Been a busy day on the political front .. Hager doing what he does best, stirring shit .../
Prime Minister John Key has dismissed Nicky Hager's book Dirty Politics as "a bunch of baseless allegations" as opposition parties demand answers and lay complaints with the police.
The book, launched on Wednesday, implicates Mr Key's office in covert smear campaigns against National's political opponents.
It reveals email correspondence between blogger Cameron Slater and Beehive staffer Jason Ede, as well as with cabinet minister Judith Collins and National Party insiders.
"The National Party is doing everything above board and it's totally fine," Mr Key told reporters on Tuesday when he faced the media for the first time since the book launch.
"Mr Hager's making claims he can't back up and they're not factually correct."
Mr Key denies his office had anything to do with Slater's online attacks against the Labour Party and says the book is "dirty politics from the left".
Labour, the Greens and NZ First are taking Hager at his word.
"The National government is up to its neck in dirty politics and may have broken the law while smearing opponents," said Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei.
The Greens are laying complaints with the police and other agencies over Mr Ede's alleged involvement and other claims in the book.
Labour leader David Cunliffe says the book reveals "a very nasty turn in New Zealand politics" and Mr Key should address the allegations, not just dismiss them.
"This leaves the prime minister with some very serious questions to answer," he said.
NZ First leader Winston Peters has drawn comparisons with the Watergate scandal, saying the trail leads to the prime minister's office.
THE ALLEGATIONS IN THE BOOK INCLUDE:
The PM's office used its knowledge of secret SIS documents to tip off Slater to attack the Labour leader in the 2011 election campaign
Mr Ede drafted Official Information Act requests that were passed on to Slater
Political strategist Simon Lusk was also involved on many of the plans that were laid
Justice Minister Judith Collins emailed Slater an account of Labour's Trevor Mallard making a fool of himself
Slater boasted Mr Key had called him after the blogger was attacked over his comments about a West Coast man killed in a road crash.
WHAT THEY HAVE TO SAY:
"Nicky Hager has been drawing pictures, drawing dots, thinks that he's got a picture of a conspiracy, but he's actually got a bunch of squiggly lines, it's something a four-year-old at kindergarten would draw" - Whale Oil blogger Cameron Slater
"Dirty politics is legal, hacking my private computer is not. Your book is based on the product of a criminal act" - Slater, again
"Funnily enough it's exactly what it says on the cover: it is a dirty politics book" - National's Steven Joyce
"We've had a gutsful of this kind of politics and think New Zealanders have too" - Labour leader David Cunliffe
"I think this is an over-hyped, under-delivered book from a left-wing conspiracy theorist five weeks before an election" - Justice Minister Judith Collins
"Sadly for the prime minister it goes to his office in the same way it went to Nixon's office during the Watergate scandal" - NZ First leader Winston Peters
"Nicky Hager has discovered that politicians talk to the media. I feel I should confess that I too am guilty" - ACT leader Jamie Whyte
"This (information) shines a light on something which otherwise might have been secret for the rest of time and the public has a total right to know this" - author Nicky Hager
"National is trying to dismiss dirty and dodgy behaviour as business as usual. It is not" - Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei
"This is not normal political behaviour and must not be seen as such" - Internet Party leader Laila Harre
"This book is a damming expose on how the prime minister's office operates and shows the true side of National's 'attack politics' that gives real weight to the description of Key as the 'Smiling Assassin'" - Mana leader Hone Harawira.
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