Cablegate: Scandals Aplenty, but Talk of Labour's Demise Is
VZCZCXRO2285
RR RUEHNZ
DE RUEHWL #0690/01 2440345
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 010345Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3221
INFO RUEHNZ/AMCONSUL AUCKLAND 0904
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RHHJJAA/JICPAC HONOLULU HI
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 WELLINGTON 000690
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
STATE FOR D (FRITZ), EAP/FO, AND EAP/ANP
NSC FOR VICTOR CHA
SECDEF FOR OSD/ISD LIZ PHU
PACOM FOR J01E/J2/J233/J5/SJFHQ
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV NZ
SUBJECT: SCANDALS APLENTY, BUT TALK OF LABOUR'S DEMISE IS
PREMATURE
Ref A: WELLINGTON 598
Summary
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1. (SBU) Labour's recent political problems have been compounded by
new accusations of election campaign spending abuse. Meanwhile, new
evidence of inappropriate behavior by an already disgraced Labour MP
may finally force Labour's leadership to kick him out of the party,
impairing the Government's ability to pass legislation. In theory
this could cause the Government to fall, leading some analysts to
predict that PM Clark will not last through her three-year term. To
date only one poll shows firm signs of the public abandoning support
for Labour.
New scandal comes at a bad time for Labour
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2. (SBU) Labour's latest crisis was brought to the public's
attention on August 22nd when the Auditor-General made public the
contents of a draft report questioning the legality of Labour's 2005
general elections campaign spending. The report, which has not yet
been finalized, suggests that Labour misappropriated NZ$446,000 of
taxpayer money on party pledge cards and brochures sent to voters
three weeks before the September elections. Heather Simpson, Prime
Minister Clark's influential chief adviser and overseer of Labour's
campaign funding, narrowly escaped prosecution in March after police
found there was a prima facie case against her over the pledge card.
Further muddying the waters for Labour are media reports that
Labour Party President, Mike Smith, knew in advance of the election
that it was illegal to use taxpayers' money on the cards.
3. (SBU) National's leader Dr. Don Brash is demanding Labour pay
back the money. PM Clark initially countered that the election
spending rules are unclear and ineffective. She claimed the
National had overspent as well (although it has paid back the
NZ$10,588 the Auditor General identified as having been overspent by
National). Clark argues that the draft report could have
implications for the NZ$350 million in spending by all political
parties over the past 15 years. When her counterattack failed to
gain traction, Clark changed tack and floated the idea of state
funding for political parties. This would include retrospective
legislation to validate Labour's election spending. The public was
not impressed: a Herald DigiPoll found that 81% all of respondents
(and 75% of Labour supporters) believe that all political parties
should repay unlawfully spent public money. The same poll found only
13.5% of Labourites support Clark's proposed retrospective law.
Labour seeks to distance itself from disgraced MP
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3. (SBU) Just when the election scandal reared its head, Labour
received another blow from fresh allegations of improper behavior by
its Samoan MP Philip Field, who has been accused of using his
Ministerial position to improperly help and even exploit immigrants
for personal gain (Ref A). The new accusations involve document
tampering, taking money from an elderly constituent and accepting
bribes for services. Clark has in the past stood by Field out of
party loyalty and the need to preserve her one-seat majority in
Parliament. But as even Pacific Island community leaders are now
calling for Field to resign in light of the latest accusations, on
August 29 Clark at last openly questioned whether he has a future in
the Labour Party. On August 31, the NZ Police announced it would
investigate formally the allegations. Clark immediately suspended
Field from all his duties with full pay. Field's vote in Parliament
will be held by Labour's Chief Whip until he returns from leave,
thus retaining Labour's majority.
4. (SBU) Field has announced that he will not resign as Labour's MP
for Mangere, although his refusal to comment whether he will run at
the next election may signal that he accepts Clark's hint that he
has no future in Labour. But, little is certain about where both he
and Clark go from here. The PM has the power to prevent Field from
running as a Labour candidate in two years' time and can also expel
him from the party now (although for now she has little incentive to
kick him out since he has been suspended.) NZ law prevents Clark
from ousting Field from Parliament, where he could remain as an
independent if kicked out of Labour. At present, Labour needs the
support of two other parties to pass legislation. As the vast
majority of votes in Parliament are Party votes (where the MPs vote
along party lines), the loss of Field's unconditional support would
require Labour to secure backing from three parties to ensure
passage of legislation. An independent Field could therefore
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undermine Labour's ability to pass key legislation such as the
budget, which could in turn cause the Government to fall.
5. (SBU) Field could alternatively resign from Parliament and run
as an independent in the resulting by-election. Field claims he has
done nothing wrong and that the people of Mangere want him to remain
as their MP. His victory is not a shoo-in, however. Mangere is one
of Labour's safest seats, and some Pacific Island community leaders
believe that Field only won his seat because he was the Labour
candidate. A Labour win in a by-election contest would ensure
Clark's majority is maintained.
Polls suggest Labour slippage
-----------------------------
7. (SBU) Not surprisingly, Clark claims ordinary voters are not
overly concerned by the latest scandals. Colmar Brunton's latest
poll bears this out, with an insignificant National lead of two
points over Labour (45% vs. 43%). The latest Morgan Poll found early
August support for National Party was down 1% to 41%, with Labour
support dropping just 1%, to 39%. Labour's own internal polling
actually puts it ahead of National. The recently released UMR poll
shows National has crept ahead to a 4.5 point lead over Labour.
8. (SBU) The just-released Herald DigiPoll shows National opening up
a 7.7 point lead over Labour (46.4% vs. 38.7%). So far, at least,
the Government is not convinced this means it's heading down a
negative track. One well-regarded Labour MP close to Clark told us
that some "backlash was bound to happen" as a result of the
attention paid to Labour's problems. He claims the party will not
lose too much sleep over this one poll as the election is a
"political lifetime away" and Labour won the 1999 election with this
same level of party support. He also says Clark, Simpson and Deputy
Prime Minister Michael Cullen are far more skilled politically than
National and they can ride out the scandal. Significantly, most
National MPs we've spoken to agree that Labour is in no real danger
of tumbling over its latest troubles.
(SBU) Comment: The police investigation has upped the ante for
Field. If he is found to have committed a crime, then he will be
removed from Parliament. It might not get this far though. Post
believes that Field will resign before he is pushed. The fact that
National is only now reaping a political dividend from Labour's
seemingly never-ending scandals shows how ineffective the
opposition's attacks have been to date. Clark has pretty much headed
off every National gambit to taint her administration, leading some
to speculate that Brash's days as leader are numbered. Nonetheless,
the Herald poll is giving National MPs a boost, and we see no signs
National plans to end its campaign to link Labour with sleaze (in
fact, one National MP tells us what his party really wants Field to
remain as a Labour MP in order to help reinforce this perception).
But National's strategies aside, Labour may be helped by the fact
that politics in New Zealand is a short game. The next scheduled
election is 2 years away, and it is only really when the official
election campaign starts, just 3 months out from Election Day, that
most New Zealanders sit up and pay attention to politics. As long as
the police investigation lasts, the Government can justifiably
refuse to comment on the Field case. If the latest problems persist
(or increase) as the next election nears, they are likely to damage
Labour's prospects. Until then, we wouldn't write the Government off
just yet.
McCormick