Helen Clark must release Doonegate tapes to protect her integrity

Prime Minister Helen Clark must release the Doonegate tapes in Parliament to protect her integrity and to assure New Zealanders they have a Prime Minister they can trust, ACT leader Rodney Hide said today.

Mr Hide today wrote to Helen Clark asking her to release the transcripts of the tapes the Sunday Star-Times made of her conversations with their reporter and editor over the Peter Doone affair.

“I have suggested to Helen Clark that she make a statement in Parliament on Tuesday setting out her involvement in the Doone affair and that she should table the transcripts of the conversations in Parliament,” Mr Hide said.

“I know the transcripts exist The Sunday Star-Times made transcripts of all the calls they had with Helen Clark. We know she had five conversations with the reporter and the then-editor and she confirmed that the rookie cop was about to breath test Peter Doone’s partner Robyn Johnstone when Mr Doone told him “that won’t be necessary”.

That statement was not true. Helen Clark owes New Zealanders a full explanation about her role in misleading the newspaper and the public, which led to the downfall of Peter Doone.

It appears she used her position as Prime Minister to knife Peter Doone in the back in an underhand and dishonest way.

This is a very serious matter. New Zealanders need to be assured they have a Prime Minister they can trust. That trust is now under considerable question.

Helen Clark’s integrity and honesty are on the line. She must release the transcripts to make it clear whether her dealings with the reporter and editor were straight up and honest or whether she misled them by making untrue statements.

New Zealanders deserve to know whether their Prime Minister is worthy of the position she holds or whether she is dishonest and lacks integrity,” Mr Hide said.

ENDS

© Scoop Media