Hide Rodney: Urgent Debates — Member for TamakiMakaurau—Standing Down as Minister 
Hide Rodney: Urgent Debates — Member for TamakiMakaurau—Standing Down as Minister 
[Volume:621;Page:16233] 
RODNEY HIDE (Leader—ACT) 
: 
 I move  
That the House take note of a matter of urgent public importance 
. Helen Clark Prime Minister of New Zealand—remember the promise; see the result. This is what Helen Clark said in 1999: “The Labour Government will set new standards”. That is what Helen Clark promised—she promised new standards and we have seen new standards. Then she said that the Labour Government would set new standards “both in terms of behaviour and performance”. It has. We have seen a whole new level of performance and behaviour from this Government. Then the Prime Minister Helen Clark went on to say “so that we govern for the people and are accountable to them.” That was the promise. Look at the result. 
Here is another Helen Clark promise from  
Hansard 
 of 8 February 2000 in her address as Prime Minister:“This Government wants to abandon the culture of golden handshakes negotiated in secrecy and”—members will love this one—“to abandon the culture of paying people for doing nothing.” That was the promise. Yet John Tamihere was paid $195000 by the Waipareira Trust which it is said was net—after tax. John Tamihere thought that the Waipareira Trust was paying the tax. So at the 39c tax rate that would make the gross amount of that golden handshake $320000. Members should remember that this is not a large Government department or some big corporate; this is a little trust which the Labour Party pretends to represent that helps the poor and downtrodden of west Auckland. 
Michael Cullen says that it might have been paid before he put up the tax rate in which case the tax rate was 33c. That would make the payment $291000 gross. Is that OK? Is that what Helen Clark is now saying? Because that is what she is telling the New Zealand people. I want to remind the New Zealand people of something else that Helen Clark put out: “A decade of shame—today’s reason why National must go.” 
Here are the golden handshakes: Bryan Mogridge $200000; Michael Wall $140000; Douglas Blackmur from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority $160000; Roger Estall $68000—that was terrible; Jean Martin $30000 to $50000—how bad was that? Then there was Ian Collinson from Solid Energy $200000. Now there is another name to add to the list—John Tamihere with a golden handshake of $320000 from a trust. 
But it gets worse for Helen Clark. She thinks it is OK to have a Minister who campaigned in 1999 on saying that he would not take this golden handshake. I warmed to the guy; the people of New Zealand warmed to this guy. Here was a politician who would set new standards along with Helen Clark. He was turning down a golden handshake and the people flocked to the Labour Party because it was a party of standards. We had heard from Helen Clark that there would be no more golden handshakes. We had heard it from John Tamihere who said he would not take one even if it was offered to him. He would turn it down as he was a man of great integrity. What do we now know happened? John Tamihere went around the back and started hassling for his golden handshake. 
It gets worse for Helen Clark. She said that it was OK. That is not contested. None of that is contested. Everyone knows that John Tamihere got the golden handshake. They have accepted that. They are only worried about whether he thought the tax had been paid and whether the amount he received was a net amount. But they all know that he had said he would not take it. So it is OK now in this Government to say one thing and do another. 
But it gets worse. We heard from Minister Parekura Horomia. He said that the Waipareira Trust should not have been spending money on John Tamihere while he campaigned for office. We heard from that Minister who said that he did not think the trust should have been paying for John Tamihere’s election expenses on behalf of the Labour Party. Well that Minister is exactly right about what happened there because as John Tamihere asked if the Waipareira Trust was not paying for him who would be paying his mortgage? Who would be feeding his kids? 
What does Helen Clark say about all that? What does the Acting Prime Minister Michael Cullen say about all that? They say that it is OK. They will keep him on the pay and perks of a Minister but remove all his responsibilities. They told him to go and hide in Henderson for a while and to bury his head—because Labour is a Government that says one thing and does another. Helen Clark said that this Government was going to close the gaps. That is why it poured money into things like the Waipareira Trust. Well—close the gaps! She has opened the gaps: John Tamihere got a $320000 golden handshake. But wait there is more. They gave him a car—oh it is tough being a Labour MP—and because he was struggling paid for the insurance on his car. When we look at that Labour Party we might say “Surely not!” because John Tamihere would fill all that out in his ministerial return—would he not? Prime Minister Helen Clark would demand that would she not? 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: It is in the  
Cabinet Manual 
. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: But if we pick up the  
Cabinet Manual 
 for that year what does it have for John Tamihere? A nil return. He put in nothing. So what is this Government saying to the people of New Zealand? It is saying that that is OK. And we learn that when it came to paying tax Mr John Tamihere was confused. He thought that the $195000 was a net amount. He must have been confused also when he filled out his election return. He did not realise that as a taxpayer it is absolutely the taxpayer’s responsibility to ensure that he or she pays income tax. 
So Helen Clark is saying that when small-business people in New Zealand get paid they should just say: “Oh I thought that that was the net amount.” It worked for John Tamihere; he did not even lose his job over it. We cannot say that John Tamihere should not understand these things because he is a lawyer for goodness’ sake! He was the chief executive officer of an organisation receiving $8 million a year and he is the Minister for Small Business for Helen Clark. 
I have no faith in Helen Clark’s inquiry because in her own words she has already done several inquiries. Mike Williams the president of the Labour Party said that this was old ground and that it had all been done over before—as though the Labour Party knew all this. Well here is something about Helen Clark. Mr Winston Peters asked her whether Mr Tamihere had disclosed to her that he had pleaded guilty to two charges of forgery and two charges of uttering and he also asked when she learnt of that information. Here is the answer. On 26 July 2000 Helen Clark told Parliament: “Approximately 5 years ago Mr Tamihere’s counsel at Mr Tamihere’s request briefed me fully on the general matters the member is alluding to and I saw the full statement of defence.” 
Well I am pleased to report—happily—that I have the full statement of defence. I also have the captioned summary for the charge that the police laid against John Tamihere. It is headed: “Forgery as per attached information x 2—penalty 10 years’ imprisonment; uttering forged documents x 2—penalty 10 years’ imprisonment—heard in the Auckland District Court on 13 September 1994.” It states: “Prior to August 1989 the defendant Mr John Tamihere on behalf of the trustees applied to the Housing Corporation for a loan and grants to a total of $160000 to enable three retirement units to be built on a reservation on part of the land farmed by the Mataroa Incorporation.” I think that Mr Speaker was Minister of Housing at the time having just taken over from Helen Clark. It then goes on to state that on 21 May 1990 the documents—namely the licence to occupy and the deed of agreement acknowledgment of debt—were forwarded to the Housing Corporation. The documents purported at that time to have been signed by the trustees as required. It was subsequently established that at least two of the signatures on each of the two documents had been forged. The signatures concerned are those of Mr Tony Paparangi and Mr Ernest Hauraki. The signatures were forged by the defendant who also signed the documents as having witnessed the signatures. At the time of the signing the defendant had no lawful authority to sign on their behalf. 
He signed two documents to obtain $160000. He pleaded guilty to that and the Prime Minister said she knew all about it in 1995 because she said she had the full statement of defence in her hand. But then again Prime Minister Helen Clark is hardly one who can make too much of a song and dance about forging documents is she. 
So now we know the standard of this Government: it is OK to forge documents and become a Cabinet Minister; it is OK to say one thing to the public of New Zealand—“I will not accept a golden handshake.”—it is OK to take money from the Waipareira Trust and use it to campaign for the Labour Party; and it is OK to say that one was confused about one’s tax and never paid it. What will Helen Clark do? She will say to go and hide out in Henderson for a while but keep the parliamentary pay keep the ministerial pay and keep the perks. That is the standard of Helen Clark in this Government. I say that we on this side of the House have no faith in any Government inquiry. 
Ron Mark 
: Tuku Morgan. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: The member is calling out about Tuku Morgan. Compared to this Tuku went shopping at The Warehouse. That is what this can be compared to. Tuku Morgan was stingy compared to John Tamihere’s having to cover his mortgage and feed his kids. Tuku Morgan was a shopper at The Warehouse—and did we not hear Helen Clark complain about that! All the accounts of Aotearoa Television had to be made public. 
 Well I say this: Tuku paid his tax; John Tamihere did not. I say to Helen Clark that this is her responsibility. It is the standard that she has set in Government. I do not have faith in any inquiry that is not totally independent of Helen Clark and why do I say that? Because as the Prime Minister said: “There have been many inquiries under me as Prime Minister and they found nothing.” I say that if we do not go looking we will not find it. I suggest to the Government that it sack John Tamihere today and send a very strong signal about the standard for any Government of this country. 
My second point is that the Government should instruct for a judicial inquiry into this matter because to date the inquiries that Helen Clark has set up have totally failed in their undertakings. Helen Clark should send a simple signal. She is the one who campaigned for new standards. Are they new standards below anything we have ever seen in the history of New Zealand or are they standards of some note? When one of her Ministers promises the electorate: “I would not take that money” and wins votes accordingly that is held to account. Every time a Minister stands up and answers a question in this House or tells the media something are we to assume that that is the truth or is it an answer like the one John Tamihere gave?