Shearer says Ginny Andersen divorced from reality

The Herald reports:

A former Labour leader believes Labour MP Ginny Andersen’s claims about Mark Mitchell’s past as a private security contractor are “divorced from reality” and encouraged her to speak with the Police Minister to better understand the nature of the work.

David Shearer, a former Labour MP and Opposition leader, recently concluded heading the United Nations mission in South Sudan amid working for about 20 years co-ordinating aid in a host of countries including Rwanda, Somalia, Iraq, and Sierra Leone.

It was during that work he interacted with many companies akin to Mitchell’s and said Andersen’s recent claim that the current Police Minister was “paid to kill people” is not a fair description of the work those companies do.

Companies such as Mark Mitchell’s allowed UN officials such as Shearer to do their job, and keep them alive.

Shearer said he felt her knowledge of security work in such areas was lacking and should learn more about it.

“Without understanding the reality, I suggest that you can’t really make those sorts of comments because you really don’t know and I think Ginny doesn’t really know and it’s probably better to stop digging and to understand what the reality is.

“It might look like something from a distance but believe me, when you’re in the operation and you’re in Iraq and you’re in Somalia and you want to save lives and you want to move goods from place to place, you’re going to have to have security.”

Maybe Ginny thinks UN staff and diplomats should not have protection?