Inquiry ‘unnecessary’ over Maori loan

Press, 27 January 1987, Page 2

Inquiry ‘unnecessary’ over Maori loan

By

MARTIN FREETH

in Wellington

The Cabinet decided yesterday that no public inquiry was required into the Maori Affairs loan fiasco.

The Acting Prime Minister, Mr Palmer, told reporters that there was no new evidence of misconduct within the Government, warranting a public inquiry since the report of the State Services Commission before Christmas. “There, is no new fact that requires us to respond by holding an inquiry,” Mr Palmer said.

The Cabinet had discussed the matter although it had great difficulty understanding why the loan fiasco, involving aborted negotiations by the head of the Maori Affairs Department to raise $6OO million overseas, was still attracting news media attention, Mr Palmer said.

“All that has happened is that various irresponsible spokesmen have attacked the integrity of the chairman of the State Services Commission, Dr Rod Deane, and attacked the quality of the report,” he said.

Public inquiries had to be reserved for serious allegations over Government administration or the conduct of a Cabinet Minister, not simply clearing up confusion.

Mr Palmer said the Government had no interest in “raking over the coals” regarding the possible sources of finance behind the loan negotiations or the backgrounds of individuals involved. No inquiry into those matters would succeed, anyway, since New Zealand had no jurisdiction to call witnesses or hear evi-

dence from Hawaii or elsewhere.

He argued that no real questions were left to be dealt with about the behaviour of officials in New Zealand, and he dismissed any suggestion that further scrutiny was warranted of the role of the Minister of Maori Affairs, Mr Wetere, in the fiasco. Mr Palmer described as a “severe finding” the comment by the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, after the S.S.C. report that Mr Wetere had acted unwisely. However, that was not enough on which to launch a public inquiry. The Acting Prime Minister said Mr Wetere’s signing of a letter giving Mr , Rocky Cribb wide scope to act as an agent for the department was the “only element of my colleague’s behaviour which warrants criticism.”

But Mr Wetere had later called off negotiations as the Government’s “system of checks and balances” worked to abort the loan, he added.

“They worked late, but they worked.”

Mr Palmer also dismissed any suggestion that Mr Wetere should resign on the basis of Mr Lange’s “finding, 4 ’ citing as a precedent the Marginal Lands Board Affair, when an inquiry found two National Ministers had acted unwisely. Neither resigned.

A public inquiry would be irresponsible without some new evidence indicating misconduct over the fiasco more than the mistakes that were apparent from the official documents already made public and the commission’s report, Mr Palmer said.

The Government was, however, ready to consider any new revelation by the Opposition or any other source, he said.

The Opposition renewed its call for a public inquiry into the loan affair, charging the Government with . “political ex-

pediency” over the matter.

The Opposition leader, Mr Bolger, claimed the loan negotiations required more attention than the “cursory” examination given by the State Services Commission or a “wise-crack dismissal” from the Prime Minister, Mr Lange. Newspaper editorials, the Maori community and many individuals had also called for a public inquiry, Mr Bolger said. Referring to the Marginal Lands Loan Board affair in 1980, Mr Bolger said Mr Palmer had then been “vociferous” in calling for a full public disclosure. “That was a minuscule issue by comparison, yet Mr Palmar insisted that a Minister’s resignation was required.”

Now Mr Palmer only seemed interested in “trying to distance Ministers from the issue,” Mr Bolger said.