Editorial: End of a sorry political chapter

OPINION: Bravo. Justice Rodney Hansen has resisted the temptation to let disgraced former MP Taito Phillip Field off with a slap on the wrist and sentenced him to six years' imprisonment.

A proud man, Field will not enjoy changing from smart suits to prison garb. He has gone from being the first member of the Pacific Islands community to be elected to Parliament to being the first New Zealand MP to be convicted of corruption. He has nobody but himself to blame for his predicament, however.

Attempts by Field's former lawyer Satiu Simativa Perese to paint him as the victim of a media and political campaign are risible. A jury found that Field used his position as an MP to help Thai tradespeople in return for work on his properties. It also found that he created false documents, persuaded others to lie on his behalf and lied himself when an inquiry was started into his activities. He was convicted of 11 counts of bribery and corruption and 15 of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

As Justice Hansen said, he betrayed the trust placed in him as an MP and undermined the institutions it was his duty to uphold.

Jail time is warranted. New Zealand is one of the few countries in the world in which political corruption is not endemic. By his actions, Field threatened to erode standards that have served New Zealand well.

However, if Field has got his just deserts, others have got off lightly. Those others are the senior members of the Labour Party who ran interference for him for almost 18 months and who are now ducking for cover.

Readers might remember that former prime minister Helen Clark was slow to act when questions were first asked about Field's conduct, perhaps because the 2005 election was in the offing, and that when she did, she established an inquiry with narrow terms of reference and without the power to compel witnesses to give evidence.

Hence Field was able to claim he had been vindicated by an inquiry that found no evidence he had misused his position as minister for personal benefit.

Deputy prime minister Michael Cullen appeared to agree. Field's "fundamental fault was to work too hard for the many, many hundreds of people who come to his electorate office on immigration matters", he said.

What he overlooked, deliberately or otherwise, was the numerous questions the inquiry raised about Field's conduct as an MP as opposed to his conduct as a minister.

He and his wife, Maxine, had given conflicting evidence to the inquiry; explanations provided by Field were termed "unsatisfactory"; and evidence was uncovered that a Thai painter was underpaid for work on three properties owned by the MP.

It was not till police initiated their own inquiries that Labour began to put some distance between Field and itself.

Field's sentencing closes a sorry chapter in politics. He has shamed himself, his family and the Samoan community, which was so proud when he was first elected to Parliament.

The blame lies not with the Samoan community, however, but with Field and the Labour Party, which, for political reasons, tried to shield him from scrutiny long after his position became untenable.

- © Fairfax NZ News