Key knew before election that Sabin had to resign

It should come as no surprise to those in the know that the National party will stoop to any level to ensure their re-election. Clearly the dirty rotten scoundrels would do pretty much anything to retain power, because it has utterly corrupted them.

That appears to be the case with Mike Sabin, who has had to resign because he is accused of assault.

The Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key, knew about the complaint against Sabin sometime before the last election. He had a chance to stand Sabin down, but obviously didn’t want another major scandal on his hands so close to voters going to the polls.

Today, 3 News reported:

Sabin 'could have been a minister' - Key

Former National Northland MP Mike Sabin who resigned suddenly last week could have been a future Cabinet minister, Prime Minister John Key says.

Mr Sabin announced his resignation effective immediately for "personal issues that were best dealt with outside Parliament".

It comes following reports Mr Sabin was under police investigation, but police, Mr Key and Mr Sabin are not commenting on the case.

Instead of being up front about the charges, along with the help of certain biased journalists, John Key is once again using the scandal to promote himself and his defunct party.

It appears that this is just another chance for him to be airbrushed by the mainstream media, which makes the details of what Sabin stands accused of so much worse.

Mr Key said on Friday he knew of the resignation the day before the announcement, and had not seen Mr Sabin since before Christmas.

He knew about Mr Sabin's personal issues in the last week of the Parliamentary term last year, he told Radio New Zealand.

"I didn’t have any great information about those personal and family matters prior to that and even when I was aware of those, I'm often aware of people having personal family matters," he said.

I really don’t see how John Key can label what is likely multiple sexual assaults a “personal issue”. Being that Mike Sabin’s victim is rumoured to be a minor, this is far worse than just having a few “family matters” to deal with, especially because Mike Sabin is a public official with considerable powers at his indiscretion. In light of this information, to have John Key lament about Sabin's lost career is despicable!

It appears that the National party is once again abusing their power and controlling the biased media to try and cover-up what Sabin is accused of.

Being that Sabin is also an ex police officer, it stands to reason that they would be willing to help hush things up as well, which is the exact opposite of what should happen. Of course the victim needs to be protected through name suppression. But when the abuser is such a high profile official, the truth needs to be properly reported on.

Clearly John Key knew what Sabin was accused of prior to the election. Instead of coming clean he allowed Sabin to stand for parliament anyway. That makes this case a public issue, whereby the National party has brought the house of representatives into disrepute by allowing somebody accused of such a heinous crime to become an elected official.

Once the good people of Northland find out the truth, National’s safe blue seat may just change colour.

Nationals housing failure

After some bad press about the cost of living in New Zealand, the National party is looking at ways to recover the upper hand on social policy initiatives.

Today, the NZ Herald reported:

State of the Nation: John Key's plan to boost housing

The Government's stated goal last term was for 20 per cent of the country's social housing to be provided by non-government organisations by 2017.

It has extended subsidies to approved social housing providers, which allows them to charge income-related rents (no more than 25 per cent of net income) for people with high needs in the same way that Housing New Zealand does.

It has also introduced reviewable tenancies to get away from any expectation that a state house is for life.

"We are taking these new approaches in social housing because we don't think the old system worked as well as it could do for tenants or indeed for taxpayers," Mr Key said yesterday after his first Cabinet meeting of the year.

It appears that Nationals "solution" is to increase competition for existing private housing stock while selling off around 13,600 Housing NZ's houses to private institutions, which are worth approximately $18.6 billion in total.

This asset sale will assuredly do nothing about New Zealand’s declining home ownership rate and lack of affordable quality housing. In fact it will make things worse by exerting even more pressure on the overheated private housing market.

Mr Key is today expected to outline ways for approved housing providers to increase their social housing stock.

"Our focus has been on getting a more diverse and fairer housing system that works better for tenants."

Of course National’s real policy is to ensure that those currently renting are trapped in the poverty cycle forever, whereby they can never hope to save enough for a deposit on their own home. Clearly increasing competition in the private sector will push prices further out of reach.

John Key’s latest window dressing policy suits National’s secret agenda perfectly; by ensuring that the pool of renters increases thereby ensuring profits for their property speculator mates continue to flow unabated.

Mr Key said there was no housing "crisis" and the Government's policies were aimed at increasing supply.

John Key doesn’t think the current housing problem is a crisis because he’s a deluded fool! Clearly the increased competition, both domestic and international, for investment property ensures that many Kiwis will miss out.

This group of people includes baby boomers who weren’t lucky enough to purchase a house when the prices were comparatively low. They include generation X Y and Z who are struggling to save a deposit because of low wages and the high cost of living. These Kiwis generally vote, which makes housing one of the biggest political issues of today.

To continue to expect this large group of people to compete with speculators, government backed private institutions and international property investors, some having access to unlimited resources, is quite simply idiotic!

The policy changes that National is proposing will ensure that more New Zealander’s become tenants without hope of ever attaining the Kiwi dream of home ownership. It will ensure the continued degradation and over-inflation of our housing stock.

Key uses tragedy for propaganda

As Australians and Kiwis are learning about the tragic events that have resulted in the deaths of three people, the Prime Minister of New Zealand has taken it upon himself to use the situation to promote a complete untruth.

Today, Radio NZ reported:

John Key said it was clear from what unfolded across the Tasman that ISIS was running an outreach campaign which was trying to tap into the disenfranchised.

The Prime Minister said the holding up of an Islamic flag in the Lindt cafe in Sydney made it feel like ISIS was the driving force behind what happened.

The problem for Key is that he's entirely wrong! Today, Radio NZ also reported:

Deadly end to Sydney siege

Earlier, police confirmed to Radio New Zealand the man behind the siege was Man Haron Monis, who had been on bail for a charge of accessory to murder.

The Iranian man, also known as Sheikh Haron, was convicted last year over offensive letters he sent to family members of Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2009.

Man Haron Monis was an Iranian and Iran has been fighting ISIL for a long time now. The failure of John Key, who just so happens to be the Minister in charge of "Intelligence" Services, to provide any evidence to support his claims is profound.

So desperate is the Prime Minister of New Zealand for an excuse to send more troops off to war and justify the implementation of further domestic spying legislation that he's willing to blatantly lie about Man Haron Monis' affiliation with ISIL.

In my opinion this shows complete disrespect for the people caught up in the tragedy…especially the hostages who lost their lives and their grieving families.

It also shows that our leaders and the mainstream media are willing to use such tragedies in order to promote a war that the good people of Australia and New Zealand clearly don't support.

When will the PM take responsibility?

It often bemuses me as to why people would vote for a dishonest political party that has spent the last two terms in government undermining our once great democracy. Why on earth would voters support a scoundrel like John Key, a man who has been shown on numerous occasions to be a complete fraudster?

The list of Key’s lies is extensive and is being added to on a daily basis. Albeit in a biased manner, his dishonesty is being reported on. So why aren’t the media en masse and the public they influence demanding a change in government or in the very least the Prime Minister’s resignation? Are we to believe that there's simply no accountability in New Zealand's political system anymore?

Surely the use of a state-spying agency to undermine a political opponent is a serious enough incident to require a new leader. Key is after all the Minister in charge of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service and therefore cannot simply pass the buck. Only a naive fool would believe that the NZSIS simply made mistakes and that there was no political motive in releasing inaccurate information that was used to damage an opposition leader’s credibility.

The head of the SIS wouldn’t under normal circumstances give preferential treatment to a National party attack blogger, Cameron Slater, unless he was instructed to do so. Even when the misinformation they published was highlighted, the SIS did nothing to restore political neutrality. In fact they went out of their way to continue to perpetuate the dishonesty. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand whom this benefited and therefore why it was done.

In my opinion there should be no differentiation between the PM and his office or the portfolios he administers. Only a leader that’s entirely inept would be unaware of the numerous underhanded dealings going on right under his nose. If Key is truly that incompetent then he should resign! However, Key knew full well about the smear campaigning, and for that he should also resign!

If the Prime Minister isn’t willing to take responsibility for the irrefutable misconduct that has been documented throughout Nicky Hager's excellent book, Dirty Politics, then he’s bringing the entire political system into disrepute. John Key is in effect making a mockery of his position as the Prime Minister of New Zealand…He’s making a mockery of parliament and all it stands for as well.

Police turn over Hager's home

We all should be aware that in New Zealand there's a certain group of wealthy people who believe themselves to be above the law. Sometimes this includes the Police themselves, who have on numerous occasions abused their positions of power.

That's what appears to have occurred when the Police, clearly on the orders of those implicated in the Dirty Politics scandal, searched Nicky Hager's house for clues as to the identity of the Dirty Politics hacker known as Rawshark.

Today, the NZ Herald reported:

Dirty Politics author Nicky Hager has had his home raided by police searching for the hacker Rawshark.

In a 10-hour search of his house, Hager said computers and papers were seized in what appeared to be an attempt to discover the identity of the person who provided information used in the Dirty Politics book.

The book was an election bombshell based on hacked email and social media material belonging to WhaleOil blogger Cameron Slater.

The person contacted the Herald and Fairfax using the identity Rawshark while using the Twitter handle @whaledump to release information publicly.

Hager said five officers came to his Wellington home last Thursday with a search warrant.

He was in Auckland at the time the police arrived giving lectures at the University of Auckland.

What I would like to know is since when do the Police have the power to enter into Nicky Hager's house without his permission and take property because somebody else hacked Cameron Slater's computers?

Hager clearly isn't the hacker. He has in fact done no crime by using information provided to him in good faith, especially because it's of great public interest.

"Soon after the police arrived, the lead detective stated that I was not a suspect in their case, merely a witness." Hager said he told the detective there was nothing in his house which held information that would uncover the source.

"Nonetheless, he and his four colleagues seized a large collection of papers and electronic equipment belonging to my family, including computers, drives, phones, CDs, an IPOD and a camera."

Hager said the search and seizure of the material was a "fishing expedition" carried out by officers who had no idea who they were looking for, hoping for a lucky break.

"I am confident that the police took nothing that will help them with their investigation."

Hager said he would not cooperate with police in any way to reveal the Dirty Politics source - or any other source. "I believe the police actions are dangerous for journalism in New Zealand.

"It matters to all people working in the media who could similarly have their property searched and seized to look for sources. People are less likely to help the media if the police act in this way.

"The police want people to respect their role in society; they should in turn respect other people's roles in society."

He said he was speaking to his lawyers about challenging the police action.

You've also got to wonder why a judge would disregard the law and allow such a raid?

The only reason for Rawshark's identity to be made known would be to give the corrupt people named in Hager's book a target to attack. Therefore the safety of this individual is more important than any public interest there might be in making their identity known.

That makes the Police raid and the judge's decision to allow such an action highly questionable, especially because there is no evidence of Nicky Hager himself breaking any law whatsoever. In fact I would say that such reasoning behind a clear abuse of Police power is flawed, which would make the raid itself illegal.

This wouldn't be the first time the powers that be have used the Police to try and shut down the truth from being reported on. Remember what happened with the teapot tape and the news agencies that were provided a copy of what John Banks and Key had said?

This is clearly pointing to a more totalitarian regime that will abuse their power in an attempt to intimidate and stop the truth about their corrupt regime from getting out. So let's name their behaviour for what it really is...fascism!