Two days on from its release, current and former National Party MPs are continuing to deny allegations made in Nicky Hager's controversial new book Dirty Politics.
In some cases, those accused of playing dirty are denying alleged conversations ever took place, while claiming other emails and Facebook chat logs have been taken out of context and that Mr Hager's conclusions are false.
Don Brash, who was the primary target of Mr Hager's 2006 book The Hollow Men, says Mr Hager "takes two plus two and makes 22".
"He extrapolates stuff, he deduces things which are not true. He may not be deliberately lying – I'm not suggesting he is deliberately lying – but he makes conclusions which are wrong," he said on Firstline this morning.
Dr Brash, former leader of the National Party, took over the ACT leadership in 2011 after Rodney Hide stepped aside. According to Mr Hager, Mr Hide quit after blogger Cameron Slater and political strategist Simon Lusk hinted on Slater's blog Whale Oil that they were about to release inappropriate text messages Mr Hide had sent to a young woman.
Mr Hide has denied the text messages existed, and says he was not directly threatened. Mr Hager says in the book aside from the Facebook chats between Slater and Mr Lusk, there is no evidence the text messages even existed.
Dr Brash says although he was in contact with Mr Lusk during this time, he denies ever hiring him – in the book Dr Brash is described as a "client" – and that no blackmail was needed to topple Mr Hide.
"There were four members of the ACT Party caucus other than Rodney Hide; three of them wanted to be leader. I didn't need any blackmail. No blackmail was needed."
Dr Brash says he has not yet read the book, in which Mr Lusk and Slater appear to try and keep the blackmail plot secret from their alleged client.
National campaign manager Steven Joyce, who hardly features in the book with only five mentions (not including the index), says although the emails and documents featured in the book are "stolen" and presumably therefore real, Mr Hager's conclusions are wrong.
"It insults the public's intelligence, and I think that's where he's gone way, way too far," says Mr Joyce.
He denies many of the allegations in the book, including that Slater gets preferential treatment in the release of documents under the Official Information Act and that Jason Ede, then working in the Prime Minister's office and paid by the taxpayer, inappropriately accessed computers belonging to the Labour Party.
Mr Hager claims that in May 2011 Aaron Bhatnagar, a former Auckland city councillor and friend of Slater's, found a security flaw in the Labour Party website, allowing him to download gigabytes of sensitive information – including a list of donors.
Mr Bhatnagar allegedly tipped off Slater, and soon afterwards the data was accessed by a computer traced back to National Party headquarters – which Mr Hager says was Mr Ede.
Mr Joyce says Mr Ede wasn't involved in any hacking, but out of "curiosity" may have had a look at what was publicly available.
"My understanding is that he may have gone and had a look along with lots of other people around the Beehive once they knew it was in place – when I say Beehive, not the Government Beehive, but around the building."
Mr Joyce's lack of presence in Dirty Politics is perhaps down to his relationship with Slater, whose correspondence much of the book is based on.
"I don't think we're mutual fans of each other," says Mr Joyce. "In fact, it's pretty well-known that he doesn't think that much of me most of the time."
In contrast, Judith Collins – often pitched as a rival to Mr Joyce to take over leadership of the party post-John Key – has an entire chapter dedicated to her conversations with Slater. In it, Ms Collins appears to arrange the transfer of a prisoner at Slater's request and also freely shares sensitive ACC information with the blogger.
Mr Joyce says their close relationship is a result of their families' links, but that Slater is in no way beholden to the National Party.
"What you've got here is actually fundamentally a book about a blogger. He is an interesting – in quotes – individual who has very strong views and is controlled by absolutely nobody."
"Most of what's said about me is an utter lie," Ms Collins told NewstalkZB this morning.
"The Privacy Commissioner forensically investigated me over two years ago and cleared me."
She also denies any knowledge or involvement in a prison transfer mentioned in the book.
3 News
source: newshub archive
