Owen Glenn appeared before the Privileges Committee today, and made it clear that Winston Peters had solicited the $100,000 from him to pay for legal fees, thanked him for it, and backed up his story with witness statements and phone records. Which means that Winston clearly violated both Cabinet guidelines and Parliament's Standing Orders on the declaration of gifts and interests - then lied about it afterwards to the public. His supporters may forgive him for that - we'll see at the election - but Parliament shouldn't.
Neither should the Prime Minister. As I've said before, it is intolerable for a Minister to circumvent these declarations. They exist for a very good reason: to allow conflicts of interest to be identified and managed, and to prevent corruption and the perception of corruption. Peters has deliberately and blatantly violated those rules and our trust. And for that, he should be sacked.
