By FRANCESCA MOLD political reporter
Prime Minister Helen Clark has castigated Act leader Richard Prebble for suggesting that a copy of New Zealand Post's business plan for its People's Bank could have been leaked by Labour ministers or her own staff.
At a press conference yesterday, Mr Prebble said NZ Post's banking proposal was controversial and there were Labour members of the cabinet who were adamantly opposed to the Alliance-backed proposal.
"Have a think about who actually released this document. Now I don't know. But most people think it came from the Beehive," he said.
Helen Clark said last night that Mr Prebble's accusation was outrageous. "He's just a man who makes things up constantly. It is an outrageous suggestion."
She said the only member of her staff to see the document was her chief of staff, and Mr Prebble was only trying to deflect attention from himself by making the accusations.
Mr Prebble will appear in the High Court at Wellington today to fight an application by NZ Post for a permanent injunction aimed at stopping him from releasing commercially sensitive information from its plan to set up the bank.
Lawyers for NZ Post will ask Justice Warwick Gendall to order Mr Prebble to surrender his copy of the plan, tell them who gave it to him and direct him to pay the $4055 cost of the gagging writ.
Yesterday, a NZ Post legal representative was forced to wait several uncomfortable minutes surrounded by media and onlookers at the top of Parliament's steps before serving court papers on Mr Prebble.
The papers could be served only after Mr Prebble had waived his right to parliamentary protection.
At a press conference, a glowing Mr Prebble - clearly revelling in his role as defender of free speech - vowed that if he lost the case he would to the Court of Appeal and the Privy Council.
Mr Prebble, a lawyer, attacked NZ Post's actions and declared the court case a constitutional outrage.
"New Zealand Post is clearly trying to intimidate me," he said.
"I'm absolutely staggered ... I can't believe a state-owned enterprise thinks it is entitled to come to Parliament and ask for $80 million and then issue gagging writs against the MPs who have to vote on that amount of money."
NZ Post spokesman Simon Taylor said the company was not trying to gag Mr Prebble or discourage public debate about the bank.
But it wanted to protect commercially sensitive information about the new bank, which it hoped would be worth $500 million in 10 years.
"The only winners in the release of that information are the major banks," said Mr Taylor.
Yesterday, Mr Prebble side-stepped a High Court interim injunction by releasing in Parliament fresh details from his copy of NZ Post's plan.
Herald Online feature: People's Bank
Herald 0900 voteline result:
Would you bank with the new People's Bank?
YES: 186 (49.6%) | NO: 189 (50.4%)
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