28 October 2009 Media Statement

English can’t tell a ‘good look’ from a ‘look good’

Finance Minister Bill English seems almost incapable of understanding what constitutes a conflict of interest, says Labour Finance spokesperson David Cunliffe.

“His response today to the blatantly self-promoting TVNZ ‘plain English’ promo has been that it ‘looks quite good’,” David Cunliffe said.

“I’m not surprised that the promo appeals to his vanity and his ego, but although he thinks he ‘looks quite good’, it is certainly not a good look for the shareholding minister in TVNZ to be featured in a promo that is simply a party political broadcast.”

David Cunliffe said it had taken weeks for Mr English to admit that his “double dipping” at taxpayer expense on housing allowances was ‘not a good look’.

“This morning a political scientist at Massey University described the promo as being almost identical to a party political broadcast from 2002 when Mr English was National leader. That is why it is so inappropriate for a shareholding minister to be a willing and enthusiastic partner in this exercise.

“It’s all very well for Bill English to say the promo was TVNZ’s idea. The fact is that he is a shareholding minister, and he knows he must steer clear of anything that could be seen as a potential conflict of interest,” David Cunliffe said.

“It is impossible to believe that he could not see a conflict of interest in this self-promotion, and yet he has gone along with it anyway.

“Bill English thinks he ‘looks quite good’. It doesn’t look at all good to Kiwis that a minister whose judgment has already been tarnished is getting hundreds of thousands of dollars of free advertising from the state broadcaster in which he has a shareholding responsibility. That is an abuse of his position.”

David Cunliffe said the bitter irony for hard-working Kiwis is that the promo is for programmes about the state of the New Zealand economy. “Instead of preening in a television promo, Mr English as Finance Minister should be focusing on helping Kiwi families work their way out of a recession that has costs thousands of New Zealanders their jobs and security.”

ENDS

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