Posted by Blogger Name. Category:
David Cunliffe
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Hypocrisy
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John Banks
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John Key
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Labour Party
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Phillip Field
It's early in the day to be featuring a Comment of the Day. But when we saw this one at Kiwiblog last night, our day was almost done, so it was filed away for use this morning; here 'tis:
Nostradamus (2,842 comments) says: June 8th, 2014 at 8:36 pm
The man who describes himself as the Leader of the Opposition, David Cunliffe, has issued a media release:
John Banks’ resignation was inevitable but should have come a lot sooner, Labour Leader David Cunliffe says.That media release makes an interesting contrast from this one back in 2009:
“The only reason Mr Banks has remained in Parliament for so long is because John Key and National needed his vote.
…
“This government’s mandate has rested on a man found guilty of a serious electoral offence; on Peter Dunne, stripped of his ministerial warrants after he lost the trust of the Prime Minister having allegedly leaked a classified GCSB report; and on a Maori Party cravenly propping up the government.
“The Banks saga has underlined how desperate National is to stay in power. New Zealanders are now asking serious questions about the integrity of this government,” David Cunliffe said.
Labour acknowledges the jury’s decision today on charges brought against Taito Phillip Field after a long and difficult trial, Labour Chief Whip Darren Hughes said.As DPF blogged at the time, Labour could only bring themselves to “acknowledge” the decision. This, as we all know, followed Labour’s prolonged defence of Field between 12 September 2005 and 31 August 2006 – see DPF’s detailed timeline here. And, for good measure, Field was actually expelled from Labour for the cardinal sin of not ruling out standing for another party at the election – nothing to do with his other shady activities.
“Mr Field was expelled from the Labour Party in 2007. Labour has acted in good faith throughout this process.
“The jury has decided that Mr Field acted illegally.
“The judge is yet to sentence Mr Field. Labour will make no further comment.”
So, once again, Labour expose themselves as complete hypocrites.
Many commentators have drawn a parallel between Field's conviction and imprisonment and Banks' offending. Apart from the fact that they both involved MPs, the two cases have little in common.
Phillip Field used his position as an MP to offer favours to vulnerable potential immigrants, implying that he could offer them favours in return for free work. That was indeed blatantly corrupt. John Banks however was a private citizen when he filed his campaign return, having lost the Auckland mayoral election to Len Brown. He would not become an MP for another 12 months.
Labour's refusal to denounce Phillip Field, even after he had been found guilty by a jury is telling. As Nostradamus notes above, Field was not expelled from Labour because of the offences he was (at the time) alleged to have committed. He was expelled because he rained on Helen Clark's parade, refusing on the day she was giving her State of the Nation speech to Parliament to rule out that he might be setting up a new political party.
So David Cunliffe's statement about Banks needs to be seen for what it is; political opportunism. Where was his righteous indignation, when day after day Lockwood Smith was grilling Labour over Field's indiscretions and the shonky Ingram Report, which of course reached exactly the conclusion that its Terms of Reference had intended?
Mr Cunliffe is in no position to lecture John Key. If however he was to reveal who the anonymous donors to his Labour's Got Talent campaign were, and admit his hypocrisy in using a secret trust to hide those anonymous donations, he might, like John Banks, be taking the first steps towards redemption.
