John Armstrong: Dotcom's last chance to shine

It's put up or shut up time for Dotcom, writes John Armstrong. Photo / Norrie Montgomery

It is delivery time for Kim Dotcom. No ifs, no buts, no maybes. He must deliver the irrefutable evidence that he has repeatedly promised to show that the Prime Minister has not told the truth.

Otherwise it is going to be an awfully long drive back to Coatesville from his public meeting tonight in the Auckland Town Hall.

Dotcom's "moment of truth" must be a moment of proof. He must prove that the Prime Minister has not been straight with the public, firstly regarding exactly when he became aware of the Megaupload mogul and, secondly, that the intelligence agencies for which John Key has ministerial responsibility have conducted mass surveillance.

There can be no room for doubt. There can be no reliance on the circumstantial. There can be no shifting of goalposts by saying the fuss is all really about New Zealand spying on other countries.

If tonight exposes Dotcom as nothing more than a big-noting charlatan who has attempted to hijack the electoral system, then the public backlash could be withering.

Dishing the dirt on Key in the last week of the campaign may have seemed a clever move when the idea was first mooted within internet-Mana. It may yet be the the final humiliation for the parties of the left in an election campaign that has been turning into a disaster for them.

The timing was fortuitous for Key, but the news that Australia has raised its terror alert to the second-highest level would have sent more shudders down more spines than any filing cabinet full of the documents that Dotcom and the American journalist Glenn Greenwald may have.

It brings terrorism very close to home. It underlines the unwritten post-9/11 contract between the state and individuals.

That contract has the individual tolerating giving up some rights to privacy in return for -- to put it bluntly -- not being killed by a bomb blast in some airport somewhere.

Labour may be sitting on the fence when it comes to the future of the intelligence agencies. But it may prove to be far more comfortable than being stuck on Dotcom's side. Tonight, we will find out one way or the other.

Debate on this article is now closed.