Grant Robertson
Labour MP
9 March 2014
Time for Collins to face up to conflict of interest
Judith Collins' denials that she did anything wrong in visiting the Shanghai office of her husband's company on a
taxpayer-funded trip late last year are becoming increasingly untenable, Labour MP Grant Robertson says.
“The public condemnation of Judith Collins' actions is growing. Three major newspaper editorials in recent days have all
concluded not only that there was a conflict of interest in the trip, but that the Minister's denials are arrogant and
out of touch with the public mood.
“Her hubris, as one editorial calls it, is rubbing off on her colleagues. John Key has now repeated the diminishing of
the visit as ‘popping in on the way to the airport’.
“That is not true. This was a well-planned photo opportunity to endorse a company that Judith Collins has an interest
in.
“It was not a naive action, but a deliberate one that takes the mickey out of New Zealand taxpayers who footed the bill
for her travel.
“Now is the time for Judith Collins to admit she is wrong and apologise.
“If she is not prepared to do that, then John Key needs to take action if his claims of high standards for Ministerial
behaviour will have any credibility,” Grant Robertson says.
ENDS