English Bill: General Debate 
English Bill: General Debate 
[Volume:675;Page:14397] 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Leader—National) 
: 
 Yesterday the Government let out on bail a hardened criminal—after he had been refused bail by the courts—as part of a deal which also included $100000 in cash. Today we have found out that the Government has cooked the figures in the report on serious hospital incidents which shows that many Kiwis have died avoidable deaths. We have also had the revelation that Work and Income is paying towaway fees for drunk drivers so they can get back their cars. That is just today and that is just the small issues. 
The big issue is Helen Clark’s judgment over Labour’s billionaire donor friend. Let me read what Helen Clark said in November 2007 as the culmination of Labour’s campaign for transparency in political donations: “The important thing is to have fair rules and a level playing field and what we’ve seen in New Zealand”—listen to this—“is the intrusion of very and I underline very big money into our election campaigns.” But Labour received very big money from a very big donor by the name of Owen Glenn. There may be questions about Mr Glenn’s judgment but he is not Prime Minister of New Zealand. The serious questions are about the judgment of Helen Clark who is the Prime Minister of New Zealand. 
Helen Clark needs to explain these following issues: why was it that she was advocating the Electoral Finance Act for transparency and was against big money in politics when she was part of deals behind closed doors to get more big money from a big billionaire donor? Why was she spending all year going on about very wealthy people trying secretly to influence New Zealand’s politics when she was party to an arrangement where a billionaire lent $100000 to the Labour Party interest-free? Why was it that Labour instructed the Justice and Electoral Committee under Helen’s Clark’s guidance to change the law so that Owen Glenn could keep donating despite the fact that he was an expatriate? Why did Helen Clark sit on the Cabinet strategy subcommittee on appointments and honours knowing there had been a secret loan to the Labour Party and give Owen Glenn a serious New Year honour and expect there to be no comment on it? Why was it that she knew about the loan and had been party to discussions with Mike Williams and Winston Peters about giving Owen Glenn a job as consul for Monaco but when she read in the newspaper that Mike Williams had said there was no donation she said and did nothing? What person in the Labour caucus let alone in the New Zealand population believes that Helen Clark did not know about that—till yesterday? No one believes it. That is the ultimate misjudgment if Helen Clark thinks that New Zealanders still believe her. 
New Zealanders do not believe her because she rammed the Electoral Finance Bill through the House and said it would bring transparency and would exclude big money influence from politics yet behind the back door she was making precisely that sort of deal. That also raises questions about the judgment of Mike Williams who is meant to be the world’s best political party strategist for the world’s best Prime Minister the man who denied—[ 
Interruption 
] He is the guy who dumped Labour in it. 
Debate interrupted.