Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First Leader

1 May 2014

Minister Pays Price for Colleague

The resignation by the Minister of Customs, the Hon Maurice Williamson, has occurred in circumstances where clearly his offence was far less than that of the Minister of Justice Judith Collins, says New Zealand First Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“There can’t be any doubt about Mr Williamson’s conflict of interest but that conflict is far less than that exhibited by the Hon Judith Collins and condoned by Prime Minister John Key.

“Clearly the Prime Minister is attempting to show that he does have some standards but ironically Mr Williamson’s case, as with others, proves just how duplicitous those standards are.

“If Mr Williamson has offended, and he has, then why will the Prime Minister not act in the case of Judith Collins?

“Not only has there been a serious conflict of interest, but she misled the media and the public, and has been found out advancing a company’s interest, to which she has a connection, while the interests of a significant industry, namely infant formula into China, were simply ignored.

“It’s of alarm that certain practices in China, which have been causing the President of China grave concern, have crept into the National Party.

“Throwing one guilty party to the wolves will not suffice in this case, and the sooner the Prime Minister gets his head around that the better,” says Mr Peters.

ENDS

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