Paging Heren Crark.... Part 2

Here at Sir Humphrey's we care so much about Helen Clark and her army of incompetent minions we've decided to take a little trip down memory lane.

This is Part 2 of a series. Part 1 was published yesterday.

Feel free to correct factual inaccuracies in the comments.


David Benson Pope - former Associate Minister of Education

• Has a long history of slurring political opponents. Examples: (1) falsely accused Rodney Hide of yelling out 'dopey niggers' in Parliament - Clark was forced to apologise on DBP's behalf; later he spread rumours amongst reporters that his claim was true despite Clarks apology. (2) related Destiny Church to Jewish headstone smashers and also compared them to Australian children who bullied AIDS sufferer Eva van Grafhors. (3) wrongly accused the Maxim Institute of using paid staff to subvert the submission process for the Civil Union Bill. (4) accused Maxim of having 'inextricable links' to right-wing fundamentalist Christian groups in the USA but could provide no evidence.
  
• Caught on video napping in Parliament.
• Suspended from his portfolios after being accused of physically abusing students during his teaching years. The worst accusation: that he stuffed a tennis ball in the mouth of one student and taped his hands to the desk so the ball couldn't be removed.
• Even though the results of the Police investigation have yet to to be released, DPB was reinstated to all his portfolios except Education.

George Hawkins - Minister of Police

• Repeatedly said in Parliament that he doesn't control 'operational matters' of the New Zealand Police and therefore isn't responsible for recent Policing scandals primarily caused by a lack of manpower.
  
• Later proven to have 'ring-fenced' new Labour Party spending so that Police are forced to use many new uniformed officers in traffic enforcement or community support-type roles.
  

Helen Clark - Prime Minister of New Zealand

• In reply to being asked how she could justify leaking the confidential Police Complaints Authority report on the Peter Doone investigation to the media, Clark said: "It is a matter of judgment for the Prime Minister how I use information from official reports. By definition, I cannot leak."
• Downloadable small video clips here.
• Later, full copies of the Police reports and newly released Cabinet documents showed that Clark did not in fact leak confidential Government documents - she fabricated untrue claims and confirmed untrue rumours but told the media they from the official reports.
  

Paul Swain - Associated Minister of Communications and Information Technology

• In mid-2004, told the media Telecom New Zealand would not be forced to unbundle its local loop and give up its monopoly on local telecommunications services and broadband Internet provision to New Zealand households and businesses.
• One month later reports surfaced suggesting Swain and other Goverment departments had been pushing for local loop unbundling, but had been over-ruled by Clark and the rest of Cabinet.
• During the 2005 election campaign, Labour announces new policy to force Telecom into reducing prices for broadband provision.

Lianne Dalziel - former Minister of Immigration
NOTE: Does anyone remember more about this?

• Removed from her portfolio after apparently lying to the public about the harrassment by Immigration Service staff of a Sri Lankan girl trying to get refugee status in New Zealand.

Jonathan Hunt - former Speaker of Parliament

• Infamous for wasting taxpayers money for his own benefit. Examples: (1) Spent $29,170 on taxi chits in one year. (2) After being appointed in London, Hunt made enquiries about joining the UK's pension scheme.
• Refused to get out of his limosuine and attend the 2005 ANZAC memorial service in London because it was raining.

Trevor Mallard - Minister of Sport

• After New Zealand was prevented from hosting Rugby World Cup matches in 2003, Mallard suggested a use on live radio for the products of the main sponsor: "place Heinekens in particularly uncomfortable places", in reference to IRB chairman Vernon Pugh.
• Helen Clark defended her Minister : "Anything [Trevor Mallard] says is done with what he thinks is the best interests of sport in mind."

George McNally - former board member of Te Wananga o Aotearoa

• Deloitte's consultant appointed to Te Wananga's board in 2003 to address 'management issues'
• Resigned from Te Wananga's board in December 2004 after sending an email to the Te Wananga Chairman warning of a "culture of extravagance and non-accountability among senior managers". This email was leaked to Act MP Ken Shirley who then documented various scandals at Te Wananga.

Parekura Horomia - Minister of Maori Affairs

• Horomia and Trevor Mallard accused Labour Department civil servant Amokura Panoho of performing duties for the newly-formed Maori Party during work hours.
• After being spoken to by the CEO of the Labour Department, Panoho resigned.
• Panoho later won a defamation case against Horomia and Mallard. She was awarded $7,500 and the allegations against her were rescinded.

Steve Maharey - Minister of Social Development

• Created the Community Education Group, which was responsible for various scandals involving misuse of public funds. Examples: (1) paid $26,000 for a woman to attend hiphop concernts in the USA; the woman was related to two CEG staff members. (2) paid $10,000 for a male strip revue.
• The CEG was closed down, though I suspect the individual programs have been shuffled elsewhere within Social Development.
• Maharey later told Parliament he would not have shut down CEG if it wasn't for the adverse publicity (see here - look for Muriel Newman's question).
• This is the same man who told former WINZ boss Christine Rankin: "Until you'd met me you'd led a life of shameless excellence".

Ray Smith - Chief of Work and Income New Zealand

• In mid-2004, various prominent GP's went on record saying they were being put under pressure to declare able-bodied dole beneficiaries as unfit for work so they could claim the sickness benefit; they also claimed the practice was encouraged by WINZ and had been going on for years.
• The doctors involved: (1) Doug Baird, Chairman of the Auckland GP and Independent Practitioners Association Council. (2) Peter Foley, Chairman of the NZ Medical Association's general practitioner council. (3) Christchurch GP Andrew Causer - "95 per cent of the patients he saw who wanted sick-notes were fit to work".(4) Whitianga GP Rod Hickey - "All were physically fit...". (5) The NZ Herald spoke with 12 other medical centres, all of which confirmed a substantial rise in people seeking medical assessments for WINZ purposes.
• Ray Smith denied the allegations.