P.M.’s denial on paua

Press, 14 June 1984, Page 1

P.M.’s denial on paua

PA Wellington The Prime Minister, Sir Robert Muldoon, said last evening that there was no conflict of interest in an approach made to him by his lawyer, Mr D. J. Dalgety, on behalf of a Southland fisherman who has since been given approval to export frozen paua. Sir Robert told a hastily called press conference that there was no rule “of law or Parliament or property which says that because a man happens to be your lawyer you cannot discuss with him the affairs of another client.”

Earlier in the day in Parliament, the Opposition’s Junior Whip, Mr S. J. Rodger, said intervention by Sir Robert had seen the fisherman get three new paua licences for an al-ready-overfished field. Mr Dalgety, whose firm had received more than $250,000 from taxpayers for actions taken on behalf of Sir Robert, had approached

Sir Robert on behalf of Mr George Wast, Mr Rodger said.

“Surprise, surprise, what happened? Three new paua licences were awarded to Mr Wast,” he said.

“He must now extract from the Southland fields up to an extra 156 tonnes of paua a year ... from a field that is already over-fished.” “We are watching a disaster unfold,” Mr Rodger said. “Paua stocks are being denuded; within two years the southern paua fishery will have been destroyed at the present rate of catch.”

Prime Ministerial intervention was “an intolerable way to manage our precious fishing resources,” Mr Rodger said. Sir Robert said he had called the press conference because “If I reply to him (Mr Rodger) in the House I can’t call him a liar.”

Mr Rodger had not been telling the truth in Parliament, Sir Robert said. Mr Wast and his two

partners had three licences to catch 156 tonnes of paua a week. For several years Mr Wast had not caught paua because he had been “in the East” trying to get orders for frozen paua.

Mr Wast had not filed his monthly returns in that time and the Ministry of Fisheries had cancelled his licences.

Mr Wast “wasn’t getting anywhere with the department and so he wrote to me,” Sir Robert said.

“Now it is a fact that his lawyers are Bell, Gully and Company who are also my lawyers. It is correct that his lawyer is a man called Tony Ford who is a partner of my lawyer, Des Dalgety. “It is perfectly correct that Mr Dalgety discussed it with me as he did with Mr Maclntyre (the Minister of Fisheries).” Sir Robert said Mr Dalgety had been representing Mr Wast in the discussions. “If a man comes to me representing a particular

client I can’t say to him, 'Go away, you are my lawyer’. That would be ridiculous.” Mr Ford had also been at the meeting. When asked why Mr Dalgety had attended when Mr Ford was also there, Sir Robert said, “because as a senior partner he comes along in an issue of this kind.” He said it was uncommon for Mr Dalgety to come to see him on matters to do with other clients.

“Occasionally he talks to me about clients who have a general involvement with Government but it is uncommon.” After Mr Wast had explained why his returns had not been filed, the three licences had been reinstated “on a temporary basis.”

In addition to that he had been given approval to export 62.4 deadweight tonnes of frozen paua a year. “I think he (Mr Wast) is to be commended rather than for an attack to be made because his lawyer happens

to be my lawyer, and by that I mean his firm, which is one of the biggest in New Zealand,” Sir Robert said.

“On his merits the department has now given him the right to export his catch as frozen paua.

“There have been complaints by the canners. What Mr Rodger did not tell the House is that out of 389 tonnes of canned paua for which there are quotas, no less then 202 of them belong to Prepared Foods which is the company started up by a certain Joe Walding. (Minister of Overseas Trade in the last Labour Government). “Although I understand he is out of it, or near enough out of it, there is clearly a Labour Party interest in this, that the lion’s share of the canned paua trade in this country is in the hands of Prepared Foods, Ltd, which has an association with a former Labour Minister of the Crown.”

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