John Key hypocritical on donation reform

John Key refused to stand John Banks down despite his rorting of donation rules and breaching of his so-called higher ethical standards yet he’s now changing the law to stop it happening again, says Labour Leader David Shearer.

“It’s absolutely hypocritical. John Key staunchly defended John Banks. He said he’d done nothing wrong. If that was the case, why is he now promoting a law change to stop the exact kind of behaviour John Banks indulged in when he was running for local government?

“John Key wasn’t prepared to stand John Banks down during the police investigation. He is keeping him as a Minister despite police confirming that John Banks personally solicited $80,000 in donations then later said he couldn’t remember that.

“That leaves John Key’s much-trumpeted higher ethical standards in tatters. He certainly can’t claim the high moral ground by moving now to reform local government campaign laws.

“It is also worth noting that National previously rejected a Member’s Bill promoted by Labour to align the local election donations regime with the one for central government candidates.

“Labour does believe reform is needed to avoid a situation where someone like John Banks can claim they haven’t technically broken the law, but they’ve clearly breached the spirit of transparency that New Zealanders expect around political campaigns.

“That is unacceptable and should not happen in this country,” said David Shearer.