cunliffe being stood down or even axed altogether.

Mr Shearer has been calling on Act leader John Banks to be relieved of his ministerial portfolios while police investigate whether he breached the Local Government Electoral Act by declaring donations to his 2010 Auckland mayoral campaign from German billionaire Kim Dotcom as anonymous.

But he said last night the questions around Mr Jones’ involvement in the Yan case were not as serious as those around Mr Banks donations from Dotcom.

The strength of the evidence against Mr Jones was “very arguable”.

David Shearer is wrong on this. He has played “gotcha” politics despite saying he wouldn’t and now it is one of his own under the cosh.

There is a massive difference between a private citizen lobbying for someone, who incidentally was refused that for which he wished and the case of Bill Liu where two ministers went against official’s advice. Bill Liu got exactly what he asked for and not only that was almost paraded by Labour MPs as they bestowed citizenship upon him in what is probably the fastest ever recorded application for citizenship.

It lloks very much like corruption,  and Shane Jones and David Cunliffe were ministers at the time, in government, not private citizens. Those are the facts as presented in a court, not the mad ramblings of a fat German git.

David Shearer needs to act with integrity, so far he hasn’t.

There is an interesting contrast developing between the cases of Kim Dotcom and Bill Liu.

They are both similar in many ways. Foreigners with money, obtained according to media reports through illegal and/or immoral methods…both seeking a home in New Zealand and both bestowing patronage upon politicians in order to gain favours and sway.

At that point the comparison needs to shift from the monied foreign influencers attempting to buy influence in order to pervert laws, regulations and politicians onto the politicians that were supplied with the cash to smooth that perversion.

It seems that John Banks said no…when the requests became too much. Labour on the other hand seems to have supplied many politicians who not only were bought off but actually delivered the goods that the donor was wanting.

Labour has made much of calling John Banks corrupt, when the real descriptor should possibly be inept. But so far they haven’t squawked at their more apparent corruption and involvement with the Bill Liu case.

Kim Dotcom got nothing other than a private citizen asking a minister to consider the case of his immigration favourably. That minister said no.

Bill Liu though had many politicians lobbying, and several ministers acting with alacrity and against official advice.

David Shearer has been quick to call for people to stand aside and resignations for John Banks, but not so quick in holding his own to account. Perhaps he is worried because it appears on the evidence thus far that only David Cunliffe acted properly when faced with a conflict of interest.

David Fisher too has none nothing about the Bill Liu case but enthusiastically reports the price of fruit baskets. So far the credits in the media go to the Dompost journalists, including Dana Levy who are actually reporting the news.

Both Kim Dotcom and Bill Liu thought that donations and influence worked the same way as where they are from. John Banks told Kim Dotcom that wasn’t the case and as a result he has been smeared three ways from Sunday in the media. Labour played ball with Bill Liu and so they must now suffer the consequences politically of enabling a corrupt Asian businessman to gain entry and citizenship in a manner that does not look good for them or the country that had prided itself on being the least corrupt int he world.

Last night on Campbell Live they tried to discover just who David Shearer was…it was pure gold.