Today, Scoop Media reported:
I can see why the Police would be interested in Winston Peters' communications. The NZ First leader made an announcement concerning what was on the teapot tape indicating that he had heard or been told what was recorded well before the tape was leaked to the public.
That's not to say the Police were legally justified in wanting to seize a private citizens communications. These are clearly private communications that they had no lawful right to obtain. If it turns out that they did in fact gain access to Winston Peters' telephone records and that John Key was overseeing such snooping, the Prime Minister could be in serious trouble. Either way it looks pretty bad especially in light of the government trying to pass legislation that will increase the states powers to spy on all New Zealand citizens.
I totally agree with Winston Peters' point that the teapot tape recording being made wasn't a serious issue. The tape after all was inadvertently recorded in a public place by cameraman Badley Ambrose. It was only because John Key and John Banks had made some very stupid statements about NZ First supporters dying off that they wanted the recording kept secret. However, there's no justification in raiding news agencies and breaching people's privacy just to try and protect a couple of crooks who should be held to account for what they say.
That fact brings me to the main point of this post....why is John Key so willing to breach the privacy of private citizens, numerous journalists and parliamentarians while he isn't being transparent about his own conduct? Key has even gone so far as to ensure an email by the DPMC whereby they instructed Parliamentary Service to employ a "contractor" to illegally gain three months worth of email and phone records between journalist Andrea Vance and Peter Dunne wasn't released with their Friday afternoon document dump.
I'm left wondering where is the warrant that allows for such a gross breach of privacy and why wasn't the Leader of the Opposition informed? That's another requirement under the law that Key appears to have ignored. In this regard, John Keys hypocrisy is staggering and I hope that Winston Peters looks to prosecute the little shyster forthwith and to the full extent of the law.
Rt Hon Winston Peters says he is outraged to learn that police wanted to use his personal telephone records to prosecute a cameraman whose tape recorder captured the teacup conversation between John Key and John Banks in the 2011 election campaign.
Mr Peters has told Parliament that he learned in the past 24 hours that police files contain references to seizing his telephone records during the police investigation of John Key’s complaint about the tape recording.
I can see why the Police would be interested in Winston Peters' communications. The NZ First leader made an announcement concerning what was on the teapot tape indicating that he had heard or been told what was recorded well before the tape was leaked to the public.
That's not to say the Police were legally justified in wanting to seize a private citizens communications. These are clearly private communications that they had no lawful right to obtain. If it turns out that they did in fact gain access to Winston Peters' telephone records and that John Key was overseeing such snooping, the Prime Minister could be in serious trouble. Either way it looks pretty bad especially in light of the government trying to pass legislation that will increase the states powers to spy on all New Zealand citizens.
“At the time of this sordid meeting to jack up the election result, Winston Peters, private citizen, was nowhere in the vicinity and it is absurd that he should have been sucked into a politically motivated police investigation.
“If this had been a matter of national security I would have given investigators any records they wanted but this was not national security, this was National Party.
I totally agree with Winston Peters' point that the teapot tape recording being made wasn't a serious issue. The tape after all was inadvertently recorded in a public place by cameraman Badley Ambrose. It was only because John Key and John Banks had made some very stupid statements about NZ First supporters dying off that they wanted the recording kept secret. However, there's no justification in raiding news agencies and breaching people's privacy just to try and protect a couple of crooks who should be held to account for what they say.
That fact brings me to the main point of this post....why is John Key so willing to breach the privacy of private citizens, numerous journalists and parliamentarians while he isn't being transparent about his own conduct? Key has even gone so far as to ensure an email by the DPMC whereby they instructed Parliamentary Service to employ a "contractor" to illegally gain three months worth of email and phone records between journalist Andrea Vance and Peter Dunne wasn't released with their Friday afternoon document dump.
I'm left wondering where is the warrant that allows for such a gross breach of privacy and why wasn't the Leader of the Opposition informed? That's another requirement under the law that Key appears to have ignored. In this regard, John Keys hypocrisy is staggering and I hope that Winston Peters looks to prosecute the little shyster forthwith and to the full extent of the law.
