New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says he wants to know why the Minister of Police did not alert the Prime Minister as soon as she knew about the allegations which led to Maurice Williamson resigning as a minister.
The National MP stepped down on Thursday after it was revealed he called police about their investigation into Chinese businessman Donghua Liu, a National Party donor, who was facing domestic violence charges.
Mr Peters and Labour party leader David Cunliffe say Police Minister Anne Tolley became aware of the allegations on 4 April following an Official Information Act request.
Mr Peters told Radio New Zealand he wants to know what Mrs Tolley did about the allegations, which should have been provided to the Prime Minister in briefings as part of the no surprises policy.
Mr Cunliffe told Morning Report if Mr Key was told on Tuesday, then he acted within a reasonable timeframe.3Mr Cunliffe said the affair was yet another example of declining standards in the National Government, and repeated the line no fewer than nine times in his media conference on Thursday.
I think I'd like Ellen to interview Maurice Williamson over this one.
— beck eleven (@beckeleven) May 1, 2014
