I don’t guess there will be an apology?
April 17th, 2009 at 6:25 am by David FarrarThe Herald reported yesterday on various donations to candidates and included:
A mystery entity called Toorak Chambers also gave $3000 each to National MPs Simon Bridges, David Bennett, Todd McLay, and Lindsay Tisch.
When questioned, one of the recipients said it was linked to the National Party and referred the Herald to the party’s headquarters.
They today cleared up the mystery:
Meanwhile, the mystery of $3000 donations to several National MPs from “Toorak Chambers” has been cleared up. Toorak Chambers is an incorporated society which owns a building in Hamilton.
The “donations” were effectively a dividend from profits to the members – National’s central North Island electorate branches.
As a political party is an unincorporated society, major assets such as buildings are always vested in an incorporated society as this is a legal body corporate. So basically the “donations” are rental income. Nothing sinister at all. Toorak Chambers even has its accounts online. The constitution is also online, making it very clear it is the property arm of the CNI Region of the National Party.
Nothing wrong with the Herald reporting of Toorak Chambers. It was responsible, and once they had the full info, they published it.
No Right Turn jumped to conclusions:
National’s response to the Electoral Finance Act, or any attempt to regulate political donations, is to claim that transparency is enough. Then, in practice, they evade and undermine that transparency, using corporate fronts to shield the identity of donors. These are the actions of a dishonest, hypocritical, dirty party with something to hide.
We await the unreserved apology. I am not holding my breath.
Related posts:
- New Zealand First Incorporated
- Responding to Winston
- Gibbs donates $100,000 to ACT
- A confused Herald editorial
April 17th, 2009 at 7:16 am
I know you like NRT and keep linking to him, but I do wonder why most of the time, he/she/it is one of the more shallow and predictable lefties. Its been a long time since i saw any thoughtful analysis from that site.
Vote:April 17th, 2009 at 7:45 am
Gueez wept … what a non story fashioned by lazy journo who didn’t both to do even basic research like direct his/her initial question to Alison Renwick (Regional Co-ordinator of the Central North Island Division – in the phone book).
Toorak Chambers has been around since Adam was a cowboy. It was there 20 years ago when I was the Divisional Treasurer for the (then) Waikato Division. As an Incorporated Society all its dealings are in the public arena and its accounts are simple (so even socialists can read them). Essentially rent in less rates and maintenance produces a surplus which is distributed to the Party (normally) in election year.
Labour does exactly the same with the property it owns . NRT is a dork and not a very bright dork at that … fits though.
Vote:April 17th, 2009 at 7:46 am
You know the left and in particular this idiot doesn’t do apologies.
Vote:April 17th, 2009 at 8:19 am
The Herald must be getting tired of printing retractions and apologies (ie Apologising to Richard Worth comes to mind). Maybe if they employed real journalists and not storytellers they might get their facts right.
Actually forget that – I don’t think real journalists exist anymore. We have ended up with overblown personalities that are opinion makers rather than reporting informed fact which allows us to make our own opinions.
Vote:April 17th, 2009 at 8:31 am
Yeah, NRT is hardly journalism or credibility at its finest.
Vote:April 17th, 2009 at 8:35 am
I guess we are all assuming that a journalist is capable of reading a financial statement – I don’t think they teach that at polytech.
The standard MO is
1. Is there a press release from the Labour Party or an interest group?
2. Can we top and tail it and print it verbatim?
3. Bingo! front page.
4. No? need to actually report
5. Hmm bugger, we got rid of all the older journalists because the bastards want to get paid more than $60k
6. Hand the story to the new kid, s/he is cheap, and give them the handbook.
7. Turn to handbook
8. Anything capitalists or the national party do is evil – check
9. Can we find a victim and a villain?
10. If can’t find villian in q9, refer to q. 8.
11. Bingo! front page story.
12. Do enough of these and Harvey Norman (insert favourite whiteware co here) won’t pull the full page ads.
13. Keep the Harvey Norman account (ditto) and you may win a Quantas award for “investigative journalism”
14. Win too many awards, try and get payrise – rinse and repeat.
Vote:April 17th, 2009 at 8:36 am
ps., david, still can’t edit the typos.
Vote:April 17th, 2009 at 8:36 am
Yeah Ross – this has become a bit of a nostalgia story. I remember Young Nats meetings there 35 years ago and the building seemed bloody old then. I don’t think it has been a secret in all that time. In fact I think we even invited Trevor Mallard to a meeting there when he was the MP in Hamilton West – and he came. I am not sure Trevor Barber was impressed.
Now here is a story for NRT “Mallard – secret National Party plant in Labour for past 30 years”.
Vote:April 17th, 2009 at 9:04 am
re nigel6888 at 8:35am
15 get smartly round to AUT/Womens Refuge/one of the Harawhiras/a tame QC/the village idiot for meaningless comment
16 breathlessly publish meningless third party comment as gospel/fact/guidance/summary of generally held public opinion
Vote:April 17th, 2009 at 9:43 am
This is the same NZ Herald that let Helen Klark off the hook over her involvement in the Owen Glenn Winston Peters Honorary Consul scam right??
…and a dozen other deceits.
I’ve got one thing to say to that bunch of arrogant deceitful partisan propagandists.
Fuck off, and come back when you’ve got some real journalists on your payroll.
Vote:April 17th, 2009 at 9:54 am
red, when will scum like you stop telling business owners what to do with their businesses?
The business exists to make profits for iits shareholders and no other reason. It does not exist to do your bidding.
How about you fuck off and let private enterprise get on with its job?
Vote:April 17th, 2009 at 10:25 am
I/S was much more interesting when he was jumping around the Known Universe in his Type S sector mapping.
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