Collins Judith: General Debate 
Collins Judith: General Debate 
[Volume:648;Page:17560] 
JUDITH COLLINS (National—Clevedon) 
: 
 The National Party asked a couple of questions today of Mr Peters. We asked whether he gave any instructions to the Spencer Trust. We also asked whether he having received all the legal invoices for all the legal actions that he has taken over the last few years ever looked at those invoices and wondered how come $100000 was paid off by Owen Glenn. We asked why Helen Clark has not asked those questions. 
What we got in return today is some talk from Mr Peters about  
Alice in Wonderland 
. We wonder what that has to do with the issue. Well quite clearly the trustees of the Spencer Trust are to be found in this story. Who will be Alice? We have the Queen of Hearts the Mad Hatter the March Hare and the Cheshire Cat. There is no contest at all as to who Alice is. That is Helen Clark. I would say the Cheshire Cat would be Winston Peters. He is sitting there and holding Parliament and the people of New Zealand in utter contempt. All we have seen today is yet another attack on the media and not one question answered. 
What we heard from Helen Clark today and yesterday is simply that she has judged the standard by which her Ministers will now be judged. She said: “Did you Winston Peters do something illegal?”. He is supposed to have said: “No I did not.” That is the standard she now holds for her Ministers. What we have seen from Helen Clark is a new low standard for her Ministers and her Government. Michael Cullen accepted it the other week when he said it was all about power and that is all it is about. It is all about power. This Labour-led Government will do anything to stay in power and we now have the sight of Helen Clark and Winston Peters sitting around for 60 minutes and all Helen Clark does is ask: “Winston did you do something illegal?” and he is supposed to have said: “Alice no I didn’t.” and that is it. 
Yet all this time the Government is paralysed. It cannot get legislation through and cannot do anything because it is being held to ransom by somebody who will not answer a question. Why is that? There is clearly something the Minister does not want to answer. We have asked in the media how $100000 can be paid into Brian Henry’s business account—not a trust account because he is a barrister—to pay a legal bill that had not actually been rendered. How did Mr Glenn in Monaco know to pay $100000 into Brian Henry’s business account for a bill that had not actually been rendered? My goodness Mr Glenn must be clairvoyant! It is amazing is it not? And how did Mr Henry know to get out the telephone book for Monaco to ring Mr Glenn and ask for $100000 when an account had not been rendered? It is amazing how clever Mr Henry is. It is a wonder that he has not yet been made a Queen’s Counsel. It is truly truly amazing. 
Then we have to ask about Sir Bob Jones. He said he paid $25000 after Mr Peters wanted $50000. It went to something called the Spencer Trust. Did Helen Clark ever ask what the Spencer Trust was and why the money got paid to that trust? Did she ever ask who the trustees of the Spencer Trust were? No we heard today that she did not. All she did was ask whether Winston did something illegal and he said: “No Helen—I mean Alice I mean Helen—no I didn’t.”; and she said: “As Prime Minister of this country well that’s OK with me Winston.” 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member must use the full names of members in the House. It is common courtesy. 
JUDITH COLLINS 
: The Prime Minister is supposed to have said: “Well that’s OK with me Winston Peters. You must be so clever.” That is what she said. That is a new standard for Helen Clark. She previously stood there with Winston Peters and they said they would have this “new transparency” in electoral funding. They certainly did did they not? It was in fact put through as something called “legal fees”; that is the new transparency. 
That grouping of New Zealand First and Labour members has put up standards in terms of transparency in electoral funding that it is not prepared to meet itself and that is a travesty of transparency—an absolute travesty. Those members have said to other people: “You terrible people you need to meet the standards but we are not going to.” Helen Clark has the gall to stand up in this House and tell us that the best she can do as Prime Minister is to ask “Were you naughty?” and he said “No”.