Firearms Minister Nicole McKee, her conflicts of interest, and the plan to manage them
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- Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee owns a firearms safety business and used to be the spokeswoman for the Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (Colfo).
- She and her office have had frequent engagement with Colfo, raising questions over whether there is a potential conflict of interest. McKee says she needs to engage with stakeholders about any law changes that affect them.
- The Prime Minister’s office says McKee’s conflicts of interest are being managed, and she hasn’t breached any Cabinet rules.
When the Police Association are begging the Prime Minister to remove McKee overseeing guns because she has such enormous conflicts of interest, you know there is a huge problem!
The Right will point to Unions and their involvement with the Left, but Unions want regulations that benefit all workers where as lobby groups like McKee’s are pimping for access to more guns…
Gun Control NZ co-founder Philippa Yasbek said she still believed McKee has breached Cabinet rules with her ongoing association with the NZDA and Colfo. This includes regular meetings and frequent contact – including dozens of text messages – between the minister’s office and those groups, compared to McKee’s far less extensive consultation with non-firearms groups.
“The Prime Minister’s Office is not an impartial judge of whether the Cabinet Manual has been complied with,” Yasbek said.
Yasbek believed McKee’s relationship with the NZDA and Colfo went far beyond a minister’s “ordinary meetings with stakeholders” due to the frequency of contact.
…The Left work for the Common Good, the Right works for vested corporate interests…
Labour’s police spokeswoman Ginny Andersen said the statement from PMO gave her no confidence that what McKee was acting in the public interest.
“Cabinet Office has not addressed the questions about McKee’s conflict arising from her membership of numerous gun groups that operate or use shooting ranges, while she makes decisions that benefit the operation of those ranges.”
Many ranges would potentially benefit from the looser regulations that McKee’s bill proposes, though the minister has said that is the point: to minimise the regulatory burden while not jeopardising public safety.
…as a Society, we don’t want more guns, we want strict rules that limit gun ownership to those who are qualified and trusted to have them!
Allowing a Gun Fetishist to become the Associate Justice Minister to deregulate gun safety is like getting an alcoholic to run a pub!
McKee is only getting away with this because Chris Luxon is the weakest Prime Minister in NZ Political History.
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Same conflict of interest level as Luxon removing the brightline test and reversing the tax breaks for landlords because he wanted to cash up for when he is given the boot .Same conflict as Costello and the tobacco companies and the list goes on and on .Jesus I had a fellow tell me that Jacinda had a heap of houses and two dairy farms when he was trying to justify what Luxon had done so he could earn a shit load of tax free money .In fact she only ever owned one house that was her family home .
Appalling, she has to go.
this is the government of conflicts of interest.
Yes, I agree with the comments about Luxon, but I also think he doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about the appalling tobacco laws and he doesn’t care about the firearms & that crazy Nicole McKee because he just wants to be the Prime Minister. He doesn’t care about policy!!! Just so long as he’s PM!!
well put
There’s an element of that, but I don’t think it’s central to Luxon’s ‘thinking’. He is basically Liz Truss, but with less charisma and not as intelligent. (I mean it).
He has a hard-right economic agenda of small government, low taxes, privatising government services and lowering the costs faced by business in a number of ways – such as lowering wages by increasing unemployment, reducing compliance costs by slashing environmental, Health & Safety, and employment regulations, and by allowing business to externalise their costs onto Taxpayers (e.g. by deferring action on climate change). What is not clear is whether he truly believes that all this will result in Nirvana for everyone, or just cynically invokes that vision while his real concern is just venally enriching his own social class. Truss was a true believer, which means she is quite mad. Not sure about Luxon though.
The only thing he cares about is getting a knighthood. Like his mate John.
He’ll have promised Winnie one because that’s what he wants too.
I suppose poor wee David wouldn’t mind one either, as he retires to count his dosh, having served his purpose in NZ. For Services to the 1%.
Yes, who can forget poor old John having to reinstate knighthoods himself?
100% nailed it, Joy.
Once they have the “sir” in front of their name, they will also enjoy free upgrades from airlines and hotels for the rest of their lives.
Utterly shameless self interest.
Meanwhile, shame on us for electing the frickin fuckers.
” A firearms expert (NZSAS instructor) has told a coronial inquiry into the March 15 terrorist attacks that the offender performed in a “chaotic, unskilled, cumbersome and non-proficient” manner. “. Also labelled the shooter as an amateur.
He killed 51 and injured dozens more !
” Hepi concluded that the terrorist had had some training (at a gun club), however he lacked the fundamental skills, knowledge and experience to be able to operate and handle these weapons, and himself, proficiently.”
So is McKee with her advocacy for gunclubs and military rifles just wanting to make killers more proficient or is that merely a side issue?
“Needs to engage with stakeholders”. Except the police association. Needs to go and sooner the better.
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