HoS interview with Clark

The Herald on Sunday interviews Helen Clark. Some extracts:

When I last spoke to you in this room, a week out from the last election, you said you didn’t know Winston Peters that well.

That was true. It probably still is.

You said you’d never actually governed with him, which you hadn’t at that point. You have now. Do you feel you know him a bit better now?

Yes, a bit better… And I have to say that, working as a minister, I believe he did a pretty good job.

Would you have confidence in him as a minister in the future?

I would have no difficulty working with him in the future.

As a minister?

No difficulty. I take people as I find them, and I’m perfectly satisfied with the job he did.

You’d be happy to see him as foreign minister again?

All I’m saying is, I’m perfectly prepared to work with Winston Peters again, and I consider that his party operated honourably in the relationship it had with us.

Well I’m speechless. I guess what Clark means is he kept voting for her and honoured the confidence and supply agreement. She doesn’t regard any of the other stuff as important, such as:

• Having lied to her over Owen Glenn
• Having lied to Privileges Committee
• Pushing through policy for special interests that fund his party and personally donate to him
• Having filed false donation returns for 2005, 2007 and maybe 2006
• Having filed false pecuniary interest returns for 2006 and 2007 (and maybe still false)

None of that has anything to do with operating honourably – so long as he votes for her.

I really do hope there are enough principled people on the left who will vote Green if they can not bring themselves to vote for a non-left party. But surely they can see it is time for Clark to go, when even after the Meurant revelations she is saying she would have “no difficulty” workign with Peters. That is almost condoning his activities.

How can the voters of the left ever think they will have any sort of moral high ground on political finance reform, when you vote for Clark who just doesn’t care about false donation returns, false pecuniary interests returns, documents recommending her “partner party” refocus itself to be a party of sectional special interests in order to attract money from them, and plenty of evidence that such a strategy was implemented using her Government.

I would like to ask you what your biggest regret is about your handling of politics and policy in the past three years.

I have no regrets, and I wouldn’t even dream of trying to manufacture them.

I’m sure you do have some regrets.

No regrets. Never look back.

I hope that isn’t the case. I know it may not be the smartest thing politically to admit to your mistakes, but learning from them in very important. Hell I can name plenty of things I regret – now I don’t think about them constantly but I would never say I have no regrets.