Garrett: 'Dark forces' in Act

Act Party MP David Garrett. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Disgraced Act MP David Garrett believes details about his using the identity of a dead infant to get a false passport were leaked by Heather Roy's supporters to discredit leader Rodney Hide, and he was simply collateral damage.

Mr Garrett, who last month sided with Mr Hide when Mrs Roy was removed as his deputy, resigned from Act last week after telling Parliament about obtaining the fake passport 26 years ago, and the subsequent court case in 2005 where he was dismissed without conviction.

He was granted name suppression in that case.

It was also revealed recently Mr Garrett was convicted of assault in Tonga while living there in 2002. He was appealing the conviction.

Since resigning he has been under intense political pressure to leave Parliament as well, and he will do that by sending a letter to Speaker Lockwood Smith.

In an exclusive interview with the Truth Weekender newspaper published today, Mr Garrett said Mrs Roy was certainly aware of his past.

After losing Act's deputy leadership in a clash with Mr Hide, Mrs Roy was further damaged when her adviser Simon Ewing-Jarvie leaked explosive documents prepared to defend her position.

Mr Garrett was not prepared to accept it was simply unfortunate that his past problems emerged so soon after the Hide-Roy clash.

"I just think it would be stretching things to say all of this was a coincidence - first the Tonga difficulties emerge, then followed closely by this (passport scandal) in the week that Rodney was away in Hong Kong," Mr Garrett told the Truth.

He said Mrs Roy had clear designs on the party leadership and his downfall was aimed at undermining Mr Hide's leadership.

"It's been described as collateral damage. I supported Rodney...I suppose they decided that if I went down in flames I'd got what I deserved."

Mr Garrett said there were "dark forces" operating within Act and said he would do all he could to stop them taking over the party.

That was why he quit the party and would quit Parliament altogether.

"I could remain as an independent but I'd lack a mandate...with no credibility and no mandate I'd be a pretty pathetic figure," Mr Garrett said.

He said he had always worried the truth about his past would come out and his main concern now was his children.

He was reported to be at a secret location in the South Island with his family.

As for the original offending, Mr Garrett said it was a thrill to beat the system and he did not think about the consequences.

"You have to remember I was 26...and living a very different life to the one I am today. I was single, had no children and gave absolutely no thought at all to the consequences of this action.

"But it was literally half my life ago. How can I learn a lesson from what I did 26 years ago?"

Mr Garrett was Act's law and order spokesman, a strong campaigner for tough sentences and an opponent of name suppression.

Mr Garrett had had a weekly column in the Truth newspaper, today it said the column would stop.

- NZPA