Peters Winston: Urgent Debates — Ministerial Resignation—Member for TamakiMakaurau 
Peters Winston: Urgent Debates — Ministerial Resignation—Member for TamakiMakaurau 
[Volume:621;Page:16533] 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 Sometimes in politics one makes a serious mistake and gets overconfident and the ramifications last for a long long time. Back in 1999 Mr Tamihere constructed a cardboard cut-out of myself put Sellotape over the top of my mouth and went around telling people that I would not debate with him—even though he had never ever asked me to at any point in time. I just want to quote from a newspaper article of 16 November 1999: “A ‘paper war’ has erupted between Labour candidate John Tamihere and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters over their respective track records.” John Tamihere is quoted as saying: “He [Peters] says he will meet me anywhere anytime but I can’t get him to come to the table.” 
Well we have all seen the ramifications of that in the last few weeks because what happened was that Mr Tamihere was challenging a member of Parliament in respect of his record so we laid it out before the public and the media in 1999. What I do not understand is why it has taken 5 long years for it to become public knowledge. I just want to say to Helen Clark that in 1999 she was given all the warning a leader would need that something was amiss here. She was given all the notice a leader would need that something was wrong—bearing in mind that we in New Zealand First all dramatically remember the attack she led against Tuku Morgan. She called it sleaze. She gave it every description possible. She said it was absolutely abominable that someone might walk out of his office at half-past 3 on a Friday afternoon having been paid to do the job that he was doing then spend his money on something that looked to be expensive—even though it was his money. Even though a schoolteacher might leave school at half-past 3 on a Friday afternoon and go out to a restaurant she still regarded that as being public property. Four full inquiries later into the affairs of Tuku Morgan and Aotearoa Television found nothing wrong whatsoever. But that did not stop the mob in the press gallery from going on about it for 10 long months and following Helen Clark’s every word. 
Today she gets up in this House and she uses the word “honour”. Honour! The reality is that John Tamihere said back in 1999 when he was challenged that he would not take a golden handshake and that there was no car involved. Today we have his admission that those statements were false. How the Prime Minister can say now that she did not know is beyond me. It is simply beyond me. Her colleagues go to the Maori Affairs Committee; there a former lawyer for the Waipareira Trust outlined his concerns where he is the star witness of 32 cheques being forged and apparently not one of her colleagues left that select committee and went and told her. Do members believe that? 
Opposition Members 
: No. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: I am having the greatest difficulty understanding how that information would not have been instantly relayed to the leader. But if we go back to the Tuku Morgan affair who led the charge? Mr Mallard and Helen Clark—day in day out. And the media put in every darn word. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Why is Tuku chicken to go to court? 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: About what? 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: He is suing me but he won’t go to court. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Maybe he cannot afford it. But if I were in that case I would be going to court with that member because he falsely used a tape-recording and he knows it. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: No no. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: He took a tape-recording and misused it and that would be tampering with evidence. That is what Mr Mallard did and he knows that is true. But more important all those allegations were made by that member but four full-scale inquiries—the commerce department the Companies Office the Serious Fraud Office and one other—found nothing. But the mob was out. Some might call it just being plain anti-Maori. 
Ron Mark 
: No—there is a woman scorned. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: No no—I remember that attack. And today we are asked to accept that all is above board and this is a matter of honour. Well there is no honour in it whatsoever. 
Pita Paraone 
: He’s a goner. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: That is right and we are getting hoha about that koha because it was not koha; it was $280000 and there was a car involved. And there were for example loans involved—loans written off. Here is what John Tamihere said about his house loan. When I accused him of getting a house loan and being charged 5 percent when the current mortgage rate was 12.8 percent he said he recalled getting a home loan from the trust in 1991 but could not remember the details. What lawyer cannot remember the details of his own house loan? What lawyer cannot remember those sorts of details? 
Here is the second matter. Members will remember that Mr Tamihere said when he got up in the House that he was not convicted of any crime such as forging and uttering. The reason for that was that he had confessed! Do members see the delicate use of words that might mislead people as to what the truth is? I am sad to say there is just too much of it. 
Up in the press gallery of course its members say that John Tamihere is a Maori leader. What they would know about Maoridom is beyond me but they keep on writing that. They say he is a Maori leader. They know nothing about Maoridom. They know nothing about the standards that enduring Maori leadership requires. They know nothing about how Maori feel when they see that their money is going to someone who should not be getting it. 
A golden handshake of $280000 is huge and one cannot say: “Take off the tax component.”—we all have to pay tax. But it was not just that; there was a four-wheel drive as well—and if that is not good enough there are plenty of other things as well. And here come the Labour Party and Mr Tamihere today saying: “Oh it’s a back payment for this and that and this and that over 10 years.” Well I am sorry but as some people in this House know I have always believed that this issue of the golden handshake would be his undoing—as well as other things. Labour members can put any spin on it they like but I am afraid it will not wash. I recall during the 1999 campaign the numerous times Helen Clark rose with her colleagues to criticise the golden handshake mentality. Oh they were imperious then! Were they not as pure as the driven snow back then! But all of a sudden we know that there are different standards when they get into office and have power. 
So I am sad to say that Maoridom has been let down again and grievously so. They were told by the media that a new rising star had just risen in the east. That is what they were told—or in this case the west. 
Ron Mark 
: And the Three Wise Men were on their way. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: And the Three Wise Men were on their way but what was being borne as gifts did not necessarily amount to legal transfer of property or things of value or treasure. So sadly Maoridom has been let down again and I think the inevitable outcome if the inquiry is properly performed is that the Prime Minister will be seen to have acted very very rashly and to have ignored facts and warnings that she must have had for years. It is sad but she has acted rashly on this matter. She has been caught and hoist by her own words in respect of these issues and there is no honour involved at all.