PM 'not able to confirm words'

Prime Minister Helen Clark said she would not have been in a position to confirm the words alleged by a newspaper to have been uttered by former Police Commissioner Peter Doone the night his car was stopped by a constable.

That had been because the words in question, "that won't be necessary", had not been used in the investigation reports about the incident given to the Government.

"I can only imagine the reporter put those words to me," she said in Parliament yesterday, facing the first day of questioning since it was revealed she had been a source for the Sunday Star-Times, which later retracted its allegation that Mr Doone used the words.

She said she was certain she would have told the newspaper there were differing accounts of what was said between the constable and the commissioner because that's what the two reports said - from the police and Police Complaints Authority.

The constable failed to breath-test the driver, Robyn Doone, during the incident in November 1999. Mr Doone resigned from his job after negotiating a settlement with the Government.

Last week he abandoned a defamation suit against the newspaper, which had been going to call Helen Clark as a witness. The Doones now say they will sue Helen Clark.

Helen Clark's denial yesterday is important because the Star-Times has said that while she was not the original source of its story, it had verified its story with her.

At the heart of the issue is exactly what the Prime Minister confirmed to be correct - the actual words alleged or the fact that what he had said was in dispute.

The newspaper's lawyer, Peter McKnight, said at the weekend: "The court was told last week that Prime Minister Helen Clark had confirmed to the author of the article and the paper's then-editor that it was correct."

Adding to the uncertainty was a statement issued on Monday after Helen Clark's post-Cabinet press conference by Peter O'Hara, editor-in-chief of Fairfax, publisher of the Star- Times. Fairfax yesterday refused to clarify what he meant by the comments: "What we can say is the full story is not being told at this time and is not being represented accurately in some public statements and reports."

Act leader Rodney Hide in Parliament suggested that the statement had been directed at Helen Clark, though outside the House she rejected that. "I didn't take that inference from it at all.

"There have been a continuing series of statements from Mr Doone and Mrs Doone and I think probably what Fairfax was reflecting was at this time with the legal proceedings against them unresolved, with further threats of legal action, it's impossible for everybody to put every card on the table."

Helen Clark also changed her language yesterday in answer to questions about whether she had encouraged the newspaper to pursue the story or to "hang tough" as the Herald on Sunday said she had told the reporter.

At her post-Cabinet meeting on Monday she said she had absolutely not encouraged the newspaper but yesterday said she had "no reason to discourage the Star-Times from following a story it had been reporting on since 5 December".

Between National, Act and New Zealand First there were many attacks on Helen Clark's integrity - though no new information.

National leader Don Brash challenged her to waive any entitlement to confidentiality and allow the release of the reporter's notes "so that serious question marks that now stand over her credibility can be dealt with".

Dr Brash said she had required the resignation of former Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel for lying to the media and asked: "Why is she applying a lesser standard to herself?"

Act leader Rodney Hide said: "Given that it is her honesty that is in question now, why will she still not table the reporter's notes that she says her lawyer has?"

"What has she got to hide?"

Helen Clark said her lawyer had been given copies of the reporter's notes of their conversations, though Opposition MPs claim that they are transcripts.

She said that given there was still pending litigation, it would not be appropriate to release it "at this stage".