Collins, Whale, and Bain

Despite the account suspension, the Whaledump continues, with a release to the Herald of Slater's communications with former (oh how I love saying it) Justice Minister Judith Collins. It confirms that Collins was feeding Slater dirt and routinely manipulating OIA requests for him - as were members of her staff. The Ombudsman might want to take note of that. And while its only a footnote, I suspect this bit is likely to blow up in the government's face in a big way in the next few months:

Questions have already been asked about two other OIA requests made by Slater. There is an inquiry into a fast-tracked release of information from the Security Intelligence Service. In a separate release, Slater was sent a letter from David Bain's first lawyer containing damaging allegations against his former client by Ms Collins' office on the same day it was received.

So, just to make that clear, the Justice Minister used a blogger to smear someone when she was considering their case for compensation for a miscarriage of justice. Which would seem to be a textbook case of bias and predetermination, and to hand Bain his judicial review on a plate. If you don't think Bain deserves compensation, you might want to get angry at Collins about that.