Field not off the hook

It is pleasing to see that Labour is not being let off the hook over the Field inquiry. As one left commentator said – this is not about some tennis balls at school 20 years ago. This is about current actions as an MP. And the level of judgement shown was appalling.

The NZ Herald editorial on Thursday says Field is lucky to still be in Parliament, and talks openly about true corruption being so rare we “suppose the office holder careless, naive, unwise or uninformed, never simply venal”.

The Dom Post picks up on one of the many angles from the report (At last count I am over 20 instances of improper behaviour) – that Field had his ministerial staff arranging flights for his unpaid labourers.

The Press hits the nail saying:

The Labour caucus showed by their less than enthusiastic backing of Field in the House on Tuesday that they at least have the grace to be shamefaced about what they are trying to pull off. But the chances are that, as has happened before when a minister has behaved badly, they will succeed. Labour will squirm its way through the episode and survive, but the cost will be high. Yet another little piece will have been chipped out of the integrity of the system. For a Prime Minister and a Government who arrived in power full of self-righteous posturing about their ethical standards it is a decidedly grubby performance.

We also have a Dom Post editorial which says any claims by Field he has been vindicated are wrong.

And in today’s Herald, top lawyers shoot down the claim by the PM that Ingram could have asked for more powers. They point out that without changing his inquiry into a statutory commission or a royal commission of inquiry, he could not get more powers. Clark chose a form of inquiry that had no powers.