Don Brash MP National Party Leader

10 May 2005

Helen Clark's integrity on the line, not Peter Doone's

National Party Leader Don Brash says the Doonegate case is all about Helen Clark's integrity, not the former Police Commissioner's.

"This is a simple matter about whether the Prime Minister is telling the truth. The brief of evidence she gave to the High Court just a few weeks ago, and what she told Parliament and the public last week give two very different stories.

"Helen Clark has since claimed that she's sure she told the journalist investigating the Doone story that the matters he raised were contested. But neither the journalist, nor the editor of the Sunday Star Times, has corroborated the Prime Minister's version of events.

"She confirmed information for the paper on five separate occasions.

"National is not seeking to relitigate the dismissal of Mr Doone. This is about the Prime Minister's pattern of deception in this matter.

"Helen Clark had both the confidential Rob Robinson report and the Police Complaints Authority report in front of her. The Prime Minister must have known what she was saying to the journalist and the editor was not accurate.

"In her High Court brief last month, Helen Clark appears to accept this. Publicly she has not been so forthcoming," says Dr Brash.

"Today, Ms Clark has tried to say the briefs of evidence are 'not sworn documents'. Is the Prime Minister now telling us that her word means nothing unless it is in a sworn document?

"Her brief of evidence, dated 13 April 2005, was signed by her and she initialled every page."

ENDS

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