English Bill: General Debate 
English Bill: General Debate 
[Volume:649;Page:18001] 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Leader—National) 
: 
 Let us talk about some issues of the trustworthiness of the Prime Minister of New Zealand and her role in this Owen Glenn donation saga. What has become clear is that the one person who is being straight about the donations is Owen Glenn. Members should remember events from earlier in the year. Owen Glenn got a Queen’s honour and Labour was asked whether he gave it money. Mike Williams said: “No not since the 2005 election.” and that was wrong. Owen Glenn told the public the truth which was that he gave a $100000 no-interest loan. So Owen Glenn is the one person in this sorry saga who tells it like it is. 
What about the other people? Helen Clark was asked whether she knew about the interest-free loan and she said that yes she did know. Then she was asked why she had not told Mike Williams—who had made public statements in January that there was no interest-free loan—and she replied that she had not told him because she was overseas. That is from someone who famously texts people in New Zealand when she is at official functions overseas! 
But the story moves on. We remember the events around 20 February when Owen Glenn said that he gave money to another political party. There was much speculation about which party that might be. He was asked whether he had given money to New Zealand First. He said: “Well go and ask them.” It turns out that that was what the public relations agent was telling him to say. 
The  
New Zealand Herald  
of 21 February had a full-blown story about speculation on donations from Owen Glenn to New Zealand First but what else happened that day? On that day Owen Glenn met the Prime Minister in a private meeting after opening the Owen G Glenn Building. The Prime Minister expects us to believe that although the newspaper headline that day was whether Owen Glenn had given money to New Zealand First they never discussed the issue. She expects us to believe that Owen Glenn the man who tells it like it is did not say to his good friend Helen Clark—to whom he had given half a million dollars and from whom he had taken a Queen’s honour—“Helen there is a problem. The problem is that I gave New Zealand First some money and your Minister is out there saying that I did not.” What makes it more likely that he would have said that? In an email to his public relations agent he said: “Should I keep saying I didn’t give it to NZ First?? When I did?”. He sent that email on the day he met with Helen Clark. 
So here is the question of trustworthiness: what did Helen Clark know about the $100000 donation to Winston Peters? This issue is not about some pair of errant schoolboys as she treats them over some disagreement in the playground; this is about a donor and a lump of money at the heart of the formation of this Government—a Government I might add that stood in this House for 2 years lecturing everybody else about the influence of big money; a Government that changed at Helen Clark’s instigation the Electoral Finance Act so that one person who lives overseas could keep giving money. That person is Owen Glenn. 
I have never met Owen Glenn but my impression is that he is a good man. He is generous he is a bit naive about politics he would love to be in photos with the Prime Minister and he was insulted when Labour used Trevor Mallard to keep him out of those photos. I believe that when Owen Glenn went to the meeting with Helen Clark he told her that he had given $100000 to New Zealand First. I believe that Helen Clark has always known this. That is why today she has taken the stance that this issue will have to be resolved in the Privileges Committee which she knows will have to lift when she dissolves Parliament.