David
Shearer
Labour Leader

16 September 2012 MEDIA STATEMENT
PM’s refusal to read Banks police report plain negligence

John Key is refusing to read the police report on John Banks because he knows it will show that all the evidence points to the fact his minister has lied to him, says Labour Leader David Shearer.

“It is completely negligent for the Prime Minister not to read a damning police report on one of his own ministers.

“John Key is using this as political cover, he knows if he reads the report it will be clear to him that John Banks has lied to him and he would have to sack him.

“Turning a blind eye is not leadership. Everyone in New Zealand knows that Kim Dotcom, his bodyguard and lawyer have all independently given sworn testimony that John Banks knew about the donation. Yet John Banks told the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff, the media and the country that he did not know.

"That is just not credible. Surely that is a breach of John Key's so called higher ethical standards. I challenge John key to summon John Banks to his office tomorrow and ask him face-to-face whether he has lied. That is what a responsible leader would do.

“On TVNZ’s Q&A this morning John Key said ‘The test for someone being a minister is whether they enjoy my confidence. If a minister tells me this is my position and this what I’ve done, I accept their word in good faith unless it’s proven otherwise’.

“If John Key just read the police report he would know for a fact that John Banks has not told the truth and that he is not fit to be a Minister.

“John Key promised higher ethical standards as a prime minister. Its time he listened to his own advice and sacked Mr Banks.”

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