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Jami-Lee Ross to remain in Parliament as an independent MP for Botany; Vows to keep dishing out dirt on National but fails in radio interview to make any real blows

Jami-Lee Ross to remain in Parliament as an independent MP for Botany; Vows to keep dishing out dirt on National but fails in radio interview to make any real blows

Jami-Lee Ross is no longer resigning from Parliament, saying he wants to stick around to keep dishing out dirt on the National Party. 

Ross on Tuesday announced he was going to resign from Parliament before Leader Simon Bridges said the caucus had decided to expel him.

Ross was expected to hand in his resignation on Friday, but told Newstalk ZB he'd changed his mind.

This means he'll remain in Parliament as an independent MP for Botany, so there won't be a by-election. 

It also means he'll be protected by parliamentary privilege, so can't be done for defamation for whatever he says in the House or a committee. 

A National spokesperson late on Friday responded to the development saying: “The National Party is considering all of its options.  

"What Jami-Lee has done and continues to do is unacceptable and the more that comes to light the more we know we made the right decision to expel him from the Caucus.

"We are supporting those women who came to us as a result of Jami-Lee’s behaviour.”

Ross earlier told ZB: "The National Party’s now decided to smear my reputation as much as possible and I simply can’t run in a by-election on that basis.

"I’ve decided that it’s more important to continue talking about the National Party. I’ve decided it’s more important to continue to expose what I believe are serious flaws in the National Party."

Ross said there is a "rot" in the Party, as "people on behalf of the leadership get asked to do things so the leader is kept clean".

"I was asked to help exit Todd Barclay because he was becoming difficult for Bill English. Bill English was kept clean. Paula Bennett was pulling the puppet strings.

“I was asked to do things by John Key. I recall when there was difficulty around donations for the National Party. I was asked by John Key to go in and talk to the donor and see if there was something about the Labour Party that we could find out. John Key and I ended up discussing that later on in text messages."

Ross admitted to having a long-term affair with a National MP and a brief relationship with a former employee. 

"A scab has been picked on the parliamentary personal issues. It has long been a case where personal matters are kept private, but the rules of the game have changed," he said.

"There's a lot of bed-hopping that goes on down in that Parliament. There's a lot of behaviour that a lot of people would want kept secret and has been kept secret until now. But the way in which we now play politics is that we lift the bed-sheets."

Ross also revealed another non-incriminating recording of a conversation he had with Bridges.

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73 Comments

It must be finally dawning on him that his financial future is toast and he needs the MP salary to survive. Whatever dignity he could have salvaged by seeking a new mandate is gone.

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Entered Parliament in 2011 - Has to hang in till March 2020 to get his 9 years and Parliamentary pension !

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Or he's just realised that he's blown the chance of a job at ANZ

Here's John Key explaining a few things following a few of his frequent trips for breakfast, lunch and dinner in China. Do ANZ have a Shanghai branch?
https://vimeo.com/285987366
Yes they do... Been operating in China since 1986
https://institutional.anz.com/markets/china/en
You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours...

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And here's John with Theo signing up for the Beingmate deal after a nice breakfast and lunch in China... Little did they know (or did they) that Synlait products, (sorry that's not majority NZ owned anymore) were going to be the preferential purchase of the Chinese parent. How much debt did we take on in that deal? Have ANZ underwritten it?

https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=john+key+at+beingmate+deal&source=lnm…:

no they haven't - the purchase was written by offering 'dim sum' bonds to investors, written in yuan but purchased overseas.

https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/fonterra-raises-230m-dim-sum-bond-fund-be…

so the losses get socialised

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/100780871/hefty-loss-exp…

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He admitted having affairs and this guy has bad habit of making secret recording. It will be interesting when he releases those recordings, no doubt it will be on that something tube channel.

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He has well and truly shat the bed. He is virtually unemployable in the private sector.

I get the feeling this is far from over.

Remember how we were laughing at Australian politics a few months ago? We've sunken so low in such short time.

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I'm not sure I agree with the inference. He's admitting to one affair with with an MP. There are 46 female MPs, but in a modern world I don't think we can assume anything re gender. The whole of parliament is under suspicion now. #metoo is old news now we have #mptoo

NB: Comment was related to your pre edit comment.

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Yea my bad sorry.

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he did say a sitting MP , i wonder if it will come out,
there are 19 in his party BUT it could be from another party which would make it very interesting.
i hope he spills more on the donations and the returns expected for those donations, we have always had a low visual level of government corruption or as we like to call it lobbying, and it would to me highlight national fight to distort the foreign buyer numbers and the fight against banning them as we know some REA agencies are big donors as are the big four banks

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Married MP according to Stuff. The pool of potential names is reducing.

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could have been a man

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Doubt it

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Just google Newsroom - take a deep breath and be in for a BIG shock - Never even crossed my mind !

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Can you be a bit more specific, please, which particular article are you referring to, read most of what is there, but so far my hair is still lying flat on my head

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Got it, and I sort of suspected it, as she has a bit of the same arrogance that Ross has

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Need more hints.

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he likes blondes, she is married with 2 children national mp
its all over the internet, my guess it will be out in public before the end of the long weekend
a big hint look at who jumped from nowhere into the top 20 when SB became leader,

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Got it.

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Until it's out in the open every Nat MP is going to be squirming with embarrassment that people will be speculating as to whether they bonked JLR. Someone will leak it and throw the lady under the bus just to take the suspicion off themselves.

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Apparently in an interview on 1ZB (don't listen to that station so did not hear) he did say the name but they had the presence of mind to bleep it out, so the name is near enough to out there.

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Mind you, she identified him - and described in detail (that none of us needed and I'm surprised Newsroom printed) the 'nature' of their consensual sex... so why shouldn't she be identified as well?

I hate gutter journalism where people make such gutter comments and accusations under the name "anonymous".

Ross' family suffered the indignity of his being outed - why not hers too - the sex was consensual folks.

PS Her name when you Google it - gives you an auto top search option of "[firstname] [surname] husband" - everyone's wondering who the real victim in this is and what he does, I guess.

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Ok forget politics.
So he breeched embargoed information, he didn't own up, he was ok with his colleagues coming under suspicion, he stated he was going to stand down from Parliament but didn't, he stated he had evidence of criminal breech of the Electroal Act but didn't provided this, he had no respect for confidentiality with what was a private discussion, he has vowed to fight and take down the Party which ideals and values he supported, he bullied to get his wife into power, he harassed women, and was deceitful to his wife . . . . and I am just starting.
Plenty of negative adjectives can be applied.
Why should this scumbag (as Mike Hoskings refers to) be given any respect. He makes Donald who most despise look like a saint. He does not deserve either respect, to be listened to, or be able to draw a Parliamentary salary. A very sad person.

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I just find it hilarious that hes been accused of leaking information, denies it, and packs a wobbly by leaking information he recorded before he was originally accused of leaking information.

Outrageous.

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"he bullied to get his wife into power, he harassed women, and was deceitful to his wife . . . . and I am just starting.Plenty of negative adjectives can be applied."

And he had to answer for none of those to his National colleagues as long as he was a team player.

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What effect on him remaining in parliament as an Independant, does the 'waka jumping bill' have on this given that it was given Royal Assent on October 3rd 2018, so is now in effect?

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I bet his next gig will be a consultant for Auckland Council as ex-Councillor for Manukau city council!

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national can use it to get rid of him but then they would have a huge amount of egg on the face, soo do you take the hit up front or spend months taking hits

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Nobody seems to have given a single thought to what the Botany constituents might want.

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Here's a single thought: They want a Nat. A second thought: They don't care what kind. viz. Pansy Wong, Jami-Lee Ross.

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If they're happy to go on mindlessly supporting nakedly corrupt fruitloops and pay for their inept cover-ups, National can certainly deliver..

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I am now wondering how the voters of Botany will react if they compare this to Pansy Wong going. What she did looks like jay walking compared to Ross, with the party falling all over itself to protect the guy but just cutting her loose.
Will they still dutifully vote National if there is a by election, or will they not bother to vote at all (can't see them voting anything but National). It would not surprise me if the entire Botany Chinese community compare this saga with the Pansy Wong affair and find much offence and loss of face in the whole thing.

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I heard Bridges say earlier on before the real sh.t hit the fan that he would not rule out using the waka jumping law.

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Damn it, I was looking forward to a particularly entertaining by-election.

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Well it might make parliamentary TV must watch viewing for a change..

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How could anyone ever ever trust this Ross guy? Good riddance Simon Bridges.

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Birds of a feather...

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To a degree, yes, both of them have given the same impression of being not on the level. Bridges has never come across as sincere to me, totally fake and what little I have seen of Ross, he has always come across as arrogant and self important, and slimy in the same way that Colin Craig from the first time I clapped eyes on him.
Both are ambitious and put themselves first, Bridges, being the little choir boy, might not have the same sort of proclivities that Ross does. This is fight to the death, Bridges will win this battle, he will invoke the waka jumping bill, even though they voted against it, and Ross will disappear. Bridges then has other credibility issues after that.

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Thats no surprise to me... the pay is good...

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And he's got a family to support - and that's why family matters always have been and should have remained off limits.

I don't think he'd have had a s#it hope of winning Botany in a by-election before Paula's "inappropriate behaviour for a married Parliamentarian" comment - but given she did say it, he's right that that between-the-sheets political play totally screwed (sorry about the pun) his chances.

My guess is that had Paula Bennett not made her "inappropriate behaviour for a married Parliamentarian" comment, Newsroom might not have run the story from the anonymous women - even though they'd been researching it for some time.

In which case, we'd be having a by-election.

But Paula's comment gave Newsroom the entrée (i.e., grounds/license) to run with it - and I'm certain that wasn't by accident. I'd bet Paula didn't "okay" that line with Simon either.

It's all calculated theatre - ask Simon Lusk. Problem with this one for the actors - it's an improv show.

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I nailed it - as I said above, But Paula's comment gave Newsroom the entrée (i.e., grounds/license) to run with it - and I'm certain that wasn't by accident. I'd bet Paula didn't "okay" that line with Simon either.

And today Simon's come out saying;

Last week, Deputy Leader Paula Bennett told the Herald issues raised with Ross had nothing to do with harassment but were about inappropriate behaviour from Ross as a "married Member of Parliament".

Bridges said Bennett has acknowledged that "she didn't get it all perfect".

He had spoken to her about the comments.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12…

If we can believe Simon, he had obviously not okayed Bennett's "married man" comment - so, can we speculate that Bennett was acting on her own accord and in cohorts with Newsroom (to my mind in no way would that comment of hers have just "slipped" out by accident - it was totally and utterly a deliberate and calculated comment on her part).

Was this her making a play to undermine and replace Simon? Have the women in National had enough?

If internal polling is a bad as Ross told us it was, they can't wait a whole lot longer, can they?

Go the girls.

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In trying to smear Jami Lee she was also happy to throw a fellow female National MP under the bus. She knew that would come out. But she went ahead and did it anyway. Just proves she is a politician first and a woman second.

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JLR is a cad and a bounder and turds float to the top sometimes but I think in the end all he has done is shown how murky politics is, be they National or Labour or whoever. How many sacred cows have been slaughtered in this saga so far. No one held guns to peoples heads and forced them to say anything - I think JLR just enticed out of people what they REALLY think. Fool on them.

I'm sure if he left parliament he'd land on his feet.

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Don't bring any other party into this unless you have some proof, this is something we have never seen before

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I'm just saying politicians are as bad as each other - but yes the melt down of the National Party is unique.

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Dammit I've run out of popcorn, should have bought me some shares in that Act 1 stuff. Are these scheduled conferences? I might need to set myself some time to enjoy it implode live.

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Yep. The Auckland Council may be a good next step for him. They're always on the lookout for overpaid incompetents!

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The guy has gone up in my estimation. That anyone that sleazy looking that can be a massive hit with the chicks deserves some applause. What did they think was happening? Did they not know he was married ?
Had he promised them a future together? It takes 2.

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This goes back a long way, all the way back to the Key govt. That is when the payoff to the woman that complained about him happened, and I would think Key knew. There is something really, really stinky in the National party.

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Oh and I doubt that the woman that got the shut up and go away money was the only one at the time, either, she was just the only one who pushed hard enough to make it necessary

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Was it confirmed that money was paid as part of the agreement? I hadn't read that.

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Well she signed a confidentiality agreement, one would expect money changed hands https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/10/18/282957/national-officials-must-an… see what conclusion you come to.

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.

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And if there was a payout, did they put it on the taxpayer like the Todd Barclay cover-up? I doubt she'd settle for a couple of manky bottles of wine like the waitress JK was harassing was given.

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One things for sure, we haven't found the other end of the piece of string in this birdsnest of a tangle

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As long as he continued to tow the line the Nats were happy to bury all this. Only after going rogue did Bridges and Co find it abhorrent. - All very shallow . Are there any principled people in the Nats?

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You have to wonder, because even if people do not officially know these things, there are always stirrings around the traps. I believe John Key would have known, not sure from there down who would have known and who would have caught the odd whiff of scandal within their ranks.
I believe Key knew because of the presence of Simon Lusk in this

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Are there any principled people in the Nats?

I note they're putting forward Maggie Barry quite a bit with pre-scripted comment. I think that's because of her 'sweetness and nice - all things garden' telly fame.

Perhaps she's the principled actor in the drama.

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Maybe they think we'll trust her because she was on TV. Worked for Hanover Finance.

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they cannot bury this its far to late

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I am not really sure why this is an article on a financial focussed website.

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Politicks and Money go hand in glove...wink ..wink. ( No fingerprints...hence the gloves).

If some did not see it before, you must have been asleep since the beginning of time.

Poor politicians have never retired.....poor. The poor House has been a misnomer for years......It is where the leverage is misplaced....so inflation can be the bane of a normal person's life, with limited funds, but a boon to others...who I must point out..."Make the rules: To be "Bent"

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the damage to National is big,the voters now have no trust while Bridges as leader, prepare for a 2nd term of Labour, Jacinda and Labour must be very happy, they cannot believe their ears.

National seems to be self destructing and only seem to care about their own political futures than being an opposition.

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New Zealand corruption being reported in international news:-

Chinese tycoon accused of trying to buy seats in New Zealand parliament as opposition crisis deepens

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/10/18/chinese-tycoon-accused-tryi…

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MP's having extra marital affairs..... it's not really news is it, they've been doing it since before Caesar was a boy! I do appreciate that it's bad on the relationship and feel for the poor wife, her embarrassment/betrayal and anyone else who has had to suffer bad sex....let's remember there have not been any complaints about the quality of the sex until yesterday.
Now....Shall we move back to something that actually effects 5 million people rather than 2 or 3 and that is the complete corruption of NZ politics to Chinese political interests?

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sometimes you have to drag out the clowns, it wouldn't be a circus without them.

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The man is a plonker of the first order!

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He is now on a crusade to destroy the Nats and lets face it, they deserve it, they are a pack of amateurs!

Needs a real clean out and to start again from the ground up.

If it doesnt happen, whats the bet that Jami drops a bomb just before the next election.......

National are pretty much screwed for the next election!!!!

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They need to clean out the corruption, but it's now so deeply rooted and pervasive that it can't be done without clotheslining the party. Time when a single rotten apple could be removed to preserve the rest is well past, the whole barrel's gone.

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It's all very entertaining

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Well, I think what we can all learn from this is that mental health issues are a serious concern in the workplace.
The brouhaha generated over some people insisting on identifying a leaker with these issues was really a 'jumping the shark' moment. How foolish everyone else looks now.

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I wonder what responsibility Newshub will take for the way things have turned out.
IMO tv3 have been running with an agenda to get rid of Bridges and now it looks like they have failed for the time being..For weeks Garner has been hounding Bridges.
TV3 were given the leak from a person that obviously had health issues.Wouldn't have been prudent to tread softly with this information given that in their own words it would have been made public 1 or 2 days.
later.It appears to me that newshub want to create the news rather than reporting on the news.

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