Posts by Felix Marwick
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Sunlight is the best antiseptic.
Also this is an organisation that wants political power. Best it gets as much scrutiny as possible. Of course that doesn't mean blindly regurgitating their every statement.
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If it helps-
Court proceedings are covered by privilege.
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I agree - huge.
As for it's accuracy that's another matter. I'm not sure NZ has got quite that conspiratorial just yet. I'm positive there'd be plenty of people within the Police who'd have a quiet word in a friendly journo's ear if politicians were putting the squeeze on them and telling them how to do their job. NZ is just too small for those sorts of things to happen and someone not tell someone else about it.
Mind you Bill was a political journo' when I was still in short pants so I'm not going to dismiss what he says out of hand. No doubt he's still got some pretty good contacts in all sorts of interesting places.
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You know I almost feel bad about writing that Destiny story now.
Though I must emphasise the word "almost".
Interviewing Brian Tamaki is always an interesting experience
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Note the 14 bribery charges aren't representative, or at least they don't appear to be.
That suggests multiple instances - though we'll have to wait until a Court hearing to know more. Even Simativa Perese seemed surprised at the number according to the way he's been quoted.
Still if it does get to a hearing I'd guess there's a very good chance he'll apply for a stay in proceedings. Given the media coverage of the past 18 months (guilty) I wouldn't be surprised if Perese argues it's been prejudicial to Taito's chances of getting a fair trial
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If he goes to trial it isn't over by a long shot.
Can you imagine what will happen if he goes to Court in election year? You can all but guarantee there will be intense scrutiny of his political activities and that means there'll be a fair chance the actions of other Labour MP's and Ministers will be discussed in open Court.
Now given Mr Field made over 400 immigration representations to the Minister and Associate Minister of Immigration how do you think they'll be feeling about the prospect?
Not too happy would be my guess.
Also I note Section 103 states it's an offence to both accept and offer a bribe. Isn't it interesting that the police only want to lay charges against Field and no-one else?
Can we assume from that the Crown has offered immunity in exchange for testimony? I'll be interested to see how that pans out.
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I should note that Garry Moore is a longtime Hard News reader and may well see this ...
Oh good. Then he'd be able to explain some of the more interesting and ineffectual schemes trialled by his Council to deal with young drivers.
My personal favourite was the 50 thousand dollars the Christchurch City Council spent on a burn-out pad at Ruapuna Raceway. It was never used.
Turned out if there'd been an accident on it the Council/event organiser would have been liable for prosecution.
The other one was the "Boyracer hangout" proposed by then Councillor Ingrid Stonhill. The idea was to open up a carparking building in the city centre on Friday and Saturday nights where car enthusiasts could get together.
Again it died a slow and painful death. Surprisingly no-one was too taken with it.
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geez what's with the angst against Craig? To be honest I don't see what the fuss is about. Sure he may be a bit acid at times but at least he backs up his arguments with reasoned debate.
If anyone's taken offence at his comments please consider this:
Would you rather debate D4J?
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. If anyone wants to bring any actual evidence that the National Party is financing or covertly helping Investigate's brand of gutter filth, put it on the table. I wouldn't want to support an organisation like that in any way - financial, with my time and labour, or (most importantly) at the ballot box. All's fair in love and war - but not politics.
For what it's worth I may be able to help out here. The silence from National (and every other political party bar Labour) can solely be attributed to the fact they don't want to touch Wishart's story with a bargepole.
The only comment that's been made was by Simon Power and it was to the effect he hoped the matter didn't furter erode public confidence in the police - and that was restricted solely to Commissioner Broad's position regarding the film (or should that be chick flick?).
Basically the party line is they don't want to be involved. And fair enough too as politically it'd do them more harm than good.
National has reason to be wary of Wishart. They've been on the receiving end of his stories before and no doubt expect to be again if, or when, they form a Government. So they've got absolutely no reason or desire to be developing a relationship with him.
As for the comments/insinuations that senior Labour Party members have been making regarding the Exclusive Brethren well that you can lay at the media's door. Once Idour's involvement was confirmed it was a question that had to be asked. It was kind of like the elephant in the room scenario - everyone knows its there but doesn't want to acknowledge it.
The Exclusive Brethren, through their spokesman Tony McCorkell, disavow any involvement and say they cut their ties with Idour some time ago.
Hopefully this story is now over.
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Actually the information about Idour was only pinned down conclusively yesterday. As for the line that Idour's been going around peddling his story to the media, as far as I know, that hasn't happened (though it's entirely possible).
In fact he's been somewhat incommunicado