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Anonymous donations
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Cronyism
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David Cunliffe
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Grant Robertson
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Judith Collins
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Labour Party
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Mud-slinging
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Oravida
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Secret trusts
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Smoking gun
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Winston Peters
Left-leaning bloggers and a few journalists were cock-a-hoop yesterday. Judith Collins' office released documents under the OIA which, they claimed, Proved beyond doubt that Mrs Collins' dinner in China was an official one, not a private one. Except the documents didn't prove that at all; if anything, they added weight to Collins' denials
Vernon Small reports on Stuff:
Justice Minister Judith Collins' office initially asked for a foreign affairs briefing before a controversial dinner in China with Oravida representatives and an unnamed border official.
Collins has insisted the dinner was a private affair with no official business discussed.
However, documents released to Fairfax Media under the Official Information Act show that five days before the dinner her office sought the briefing from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Mfat).
An October 15 email from her office noted:
"On Sunday, October 20, the minister will be having a dinner that will include (redacted name). He has agreed to meet with the minister arranged by Mr Stone Shi, Oravida. The minister would like ambassador Carl Worker and his wife to attend this dinner. A briefing from Mfat will be required."
Worker did not attend and the dinner went ahead with Collins, her official, Oravida executives Shi and Julia Xu and the Chinese official present.
But later emails show that Collins' office declined Mfat assistance and said no briefing would be required.
The New Zealand embassy in Beijing asked about the dinner and said it assumed the booking would be made by Shi. It also asked if transport was required.
Collins' office replied nothing was required from Mfat.
"The minister is having a private dinner on the Sunday evening."
Mfat's China unit policy officer, Nicholas Clutterbuck, advised that "while the dinner can be regarded as private, the minister cannot make unplanned/uncommunicated travel movements around Beijing during her stay".
Asked today why there was an initial request for a briefing before the dinner, and then it changed, Collins said:
"My office naturally asks for briefings for everything but it was a private dinner so it wasn't needed."
If Winston Peters and Grant Robertson were hoping to find a smoking gun yesterday in Ms Collins' OIA dump, they will have been somewhat disappointed. Judith Collins' handling of this issue may have been haphazard, but there is no evidence that she gave Oravida any favourable treatment as a result of the private dinner.
Labour now has a choice to make. Grant Robertson has pursued this matter now for two months. He has wasted a number of oral questions from Labour's daily allocation which could be used to hold the Government to account on other matters. When the House resumes on Tuesday, Judith Collins will still be on National's front bench.
There were signs when Parliament went into recess that the public was tiring of Labour's attack on Ms Collins, and reigniting the attack next week will be a risky strategy for Labour. It will be interesting to see how Labour handles this going forward, because it could all end very badly for them unless they find the smoking gun.
It was disclosed yesterday by the Electoral Commission that Oravida donated $30,000 to National just prior to Christmas. Labour of course sees this as further evidence of cronyism. But Oravida has a legal right to donate to any political party, and National has correctly declared the donation. Contrast that with David Cunliffe's lack of transparency over his anonymous donations to a secret trust last year. We suspect that Labour's angst is more because no one will give them the time of day, let alone any donations to be declared.
Winston Peters will continue to pursue this, because unsubstantiated allegations, threats of release of non-existant documents and innuendo are his stock-in-trade. Labour might be better advised to leave the mud-slinging to the master mud-slinger and look for more fertile ground.
