Motion defeated for inquiry into loan affair

Press, 19 February 1987, Page 1

Motion defeated for inquiry into loan affair

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

Legislation seeking to set up a Commission of Inquiry into the Maori loan affair was opposed by the Government in Parliament last evening.

The Minister of Maori Affairs, Mr Wetere, described the bill as a political device on which to hang a political debate.

. To this Mr Paul East (Nat., Rotorua) added, “or on which to hang a Minister of Maori Affairs.”

The bill to set up the Commission of Inquiry was introduced by the Opposition spokesman on Maori affairs, Mr Winston Peters (Nat., Tauranga), who has led the attack on Mr Wetere and his handling of the Maori Affairs loan initiatives in Hawaii.

Mr Peters sought to embarrass the Government by reading a series of letters and documents, and asked a series of questions, to continuous jeers from the Government benches.

He alleged a cover-up by the Government to protect Mr Wetere.

A Commission of Inquiry, because the State Services Commission had been given orily eight days to investigate the issue and its report, had now become the subject of controversy and concern.

“It has been readily acknowledged by the Prime Minister that there is a great deal of confusion and mystery surrounding the events behind the Maori loan negotiations,” Mr Peters said.

It was important tbat public confidence be restored in New Zealand’s

system of administration and that the public have all the facts to make a judgment

An Associate Minister of Finance, Mr Prebble, said the bill was an abuse of Parliament’s procedures because there was nothing for a Commission of Inquiry to investigate. He made the matter an issue of Mr Peters’ credibility rather than that of Mr Wetere’s and linked it to Mr Peters;’ claims of the ferry running aground, a Soviet submarine surveying Cook Strait, a Cabinet Minister as a property speculator, and the Mikhail Lermontov’s being a spy ship. Mr Peters had asked about the involvement of a Mr Tommy Taurima. Mr Prebble said Mr Taurima was a crooner in Hawaii who visited New Zealand from time to time.

“He has promised to produce affidavits, but where are they?” said Mr Prebble. “He has doctored his so-called evidence and taken quotes out of context.”

The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bolger, asked why Mr Wetere had offered to resign, if the whole thing had been a figment of Mr Peters’ imagination. Mr Wetere had not been confused, as he and the Prime Minister had both claimed, but had been part of a deliberate

plan to confuse the public — not confusion by accident but confusion by design, Mr Bolger said.

“The Government fears the truth but Mr Wetere’s name has been blackened and a Commission of Inquiry is needed to clear it,” he said. When Mr Wetere rose to speak he was greeted with calls from the Opposition of “Just go, Koro.”

He asked Mr Peters to face up to the Maori people and make these charges at a special hui held on a marae. Mr Peters had received invitations to go on to maraes to talk about it but had not done so.

Later, the Chief Government Whip, Dr Michael Cullen, accused National of trying to whip up anti-Maori feeling. Other speakers spoke of their concern about the effect of the issue on racial harmony —

National was saying a Commission of Inquiry would put things right and Labour was saying the furore was designed to attract anti-Maori support to National.

The longest-serving Maori member in Parliament, Mrs Whetu Tirika-tene-Sullivan (Lab., Southern Maori), said the matter had become pointless, was now hurting Maoridom, and should be dropped. There was so much that needed to be done for Maoris that it was wrong to be distracted by an issue that had already been investigated. The damage had already been done, and the claims and counter-claims were only making it worse, she said. The motion to introduce the bill was defeated, 40 votes to 31, so that no Commission of Inquiry will be held.