Better late than never!

Well I emerged from a an InternetNZ Council meeting yesterday to find that finally Helen Clark had some sanity return to her and she sacked Lianne Dalziel after refusing to do so earlier.

Before people celebrate this belated discovery of ethics by the paintergate PM, one should note Audrey Young in the Herald who correctly sums up “The line is she now has evidence that on Monday night Ms Dalziel told a bald lie – as opposed, presumably, to the more acceptable curly kind she later peddled”.

So according to the Prime Minister a grossly misleading statement (using her own words) such as answering “No” to the question “So you hadn’t put it in the public arena even though you had a copy of it?”, when one ordered your Press Secretary to do it for you is not a sackable offence but saying “No” to if she knew how TV3 got the letter is clearly untrue and hence sackable.

Helen Clark was elected promising to set new standards of accountability and behaviour. Good to know exactly where she has set that line now – just between grossly misleading and clearly untrue.