King says Key is all over the place on therapeutics proposals

State Services Minister Annette King says National Party leader John Key can no longer be trusted to tell the truth about National's position on the transtasman therapeutics goods proposal.

"In one day he has had three different positions; in an interview with the NZ Herald published this morning, he said that if the Government brought him a proposal that 'does what it says carves out complementaries with a voluntary opt-in, we'll sign it'.

Three senior NZ Herald journalists heard him say that, and the interview is on tape. I believe what the NZ Herald journalists say."

Ms King said that later in the morning Mr Key put out a media statement saying that the National Party's position was unchanged – that the Government had to completely remove complementaries from the legislation before National would support it.

"In stating position number two, Mr Key cast very unfair slurs on the NZ Herald journalists."

Ms King said he had now apparently developed position number three, which was "not a bad effort" in the space of 24 hours.

"Position number three is that the NZ First proposal is no good anyway, it is only half a page long, and the Australians would not support it anyway.

"That is a complete distortion of the actual situation. Winston Peter's proposal may be only half a page long, but it has to be seen as the basis of a sensible way forward.

"This was what was communicated to senior National Party people by both the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister and it was what I discussed in an expanded form with the Australian Government.

"Mr Key knows this, but is desperate to disguise the fact because of the confusion and division in his own party.

"The Government had placed the Bill on the back-burner, and now Mr Key reignited the issue today with at best a misleading interview in the NZ Herald. Now he can't handle the mess he's dropped himself into."

Ms King added that even former United Future MP Gordon Copeland knew what the basis of the discussions with Australia on the two-tier system but "Mr Key wouldn't listen to him either, and refused to let him vote for the compromise."

ENDS

© Scoop Media