Comment: Moutter attack the perfect distraction by Jones

Spark chief executive Simon Moutter is the largest big company boss to come under fire from MP Shane Jones. Photo/Dean Purcell.

Shane Jones' attack on Simon Moutter could be viewed as his latest dig at corporate New Zealand or as a clever distraction from the furore over his Provincial Growth Fund.

Earlier this week Jones was being lambasted for this involvement in the granting of up to $4.6m to a Northland tourism project that he had a conflict of interest in.

Jones claims while he attended a ministerial meeting about the project - called Manea Footprints of Kupe - he was not part of the decision to approve funding from the $3 billion Provincial Growth Fund (PGF).

But emails released under the Official Information Act found Jones gave assurances to finance minister Grant Robertson that the project was viable before sign-off was made to fund it.

Jones was backed up by support from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern but appears to have been sailing close to the wind.

So what better time to roll out another attack on a chief executive?

On Wednesday Jones launched into Spark chief executive Simon Moutter for going public with the interim decision by the Government Communications Security Bureau to block Huawei's involvement in its 5G plans.

Jones' said the company had done a disservice to New Zealand and its statement had been "highly disruptive to our foreign policy".

Spark announced the decision on the NZX as part of its continuous disclosure obligations.

Moutter hit back on Twitter saying that he was puzzled about why making a mandatory disclosure to the NZX made him accountable for the fallout from GCSB's decision, but declined to talk any further to Stock Takes about the situation.

Moutter is the latest in a line of big corporate bosses that Jones has hit out including Air New Zealand boss Christopher Luxon and Joan Withers, chair of The Warehouse Group.