Gerry Brownlee MP
National Party State Services Spokesman

26 July 2007

Benson-Pope trips up – Clark must act

National Party State Services spokesman Gerry Brownlee says Helen Clark must take action after David Benson-Pope admitted that he did share an opinion with Environment Ministry CEO Hugh Logan about the appointment of Madeleine Setchell.

“The Minister has claimed all along he did not have an opinion on the appointment, yet today he told Parliament that he had a conversation with Mr Logan where he said he would be ‘less likely to be free and frank’ with Madeleine Setchell in his office if she kept her job.

“This is a significant departure from his story of the past few days.

“This is now a clear cut case of the Minister telling the CEO that the appointment was unsatisfactory. It is political interference and it has now been admitted.

“Helen Clark earlier this week promised to do the right thing if Mr Benson-Pope’s story changed again. It has - both yesterday and today.”

Mr Brownlee says yesterday Mr Benson-Pope revealed there was not one but five phone calls between his office and Hugh Logan about the Madeleine Setchell case over just two days.

“Yet previously he’d led us to believe there was only one or two communications. There were five!”

Mr Brownlee says when earlier asked about the likely action should Mr Benson-Pope be caught out again, Helen Clark said her response would be obvious.

“The public are now waiting to see how far Helen Clark will let standards slip before standing up for a competent public servant who has been the victim of a politically motivated sacking.”

ENDS

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