I will be exonerated, says Collins
In an exclusive Fairfax Media interview, former justice minister Judith Collins maintains she had no involvement in a blogger’s smear campaign. James Ireland reports.
Just days after resigning as a government minister, Judith Collins has branded the hacker behind her downfall a ‘‘criminal’’ and slated Labour leader David Cunliffe as a moron.
Collins, in an exclusive interview with Fairfax Media, says she is ‘‘sick of this nonsense’’, referring to the repeated allegations of impropriety against her, and declares she will be found innocent of any wrongdoing.
She resigned from her ministerial portfolios on Saturday after the release of a 2011 email which said she was ‘‘gunning for’’ Adam Feeley, who was then director of the Serious Fraud Office.
The email was originally sent by Whaleoil’s Cameron Slater to a fellow blogger and a lobbyist and along with other emails given to Fairfax Media, appeared to show former Hanover Finance boss Mark Hotchin had paid for Slater and associates to run a campaign to discredit Feeley.
In the email, Slater wrote that any information that could be provided to Collins about Feeley would be appreciated by her. Collins was not part of the email exchange.
However, she said she saw no other option but to resign as justice and ACC minister, not because she felt guilty, but to clear her name.
Collins refused to go into details about the emails, saying she did not want to prejudice the pending inquiry or be disrespectful of those leading it.
‘‘I can tell you I am completely innocent of the allegations made in the media and elsewhere and by my opponents. I will be exonerated.’’
Collins has been the subject of repeated controversies this year, starting with her dinners with the Oravida company in China and followed by a chapter dedicated to her in Nicky Hager’s book Dirty Politics, which detailed the release of public servant Simon Pleasant’s private information to Slater.
She dismissed all criticism on those issues, saying no proof had been provided showing she had acted inappropriately.
‘‘Oravida – nothing. Pleasants – nothing. He’s never made a complaint. No private information. Absolute rubbish. What this is, is all about the SFO.
‘‘That is what I’m very concerned about because that goes to my integrity and the one thing I have always protected is my reputation for integrity and I will defend this extremely strongly.’’ Collins says she first became friends with Slater through his parents.
‘‘They were kind to me when I came into Parliament or when I first started in politics and so his family are friends with my husband and me.’’
Since Dirty Politics came out she has maintained a relationship with Slater, saying she never stops talking to her friends, but she listens more than talks.
She hasn’t read Hager’s book, saying she never tries to give financial benefits to people who receive stolen goods – a swipe at the hacker Rawshark, who obtained the emails that form the basis of the book. When asked about the hacker, she called him a criminal.
Judith Collins said on Saturday she was stepping down from her Cabinet portfolios so that her name could be cleared.