I don't like wetlands, they're swamps

Sabin: Environmentalists are concerned about digging up the area.

Collins: Are they? Oh well...

Swamp kauri.

Nasty orcs.

Collins still in trouble (out damn spot!)

This guy sees it very clearly.

THINGS LOOK MURKIER FOR JUDITH COLLINS


I didn’t think there would be anything more to emerge regarding Judith Collins’ trip to China and her dinner meeting there with her friends from Oravida and that unnamed Chinese border control official. The opposition wanted the name of the official; Collins refuses to supply it – it all looked very much as if the Mexican standoff would ensue until the story ran out of legs.

Unfortunately for Ms Collins, it has now emerged that in August 2013, Julia Xu (Oravida’s managing director and Collins’ close personal friend) had written to Trade Minister Tim Groser and Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy, asking for help from the government with regard to border control issues with China. Following the Fonterra botulism scare, China implemented a new testing regime, which was said to be affecting Oravida’s exports of fresh milk to China. The letter urged the ministers to “help us navigate through this difficult time” by “working with the Chinese Government to remove this new testing requirement”.

Of course, as everyone now knows, two months later Judith Collins was in China, meeting with her friends at Orivida. The infamous “private” dinner was held, and Ms Collins apparently made idle chitchat about tourism to the unnamed Chinese border control official.

So, Oravida had explicitly raised its concerns about Chinese border control issues with two National party ministers. Then, lo and behold, two months later, when a further government minister (who just happens to be married to one of Oravida’s directors and is close personal friends with its managing director and CEO) travels to China and has dinner with a Chinese border control official.

It doesn’t matter whether Ms Collins thought the dinner was going to be private. The moment her friends at Oravida turned up at the restaurant with a border control official, it stopped being private. Collins was being used by Oravida to grease the Chinese border control wheels. Further, she was being used because of her personal links to Oravida. For that reason, those at the dinner lose any right to privacy. New Zealanders are entitled to know who this Chinese official was and the department they work at. Otherwise, this looks suspiciously like a cover-up of some rather corrupt goings on.

Right-wing support for Judith Collins' lies - Te Reo Putake comments

(Background: Judith Collins claimed she 'popped in for a cup of tea/milk on her way to the airport.

Seems it wasn't a cuppa, wasn't popping in, and the venue was no where near the 'way to the airport').

Te Reo Putake3
19 March 2014 at 11:21 am

Because they are so very consistent, I’m expecting howls of indignation from the right about this. After all, when Helen Clark was driven through Canterbury at high speed, and said she didn’t really notice because she was head down concentrating on her work, the right called for her head.

Of course, there is a small difference; Clark said she was working, Collins said she was goofing off because she had nothing better to do while waiting for her flight. Gosh, it’s so hard to tell which is worse, eh?

Garner on Collins

"Judith Collins has been caught out not telling the truth.

She has misled the New Zealand public; she has misled her boss the Prime Minister; and her best defence is that she lied to us, by omission.

It is simply not good enough. She is no longer fit to be a Minister, she has failed the truth test. I have been saying this for a week now: She did not just pop in to Oravida, she planned it weeks out.

Now, we know she had a top level dinner and meeting with Oravida bosses and a senior official from the Chinese Government, all in a private capacity. There is no such thing when you are representing NZ as a Minister overseas.

Remember, her husband is a director of this firm. That’s the conflict. The Collins family stands to gain from the success of this company. You don’t just forget this sort of detail, you hold it back on purpose, and that’s what she has done.

I have always said when you put a Minister or MP in a tight spot, their default setting is to lie. They do not tell the truth and this is what has happened here. Collins has once again proven my theory correct.

She has misled the NZ public and that’s not acceptable. She has lost the confidence of a nation. She has misled the PM – and that’s where it always used to get terminal for Ministers with Helen Clark in charge. But John Key has decided to tough this one out. It’s the wrong decision. He should sack her.

He sacked Nick Smith for less in my opinion. Collins simply tried to bluff us, but she has failed and she has been caught out. She’s not indispensable. Her reputation is shot.

It’s clear the Chinese saw her visit and subsequent website appearance as an ‘endorsement’. But the Prime Minister continues to claim it was just a ‘promotion’. There is absolutely no difference. It’s the same thing. It’s semantics Prime Minister. The John Key of old would have crucified Helen Clark for such garbage. He needs to step back and see this for what it is.

He has been implicated in Judith Collins’s web of deceit. She has misled Kiwis and she has misled the Prime Minister. She is no longer fit to hold the warrant as Justice Minister."

I can’t say it anymore direct than this: She should be sacked.