Peters Winston: General Debates 
Peters Winston: General Debates 
[Volume:609;Page:6354] 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 Lynne Pillay would put Mogadon out of business if she had one more minute. There is an old saying in the Good Book that pride goes before a fall and I want to tell her that the polls might look good now but we saw at the last election when the media bias in looking after Labour could not go on any longer that in the closing 4 weeks Labour lost almost 14 percent. It lost almost 14 percent in 4 weeks flat. We intend to make sure the media does not get away with it this time. We will make sure the media gives us a fair go this time and Labour will fall a darn sight further and faster than that. 
I want to ask this: what could be more frightening than having Parekura Horomia as the Minister of Maori Affairs? What could be more frightening that that? Do members know what it is? It would be having John Tamihere the Labour Party’s bright-eyed boy whom Helen Clark keeps promoting beyond anything to do with his talents. I want to deal with that because I saw Helen Clark deal to a Minister of Maori Affairs in the most despicable personal way I have seen in my whole career in politics. She never had one leg to stand on. She gave fuel and fire to the allegations of criminal behaviour and she dumped him and she has the effrontery to bring back other Ministers although she did not bring him back. There was a full-scale police inquiry and were there any facts? No. I have never seen anyone so destructive in terms of dealing with someone to whom that person owed loyalty. But she tells me that John Tamihere is the man—the man who in today’s  
Dominion Post 
 comes out attacking Maori leadership. He can mention Graham Latimer—Graham Latimer has been called a crook for years and he is one—but when he starts on someone like Api Mahuika a man with a far better brain far better background far better lineage and training and a far better record of behaving himself according to the law then he will buy himself some trouble. What is John Tamihere’s record? He had a practising certificate in law once as a solicitor. 
Craig McNair 
: What happened? 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: He resigned it before he had it taken off him. 
Craig McNair 
: Why? 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Why? He was guilty of charges like forging documents. 
Craig McNair 
: Are you serious? 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Yes forging documents. 
Opposition Member 
: A lawyer? 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: That is right—he was a lawyer. I know it is hard to believe. He was guilty of offences like uttering. These are serious offences. Forging and uttering are not grounds for promotion in politics unless you are under Helen Clark of course. What else did he do? He headed the Waipareira Trust at a time when it had a business and was in serious deficit. Its whole liquidity and solvency was in question so what did it do? It got hold of a building that it had not sold and entered its unrealised profits—despite the fact that there was no sale—in the books as income for that year. What is that called? That is called fraud. In the Fortex case the directors got a loan and entered that as income and ended up in jail. What is the difference between this case and that case? There is no difference whatsoever. A man who was the former solicitor for the Waipareira Trust came before the Maori Affairs Committee—and that is why this Parliament stinks sometimes when it comes to a lack of accountability—and he alleged that Mr Tamihere had forged the names on 34 cheques. There are members here who were at that committee. They heard this evidence and what did they do? Nothing. There are senior Ministers here like Trevor Mallard and others and what did they do about this allegation? They gave John Tamihere a ministerial post. In any other society that would be the end—but no. There was one offence after the other: covering up the books uttering forging and falsifying cheques and on top of that there were five drink-driving convictions. 
Craig McNair 
: How many? 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Five. I can understand that a guy might have a bit too much on one night. 
Lynne Pillay 
: How many have you got? 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: I have got no drink-driving convictions. Sorry! [ 
Interruption 
] The member should not make an allegation that has no merit whatsoever. [ 
Interruption 
] I see. That is funny. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: No Mr Speaker I can handle this. I can always handle lies. What does the court case say? It says no such thing but of course lies are stock-in-trade where Trevor Mallard is concerned.