Clayton Cosgrove
Commerce Spokesperson

14 April 2014

Progressive declines to appear before MPs

Progressive Enterprises has declined to appear before the Commerce Select Committee but has given different reasons to Labour’s Commerce spokesperson Clayton Cosgrove and the media.

“Progressive has decided it would prefer to deal with MPs through letters from their lawyers rather than being up front and appearing before a Select Committee,” says Clayton Cosgrove.

“I wrote to Progressive asking them if they would accept an invitation to appear before the Committee and have a chance to air their concerns about media coverage of the financial review of the Commerce Commission.

“The company’s response to me was different to their response to a media outlet. In the letter to me Mr Chambers said: ‘We believe the Commerce Commission is the appropriate body to investigate these allegations…for this reason we do not wish to appear before the Select Committee’.

“But in its response to a media organisation he said: ‘I think there is a risk that it would just be an opportunity for more grandstanding against our business and I don’t see any point in doing that’.

“So in effect Mr Chambers has withheld the true reason for declining the invitation. This action compounds the inept way Progressive Enterprises has handled this whole issue.

“There’s a twist on an old saying that’s appropriate here – front up or shut up.

“If Progressive doesn’t want to be upfront with New Zealanders and appear before the Committee they should stop firing off legal letters,” says Clayton Cosgrove.

Hyperlink is to a paid NBR article. A copy of letter to Clayton Cosgrove is available here.

ENDS

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