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SEPTEMBER 1, <strong>2018</strong><br />
04 Homelink<br />
National Party launches own inquiry into expense leak<br />
Jo Moir<br />
The National Party is boxing<br />
ahead with its own investigation<br />
into who leaked Simon Bridges’<br />
expenses to the media after<br />
Parliament’s speaker put the kibosh on<br />
an official inquiry last week.<br />
On August 24,<strong>2018</strong>, RNZ revealed that<br />
a person claiming to be aNational MP<br />
had sent a text message to Mr Bridges<br />
and the Speaker Trevor Mallard,<br />
pleading for the inquiry to be stopped<br />
for the sake of their mental health.<br />
Speaker pulls the plug<br />
That led to Mr Mallard pulling the<br />
plug on the inquiry saying it was<br />
unlikely the text had been sent from<br />
anyone outside the National Party. Mr<br />
Bridges remains unconvinced that the<br />
leaker of his travel expenses is an MP<br />
from his own party.<br />
“I am going to do my part. Iamgoing<br />
to have an investigation and get to the<br />
bottom, if Ican, if it is aNational MP<br />
who is unwell and who needs help,” he<br />
told Morning Report .<br />
“But the problem at the moment is<br />
that Idonot have asafe basis to say<br />
that it is. It may well be someone in the<br />
wider parliamentary system or indeed<br />
s p a c e<br />
further afield than that.”<br />
Mr Bridges said he had kept Mr<br />
Mallard informed of the police investigation,<br />
and on August 23, <strong>2018</strong>, he was<br />
continuing with an inquiry, announcing<br />
it was to be led by aQC.<br />
“On Friday afternoon he stopped<br />
it -hecanned it. The only thing that<br />
has changed that I can see is the Prime<br />
Minister saying it’s internal matter of<br />
the National Party.”<br />
Identity not known<br />
Mr Bridges said neither Mr Mallard<br />
nor Jacinda Ardern know the identity<br />
of the leaker.<br />
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Simon Bridges (Centre) speaking to media about the leak of a text from the person<br />
behind an earlier leak on his expense spending.<br />
(Photo for RNZ by Rebekah Parsons-King)<br />
“The Speaker had an investigation<br />
ongoing. He stopped in for<br />
no basis that I can see other than<br />
that the Prime Minister had said<br />
it was an internal matter for the<br />
National Party.”<br />
He said that the Police told him<br />
they would ensure the person had<br />
all the wraparound support they<br />
needed.<br />
Shadow leader of the House<br />
Gerry Brownlee said that the<br />
National Party needed to know<br />
who the leaker was and will<br />
push ahead with uncovering the<br />
person’s identity, after Mr Mallard<br />
had washed his hands of an<br />
inquiry.<br />
“Well of course, we think he’s<br />
obfuscated his role as Speaker, but<br />
he did so after the Prime Minister<br />
had declared it was a problem for<br />
the National Party.<br />
“We will now obviously<br />
conduct an inquiry, because we<br />
need to know who that person is,<br />
to either stamp out a problem, or<br />
to in fact wrap around someone<br />
who has some serious issues,’’ Mr<br />
Brownlee said.<br />
Anonymous Text<br />
On August 16, <strong>2018</strong>, Mr Bridges<br />
and Mr Mallard received an anonymous<br />
text from the person who<br />
leaked the Opposition Leader’s<br />
expenses, saying if the inquiry<br />
exposed them publicly it would<br />
push them over the edge and put<br />
their life at risk.<br />
The leaker provided information<br />
and details from caucus<br />
meetings over a period of weeks<br />
in order to prove their identity as<br />
a National Party MP.<br />
Mr Bridges met with Police<br />
about the matter the next day and<br />
on Sunday, August 19, <strong>2018</strong>, they<br />
contacted him to say they knew<br />
who the person was but would<br />
not be revealing their identity.<br />
Jo Moir is a Political Reporter<br />
at Radio New Zealand. <strong>Indian</strong><br />
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