Acting PM stands solidly by his man

By AUDREY YOUNG

John Tamihere will not be sacked from the Cabinet before the inquiry into his financial affairs is completed, Acting Prime Minister Michael Cullen told Parliament yesterday.

"Questions around Mr Tamihere's future will, in the end, be political decisions, following the report of Douglas White, QC," Dr Cullen told Parliament.

Mr Tamihere has stood down temporarily from Cabinet duties.

National and Act have been pressing for Mr Tamihere's dismissal in the wake of revelations that he took the money more than a year after saying publicly he wouldn't, and after Labour had campaigned strongly in Opposition against large severance payments.

Commenting on a One News poll, Dr Cullen said most New Zealanders "believe Mr Tamihere's case should be heard carefully and considered carefully".

In the poll 82 per cent backed his stand down from the Cabinet, but 16 per cent believed he should resign immediately, 54 per cent said their confidence in the MP was unchanged and 42 per cent said it had fallen.

Dr Cullen also questioned the definition of "golden handshake" - the term being widely used in relation to a $195,000 exit package Mr Tamihere accepted from the Waipareira Trust.

He said Labour's campaign around golden handshakes concerned vast amounts of money paid to people whom others wanted to get rid of because they were not doing their jobs properly.

"Nobody has yet demonstrated in any shape or form that any of the payment to Mr Tamihere fell into that category."

National suggested in Parliament that part of John Tamihere's $195,000 exit package had been payment to get a more generous Treaty of Waitangi fisheries settlement for urban Maori organisations, such as the trust.

The Fisheries Commission allocation to urban Maori increased from an original $10 million to $25 million, of which Waipareira would get up to $5 million, said National deputy Gerry Brownlee.

Mr Brownlee's comment related to a comment made by trust chairman Eynon Delamere at a press conference last Friday - which he has since withdrawn - saying some of the payment to Mr Tamihere was for "some things that we wanted him to achieve in Parliament".

Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia said Mr Tamihere did not have a direct influence on the commission's decision to increase the offer, and he had a long history of pushing urban issues.

Meanwhile, TV3 last night produced a July letter from Mr Tamihere to trust officials and audit company Deloitte setting out his concerns about "incompetence, negligence or corruption" and calling for the independent audit and review.