Winston goes fishing

The Herald reports:

Winston Peters is taking a scattergun legal approach to those who he believes were behind the attempts to damage him during the election campaign over the pension overpayment leak.

Lawyers for the Foreign Minister are today serving papers on nine people, including former National Cabinet ministers, bureaucrats and two journalists, seeking discovery of material relating to the leaks.

Papers have been served on Newsroom.co.nz editor Tim Murphy and will be on Newshub political reporter Lloyd Burr, who’s currently in Australia.

Winston is fishing for evidence. There is no claim of action, just a claim that they need discovery to see what claim of action they could take.

Murphy also labelled the legal action a “fishing expedition”.

“Peters is seeking journalist phone records, notes, emails in regard to the stories disclosing his super windfall,” Murphy noted.

“And copious documentation, phone records from Paula Bennett, Joyce, Eagleson, Tolley, English and Brendan Boyle.

“It is a real fishing expedition. Even the lawyers recognise [that] of the defendants ‘some will have tortious liability, some will not’.”

What is interesting is who is paying for this. As he is now Deputy Prime Minister, are his legal costs being met by the Crown?

Peters was told about it in mid July, long before it was leaked during the election campaign, and after meeting with the Social Development Ministry, who accepted responsibility for the mistaken overpayment, he paid the money back.

His lawyers are saying his privacy was breached and they will be seeking damages from those served with the papers today.

I’m surprised that Peters wants to keep reminding people that he was claiming more NZ Super than he was entitled to. It’s not going to win votes for him, and it distracts attention from other issues the Government would rather the focus was on.