Collins’ timeline of meddling
I have put together a timeline from MFAT’s OIA dump showing exactly how and when Judith Collins sought to alter the focus of her Justice-themed visit to China to become ever more of an Oravida promotion tour:
4 October
MFAT Wellington asked by MFAT Beijing to1:
…reassure MoJ that we are fully aware of the Minister’s desire for [redacted] to be included in an appropriate event during her time in Beijing.
8 October
Collins specifically requests that MFAT invite Stone Shi and Julia Xu to whatever event [redacted] attends2.
RS comment: This shows Collins trying to engineer a meeting with Oravida and [redacted – quite likely the senior Chinese border official] as part of her official Ministerial programme. The purpose of the planned official four-way meeting couldn’t be anything other than to help Oravida with market access.
9 October
MFAT programme lists Wednesday afternoon events in Shanghai as3:
1400 Call on Director-General, Shanghai Justice Bureau
1500 Depart
1515 Business and Law Roundtable
1615 Return to hotel ([…])
1700 Depart for Pudong International Airport, VIP facilitation
1800 Arrive airport, brief stay VIP room, then boarding
1900 Singapore Airlines SQ 0835 departs Shanghai
Judith Collins receives invitation to visit Oravida headquarters in Shanghai, in an email from Julia Xu typed in Comic Sans4.
RS comment: No sign of Oravida anywhere in the Shanghai programme on 9 October…
10 October
Collins’ office emails MFAT requesting it include the Oravida visit in the Shanghai programme5.
RS comment: This is Collins asking for a second event with Oravida senior staff to be added to a justice-themed visit to China. Note that while Collins did not say “dump the Business and Law Roundtable,” she did say “insert a visit to my friends’ company into an already full schedule of justice events.” She knew that going to Oravida had to mean dumping one or more justice events, she just didm;t much care which ones.
11 October
MFAT programme amended to include visit to “increase the profile of” Oravida, as I covered on Monday, and to dump the Business and Law Roundtable.
Collins’ office also asks for Stone Shi / Julia Xu to be included in the Beijing lunch, and asks “please keep Sunday evening free.”6
RS comment: Having asked for and got a second meeting with Oravida on her justice-themed schedule, at the expense of a justice-themed event, here Collins lays the groundwork to increase the number of meetings with Oravida from two to three, all in a justice-themed visit.
15 October
MFAT officials learn7:
It appears Stone Shi has organised directly for the Minister to meet with a [redacted] (do they mean [redacted]) on Sunday evening. She would like you [NZ Ambassador to China] and Connie to attend.
Collins’ office directly requests briefing for the dinner, and also asks for Ambassadorial attendance8.
RS comment: Here Oravida goes around MFAT to book a third meeting with Collins including [redacted – likely a senior border official], and requests Ambassadorial clout be added to the meeting, too. Collins’ office plays along with Oravida.
16 October
Collins’ office demands MFAT explain “why the Sunday dinner with [redacted] has not been included in the visit programme.”9
MFAT emails are escalated to Deputy Secretary level for the first time. Eventually MFAT officials breathe a sigh of relief: “All squared away.” The dinner becomes “private.”10
RS comment: I used to work at MFAT. For questions around scheduling a small dinner in a Ministerial programme to escalate to Deputy Secretary level indicates either an enormously important dinner, or that something is seriously amiss.
Once you see the key events in a neat timetable, the pattern is very clear. MFAT is putting together an ordinary Ministerial programme, but Collins and Shi conspire to insert one after another Oravida event, until there are no less than three events including Oravida management in the programme. Collins has demonstrably lied to Parliament about at least one of those events, and probably two. She has also lied about her heavy involvement in getting Oravida and Oravida’s contacts in Chinese border security included in her official programme.
This is so far beyond the pale for a Minister in low-corruption New Zealand. Judith Collins does not deserve to be a Minister.