Hager investigation has revealed Ports of Auckland agenda

The Mari­time Uni­on says the Ports of Auck­land must come clean after rev­el­a­tions in Nicky Hager’s new book “Dirty Polit­ics.”

Mari­time Uni­on Nation­al Pres­id­ent Garry Parsloe says Mr Hager’s invest­ig­at­ive journ­al­ism has detailed that Ports of Auck­land, a com­pany owned by the people of Auck­land through Auck­land City, was involved on many levels with right wing “attack” blog­gers and pub­li­cists to smear uni­on mem­bers dur­ing indus­tri­al dis­putes.

If the Ports of Auck­land would not come clean, they must be dir­ec­ted to by the own­ers of the port, Auck­land City, on behalf of the rate­pay­ers and cit­izens of Auck­land.

Ques­tions that must be answered include:

Does the Port and the Board con­firm or deny any uneth­ic­al prac­tices as described in “Dirty Polit­ics” were being paid for by the Port com­pany, effect­ively com­ing out of the rate­pay­ers pock­et?

Will the Port Com­pany open the books on the full cost to rate­pay­ers of their attack on their own work­force, start­ing with pay­ments to attack blog­gers, PR firms and con­sult­ants?

Does the Port con­firm or deny the con­nec­tion out­lined by attack blog­gers and Ports of Auck­land Board chair Richard Pear­son?

Does the Port con­firm or deny a con­nec­tion between its man­age­ment and attack blog­gers or their asso­ci­ates?

Does the Port and the Board con­firm or deny that con­tract­ing out plans were dis­cussed with out­side parties involved with attack blog­gers?

If any of these situ­ations occurred, or the Port com­pany or Board refuse to answer, then a clean out of the Board is now required and a full inde­pend­ent audit of Port Com­pany management’s actions in the dis­pute must be held, says Mr Parsloe.

“I do not see how the Board can remain after the spot­light of truth has exposed what has happened here.”

“This was not about pro­ductiv­ity, or the best interests of Auck­land. This was an attack on their own work­ers and a mis­use of rate­pay­ers money.”