I’ve laid off Minister Kate Wilkinson recently. I’ve even said nice things about her, because the less she gets done on her government’s employment law changes, the better.
But the flip flop around the Mike Tyson visa can’t go unmentioned. The issue has been in the media for weeks. Immigration NZ had made it clear that he would need an special direction from the Minister to be able to apply for a visa.
The Minister duly granted Mike Tyson an exemption, despite his conviction for rape and other violent incidents because he supposedly had the support of the Life Education Trust. Turns out that she didn’t check the validity of that support, which had come from a volunteer, not the agency’s board.
What’s even worse, the Prime Minister and the Minister didn’t talk to each other about it, so were contradicting each other in public.
It didn’t take long for a member of the public to check out whether the Life Education Trust was really supporting Mike Tyson’s application and find they weren’t. Why the Minister couldn’t do that, I have no idea.
This is shoddy politicial management. It demonstrates a government that has taken its eye off the ball and the fiascos just keep rolling on.
it all reminds me of the words of the (UK) Spitting Image puppet of Reagan when he was US President: “It’s a tough job running the country! I wonder who does it?”
Another flip flop, more political management. She has been absolutely consistent in being incompetent, what a joke.
You got it wrong.
The letter came from on Trust Board member and not from a volunteer!
The trust did withdraw the letter of support the day before the visa was cancelled!
You need to get your facts right.
Why would anyone bring this creature to NZ, exactly what would his inspiration be ? Threaten your opponents by saying that you will eat their children ??
Kate Wilkinson didn’t think this trough very well at all.
Mind you, not thinking seems to be the hallmark of this National Administration..
Andy
Fully support your comment.
We do not need this “man” here.
Well done Wilkinson.
So true Darien. Labour really set the bar high on immigration issues with Shane and David’s involvement in the Bill Liu affair. Not to mention Philip Field, eh?
Hey Blarney still living pre 2008. I guess all that higher standard posturing that Key made when he was trying to get elected doesn’t matter when you can just keep trotting out “BUT YOU GUYZ DID IT FIRST” for the next 4 years.
By the way check out the video here:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/video.cfm?c_id=1&gal_objectid=10781209&gallery_id=123534
John Key on the 24 Jan a month before his GCSB breifing clearly talking about KDC and his knowledge of the arrests and KDC’s status as a resident. A month later he didn’t put 2 and 2 together when he was briefed by GCSB and then forgot all about all of it.
Yea this government is all about a higher standard aren’t they.
Talking about immigration…how much money did kim Dotcom give to the Tories before the last election?
For crying out loud, if I received a letter from a person who was a trustee of an organisation, and used that organisation’s official letterhead, of course I would assume (and so would anyone!) that the letter was on behalf of that organisation. It is petty politics so say that the minister (as much as I dislike her) is at fault here – it is clearly the fault of the Life Education Trust’s board member who went against his own directer in sending that letter.
Shame on you Labour, this is gotcha politics at its worst.
Crashcart – Phil Goff had the same problem with remembering a briefing on Israeli citizens in the earthquake, where it was minuted by the SIS as discussed in length with him. That was in 2011.
Shane Jones? The Bill Liu saga is playing out now. Philip Field, yep he went to jail a while back for his corruption. It doesn’t change the fact that both cases look to be far far more severe than this situation.
Ehoa – How much money has Owen Glenn given? Remember that farce with NZ First and the honorary consul to Monaco? Apparently that was no grounds to sack Winston as a minister (who also denied he did anything wrong), not a high standard. Certainly a bit hypocritical when compared with the John Banks saga.
I think Blarney Stone’s reminder that neither party is squeaky clean was well warranted.
Gotcha politics is great stuff, when what is being “got” is the overweening pride and incompetence of the current government.
Keep it up, Labour. Picking away at the govt is what an opposition party does.
Lots of ammunition around at the moment.
The more the tory supporters moan about it, the more you should do it; their complaints mean that you are hitting a raw nerve.
What rubbish! Half truths and avoiding the facts. YOU KNOW Darien exactly what happened and YOU KNOW Darien that you would have done exactly the same thing based on the knowledge that Wilkenson had but you still need to take a shot.
There seem to be a lot of National Party staffers on this blog today. So tell me, what should she do now Willie Jackson has entered the fray?
Not everyone who disagrees with you is a national staffer Darien. Consider me a voter eh? I don’t think anything should change. Why should it? I will be annoyed if the decision is changed
Sorry that was me……not morgue
Rob S – you really do miss the point old chap. Owen Glenn had his issues with the former and now potential Tory Minister of Foreign Affairs/deputy Prime Minister/Finance Minister Winston Peters (given the current one is inept and flatfooted, has a strangely large furrowed brow and is busy shafting his boss).
Nothing to do with Labour old chap…perhaps you need a lie down and a cup Dotcom.
Ms Fenton, here’s a question for you: Would you have regarded the letter with the LIfe Education Trust letterhead, signed by a board member, as genuinely on behalf of the organisation, or not?
And no, I’m not a National staffer either.
On behalf of Ms Fenton…NO! if I was the Minister I’d have my staff and Ministry officials check it out for me before I made a decision.
Are you saying the Immigration dept is incompetent like its Minister Prime Minister?
And I’m not a Labour Staffer but I am a goat.
@Jimmy : I would have checked it out, knowing this was likely to be a controversial issue. Ms Wilkinson admitted Mike Tyson’s fame influenced her decision and that was silly. And I didn’t say all commentators were National staffers. Now you can answer my question : what should Kate Wilkinson do next with the support from MUMA?
Rob S says
Phil Goff had the same problem with remembering a briefing on Israeli citizens in the earthquake, where it was minuted by the SIS as discussed in length with him. That was in 2011.
You been having fits of fantasy have you? Or could it be a serious case of a brain-fade?
Unfortunately for you some of us have reasonably well honed memories.
Phil Goff was not briefed at length by the SIS. Indeed the Director later admitted he only mentioned it in passing. That sounds to me like it may not have been much more than a barely audible mutter? No surprises then if Phil didn’t hear it. Given Goff’s backgroud in Defence and Foreign Affairs, one can be sure he would have swiftly pricked up his ears had he been briefed at length.
So, where do you work Rob S? National Party Parliamentary Research unit? Not a very competent unit then is it. But that’s par for the course with this government.
It is a veritable swarm of the concern trolls and the Antarctic (penguin + whale) circle jerk.
I would hope that our crown ministers (and their staffers!) have better things to do than second guess whether official letters are actually official or not, and I disagree that by trusting that letter that Ms Wilkinson was practising shoddy political management.
In response to Willie Jackson’s support (and that of his his organisation), Ms Wilkinson should feel free to treat that individual with the contempt he deserves. He does not compare remotely to the Life Education Trust in terms of credibility. This is blatant politicking by Jackson.
So to answer your question – she should ignore MUMA’s support and stick to the one flip flop. And there is no shame in that one flip flop, despite your gotcha politics.
Ehoa – I think you missed my point – Owen Glenn certainly did have an issue with Winston, while he was a minister within a Labour led coalition.
Anne – I did read a bit about it and the only reference I can find to the director admitting it is a quote from Phil Goff saying that the director admitted it. You clearly disagree with me, which is fine, I wouldn’t go as far as to question your competency and accuse you of being a Labour Staffer.
I’ll come clean – I am not a National Staffer, party member or affiliate. I once donated $10 to ACT to annoy my mother who used to be pro-Labour. I once shook hands with Helen Clark. That’s about all for my political connections.
Perhaps all the Kate Wilkinson supporters here could direct their support to the Whaleoil blog, who’s been calling her Comrade Kate for weeks now. And I’m not a National Party staffer.
Kate Wilkinson has support…wow that’s news! I would have thought all the National staffers on here would be busy crisis managing their idiocy-prone ministers. Trying to think which one hasn’t made a gaffe in the last couple of weeks?
@ Rob S – Yes, agree, but Labour only inherited Winston from the Tories, and it would appear you hold a very different level of accountability for John B(l)anks, still looking for the threshold.
Well! this seems to be the week for tory trolls to launch their “distract and confuse” stage of the plan to protect the merry pranksters(national party) from scrutiny as they continue to sell our souls to the highest bidder….
Apart from attempting to make the debate a personal slanging match,(which is a standard tory method) there isn’t a credible argument put up by a single one of these “geniuses” that would negate the plain fact of Kate Wilkinsons utter incompetence, the total lack of any real communication within cabinet, the willingness to show any, and all accountability.
They(the merry pranksters) have not only the lack of ability, but the desire to actually live up to the electioneering statements from johnny sparkles(key) regarding how “transparent” his ministries would be…
The only thing transparent is the governments lazy, self interested, corrupt, and dishonest practices since they have been able to go “nyaa nyaa nyaa, we won, you lost..eat that suckers”.. Which is par for the copurse when national is in power….
The list of ministers who obviously owe their positions to patronage rather than skill, and competence reads like a who’s who of senior party figures….
Let’s see… John(sparkles)Key,
Billy (double dipton)English,
Steven(Asphalt addict)Joyce,
Judith(crushed)Collins,
Hekia(bungles) Parata,
Kate(who?)Wilkinson,
Johnny(who needs an army)Coleman,
The list is extensive, to the point that there can be a case made for EVERY member of the merry pranksters top table being there as a result of patronage, rather than talent…
I could list the entire cabinet, and the monikers they have earned, but at least half of them are nonentities who are ther simply because johnny sparkles had to fill All the posts with an actual person…
This will go down in history as the most inept, incompetent, and duplicious excuse for a government we have had the misfortune to be stuck with since the heyday of the land robbers in the 19th, and early 20th century…..
We will be paying the cost for allowing this pack of hyenas to get at our infrastructure, and to sell out our birthrights, for decades….
@ehoa I think Banks was accountable, as I think Winston was accountable. National should have learned from that saga, and clearly they didn’t.
@BB – ‘Personal slanging’ being a tory thing? Is that not a slightly hypocritical statement when embedded within a post containing a thorough run-down of people you are ideologically opposed to for being incompetent.
@little robby… Try to keep up… lampooning isn’t the same as making personal insults as a debating tool… If it offends you to read the truth about what amounts to the most incompetent, corrupt, duplicitous government this country has suffered under for close to a century….
Of course, the fact(reported very, very quietly by the msm. so quietly, it slipped out unnoticed) that peters was exonerated by the inquiry, not found to have broken the law, or lied about it, only to escape through a statute of limitations precluding prosecution after six months…
That isn’t a repeat situation, but then tories have never been much on accuracy, and honesty when it comes to winning arguments it seems…
(btw, I’m no fan of Peters, but the truth is still the truth…)
little robby – that must be a personal slur?! Meh, i’m pretty thick skinned (too much so at the moment to be honest, my girlfriend told me to give up oven chips…)
That was quietly reported indeed, I’ll have to look it up, and if so, then will retract my statement.