Clark turns blind eye to Jones' double-dipping

new-zealand-national-party

Fri Jan 19 2007 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Clark turns blind eye to Jones' double-dipping

Friday, 19 January 2007, 2:39 pm
Press Release: New Zealand National Party

Tau Henare MP
National Party Maori Affairs Spokesman (Education & TPK)

19 January 2007

Labour list MP Shane Jones' double-dipping and duplicity has been exposed once again, says National Maori Affairs spokesman (Education & TPK) Tau Henare.

He was responding to a Herald report today that Mr Jones has not resigned from Te Ohu Kaimoana despite indicating more than 12 months ago that he would.

"I would have thought that after Taito Phillip Field, Helen Clark wouldn't continue to tolerate conflicts of interest among Labour MPs - let alone double-dipping," says Mr Henare.

"As Te Ohu Kaimoana chairman, Mr Jones collects $70,000 a year on top of the more than $130,000 - excluding expenses and benefits - he earns as a Labour MP and chairman of Parliament's finance and expenditure select committee.

"When Mr Jones entered Parliament in 2005, he said he intended to stay on as trust chairman and only backed down after Helen Clark told him he had to quit the Government-appointed post.

"After being told to pull his head in by the Prime Minister, he said he'd give up the position within 'six months to a year, although it could happen sooner'. That was early October 2005.

"Last September he was saying he'd be gone before February - yet two days ago Te Ohu Kaimoana appointed new directors and Mr Jones is still there.

"He's obviously a man who repeatedly says one thing and does another in order to keep on doubling-dipping. By staying on, he puts at risk the independence of the Maori fisheries authority.

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"If his position as an MP and as chairman of Te Ohu Kaimoana doesn't involve a conflict of interest, why did the Prime Minister summon him to her office in October 2005 and tell him that she did not expect him to remain in that position for very long?

"Here's a man who chairs a trust that distributes $700 million of Maori fisheries. When questioned last year about what he does with his $70,000 TOKM salary, Mr Jones said he gives much of it away as koha. That begs the question: who does he give tens of thousands of dollars to, and what for?

"Mr Jones should be there to represent the interests of shareholders, but as a Labour MP handing out tens of thousands of dollars in koha each year he opens himself and the Government up to allegations of vote-buying."

ENDS

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