14 November 2001

Police Minister George Hawkins has dismissed the National Party’s latest accusations of government meddling as another beat up.

Today in Parliament, Simon Power claimed that a letter from the Minister to the National Distribution Union (“NDU”) showed that the Minister was interfering in operational matters.

Mr Hawkins has made all correspondence on the matter available to media this afternoon.

“On 30 August the NDU wrote to me regarding the case of two union officials who had been arrested by police.

“As is my standard practice when dealing with enquiries on operational matters, I referred the letter to the Office of the Commissioner of Police, requesting a draft response. On 18 October I replied to the NDU, using text prepared by the Legal Section of the Police.

“Other than requesting a draft letter, I have had no other communication with the Police on this issue, said Mr Hawkins.

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