McCully’s Newsletter

I was too busy Friday to blog about the latest newsletter from Murray McCully, but it is recommended reading.

In it we learn:

* The Auditor-General wanted to reform the rules for parliamentary spending, and approached both Don Brash and Helen Clark for co-operation. Disgracefully Clark has refused to even meet.

* Around 95% of those eligible for this stage of working for families got their entitlement automatically as they are on a benefit. So the $15 million advertising campaign is to reach only 14,000 families – this is a cost of over $1,000 per target audience member – probably the most expensive advertising splurge in history.

* Details of the five board the Labour Party President is on

* How well ex Labour MPs are doing well as High Commissioners

* How the new NZQA chief executive had, when she was a principal, her school roll numbers drop in half.

* And most outrageous is that any prosecution of David Benson-Pope needs the consent of the Attorney-General. This is the same Michael Cullen who has been publicly defending DBP, making veiled threats on his behalf, and defaming TV# with false allegations. Now Dr Cullen has delegated the decision in this case to the Solicitor-General, but can anyone believe the SG would not be aware of the AGs very public stance on this issue?

This is one of the dangers of appointing a non-lawyer to be AG. Dr Cullen should have never ever commented on the issue, once it got referred to the police. But he has puts his political loyalties ahead of his statutory duties.

I now feel safe in predicting that David Benson-Pope will not face any charges at all, despite five statements from former pupils.