Legal Beagle: D-Day for Dunne (updated)
83 Responses
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BenWilson, in reply to
He could have got away with Unity Future, without having to change the signage.
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Rob Stowell, in reply to
He could have got away with Unity Future, without having to change the signage.
But think of all the Dunny jokes :)
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He considered leaking, but didn't. Possibly because of the $15,000 fine that Warrior got.
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Jane Clifton offers a cogent explanation of the whole strange affair.
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Experienced politicians are usually very careful with their words. “I did not have sex with that woman” comes to mind. So, PD assured the PM that he didn’t leak the report. He also says his relationship with Vance is entirely professional. The two other potential leakers are completely cleared. On the other hand, he admits to behaving with poor judgement and resigns. So, PD, what is your precise definition of, “leak the report”?
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BenWilson, in reply to
But Dunne isn't middle-aged. Definitely not mid-life, unless he lives to be 120. A "senior moment" seems more likely to me.
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Here's how Danyl characterises it.
...for no apparent reason other than that he liked and wanted to impress the journalist he leaked it to.
Dunne gave a tortured, rambling confession in his press conference while insisting that he didn’t actually leak the document. He just considered leaking it and talked about it with the journalist who the documents were leaked to, and arranged to meet her on the day they were leaked and disappeared from his office during the time he’d arranged to meet with her, but didn’t meet with her, but can’t say where he was.
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Sacha, in reply to
But Dunne isn't middle-aged
Seems to be a thing for boomer journos to describe their peers that way. Not old. No, not me.
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Paul Campbell, in reply to
So, PD, what is your precise definition of, “leak the report”?
And what do you mean by "professional relationship"?
ION: today's Tremain
http://garricktremain.com/media/PD1.jpg -
BenWilson, in reply to
Seems to be a thing for boomer journos to describe their peers that way. Not old. No, not me.
Heh. I'm in denial about being middle-aged, personally. At heart, I'm 25.
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A situation where I feel the chicken that crossed the road should have done so to die alone in the rain - I am proved wrong - again - as is the custom.
Taking care of number ones - I feel it in my bones – that although Dunny didn't disclose “the info” to the GCSB leak inquiry, that when Winnie got onto "it" Dunny and Keysie would have had a wee chat.
Dunny would have disclosed to Keysie the full extent of his stupidity - from that point a damage control policy kicks in the bones of which are Dunny resigns as Minster, and becomes the pretty absurd bank bench leader of a political non party.
In exchange for the resignation it is likely Dunny will help the seat pass to National and Dunny following the next election will get the cushy appointment of his choosing.
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BenWilson, in reply to
In exchange for the resignation it is likely Dunny will help the seat pass to National and Dunny following the next election will get the cushy appointment of his choosing.
That's a risky strategy. National may not get in. I don't think it's like that at all. I think it's more that Dunne is seriously over a barrel, and he is cowed into total submission and abject retreat in case the info gets out. I don't know what it is, and knowing what a straight arrow the guy is it could be hilariously minor. But who knows, maybe it's the locations of the other Hirsutati!
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Euan Mason, in reply to
"And what do you mean by “professional relationship”?
ION: today’s Tremain
http://garricktremain.com/media/PD1.jpg"But "entirely professional" has much less wiggle room. You can tell someone key bits of a report without actually releasing it to them. "Entirely professional" doesn't even allow for some flirting.
Love the cartoon, even though it is slightly cruel. :)
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FletcherB, in reply to
“Entirely professional” doesn’t even allow for some flirting.
Are you sure? If I and a prostitute have an "entirely professional" relationship... I expect some sweet-talking or flattery could well be exchanged in either direction, no? Just because it's not required doesn't mean it's ruled out entirely.
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In reply to FletcherB:
““Entirely professional” doesn’t even allow for some flirting.
Are you sure? If I and a prostitute have an “entirely professional” relationship… I expect some sweet-talking or flattery could well be exchanged in either direction, no? Just because it’s not required doesn’t mean it’s ruled out entirely.”
Yes that occured to me, but in this context PD ruled out anything sexual, unless, of course, he was lying. Add the evidence that the other two leaky prospects have been exonerated and a partial release of the document’s information without actually releasing the document is more likely.
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DexterX, in reply to
That's a risky strategy. National may not get in.
As I said just my guess - which is all one is left with when the “the info" is not disclosed.
The stupid that lead Dunny to become born again as the bank bench leader of a political non party will, likely, out in course of time.
Would be deserved if “the info” revealed a scandal - I have always felt he is two faced weasel wormrider.
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Ironic that the Minister of Stupidity will vote in support of changes to the GCSB act that allows them to spy on NZers, but his activities are to be private.
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Rob Stowell, in reply to
his activities are to be private.
Not so private when Winston gets to read them. It's quite incredible he can go where the inquiry couldn't. He seems to have many secret sauces :)
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Craig Ranapia, in reply to
Not so private when Winston gets to read them.
I guess it's totally beyond the realms of possibility that Winston's feeding a load of bullshit to inexplicably credulous hacks?
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Given the extraordinary level of security level accorded to what was a rather mundane report (in itself a facinating insight to the compulsive secrecy of our political elites), it is amazing Dunne thought he could get away with it. I thought it was fascinating that Winston Peters suggested on the Nation that our ESCHELON partners may have demanded we discover the mole in the highest level of our government who was leaking, because I imagine for the paranoid Langley spooks he could have been leaking all sorts of sensitive stuff to the Chinese as well.
My pet conspiracy theory on no evidence whatsoever beyond explaining where Winston Peters got all the emails is the GCSB gave the full, unexpurgated emails to him in the sure knowledge that he would bring Dunne down, something the resident spooks wouldn’t have been sure Key would have done. Now the GCSB can point to Dunne’s head on the platter and tell their mates in Washington they’ve got their trophy and the leaks have been plugged.
As for Dunne’s privacy – this is the man with the enabling vote to pass the Orwellian extensions of state surveillance in the Government Communications Security Bureau and Related Legislation Amendment Bill, which he says he will still vote for. I have great pleasure in watching that supercillious cock finally getting a taste of his own medicine. Politics isn’t a sport – it is about cold houses and hungry children, and for thirty years Dunne has acted as the ultimate grey man with no morals, enabling neo-liberalism and being available for hire to whoever would stoke his ego or whatever opportunist lobby group who knew his price whilst wanking on with his particular moralising and haughty arrogance about being “sensible”, as if he had a mortgage on common sense. Well, Mr. Sensible has finally been revealed to have feet of clay, and while I don’t like Winston Peters, he has done us all a favour in finally ridding us of Dunne.
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Bart Janssen, in reply to
I guess it’s totally beyond the realms of possibility that Winston’s feeding a load of bullshit to inexplicably credulous hacks
A politician saying things that are not true???????
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Just as a side note. While I love the fact that Dunne has had his pay cut, given his history of doing whatever it took to keep his cushy job, it seems a little odd to ses him thrown out for doing something I'd want more from our government.
Essentially what Dunne did was what should have happened in the first place. An open public enquiry. All too much of our government operates in secrecy. Either specific secrecy or simply important actions buried in mundane trivia.
We actually want to know explicity what our government is doing, and why, and oddly Dunne is being kicked to the curb for (allegedly) giving us more access to information, not less.
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BenWilson, in reply to
it seems a little odd to ses him thrown out for doing something I’d want more from our government.
It doesn't seem odd to me, people always get thrown out for leaks. What seems odd is just how happy people are about it. As you say, what he actually did was mostly the right thing. He's become an instant whipping boy for making some kind of mistake. We don't even really know what.
I don't like the guy. There's a lot of schadenfreude about this. But applauding the fact that a centrist in the current government has just been made into the gimp for Key gives me pause in gloating about his demise.
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Hebe, in reply to
Politics isn’t a sport – it is about cold houses and hungry children, and for thirty years Dunne has acted as the ultimate grey man with no morals, enabling neo-liberalism and being available for hire to whoever would stoke his ego or whatever opportunist lobby group who knew his price whilst wanking on with his particular moralising and haughty arrogance about being “sensible”, as if he had a mortgage on common sense.
Yes. Peter Dunne's hypocrisy has always riled me. And his supposed mortgage on the "common sense" area of politics.
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Matthew Poole, in reply to
Given the extraordinary level of security level accorded to what was a rather mundane report
Que? Aside from some appendices which were classified, the report was merely marked as “Sensitive”. That’s not a classification, in the sense of “national security threat”. The investigation report itself spells out where “Sensitive” fits in the pantheon, and it’s not even at the same level as the plebian “Confidential” (access to which one can gain on the strength of signing a couple of lightweight forms and submitting to the same criminal record check as is accorded to, for example, teachers and nurses).
Ignore Winston and his bloviation, because what he’s claiming about Dunne having broken the law isn’t supported by the facts that are in the public arena in the investigation into the report’s leaking.
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