Carter John: General Debate 
Carter John: General Debate 
[Volume:625;Page:20491] 
JOHN CARTER (National—Northland) 
: 
 If we knew someone in our lives who had some confidential information and who had deliberately gone out and leaked it to the media told half the truth about it—[ 
Interruption 
]—misused the information twisted it around told lies about it and had absolutely got the story wrong so that it impacted on another person to the extent that that person lost his or her job we would call the person who did that a liar. We would call that person a scumbag and we would call him or her all sorts of things—horrible names. In this House members cannot do that because the Standing Orders prohibit them from using those words. But I have to say that it is an absolute disgrace that we have a Prime Minister who is known to have had confidential information and who leaked it with the intention to have somebody dismissed from his or her job. 
Rodney Hide 
: Not just “somebody”. 
JOHN CARTER 
: She actually had not just “somebody” but the then Commissioner of Police removed from his job. She misused the truth so that the Government could get its way—whatever that was—and now she is trying to cover it up. That is not good enough. 
The problem is that it is our Prime Minister we are talking about. It is not just a member of Parliament or a Cabinet Minister but our Prime Minister—the most senior political position in New Zealand. We have somebody in that position who misuses the truth breaks confidences and absolutely misuses and twists stories so that a person—in this case the then Commissioner of Police—loses his or her job and it is not the first time. If members could only use the words that they can use outside the House they would be able to properly describe what has happened. But this is not the first time. Let us run through some of those instances that Government members are so ashamed of that whenever one of the issues is raised they have their heads bowed just like they do now. They know that they are in the wrong and that the Prime Minister is in the wrong. The body language says it all. None of them are prepared to stand up and defend her—not on your nelly! They know that she has misled this House. They know that she leaked the stuff. They know that she has twisted the truth all the way through. 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: The member will be seated. The member cannot accuse a member of misusing the truth or misleading the House. The member will withdraw and apologise. 
JOHN CARTER 
: I withdraw and apologise. I draw the House’s attention to “paintergate”. We all know what happened: the Prime Minister was finally caught and had to fess up. She did not like it and nor did the Labour members but what happened is on the record. I will leave it for the public to go back and refresh their memories if they need to. We know about “corngate”. That was the same thing and it is all on the record. We have a Prime Minister who is prepared to make sure that things are covered up. We know about the Ellis issue. We know about the Auckland surgeon Joe Brownlee. We know what happened there. There again the Prime Minister misused her influence to have an impact on individuals. We know about the speeding issue. We have a whole raft of things—and now the Doone case. 
Why will the Prime Minister not come clean? Why will she not tell New Zealand exactly what happened? If the matter is so simple—if she has told us all there is—why will she not just lay the tapes on the table? Why will she not just put the transcripts out so that we all know what happened? I will tell the House why: she knows she is in trouble. She knows that the answers she has given have not been the full story. She knows that there is something to be covered up. The Prime Minister knows that she is in real trouble and those members over there on the Government side of the House—her Ministers and her back-benchers—all know that she has not come clean on this issue at all. Quite honestly the country is watching and waiting because the facts will come out. Those things always do. I remind the House that seven Ministers in this administration have lost their jobs for actions less serious than this one. It is an absolute disgrace and the Prime Minister needs to feel absolutely disgraced because of her actions. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.