Helen 'fronts up' over Doonebrook

Helen Clark, now back in the country, is being asked questions about the Doone affair that resurfaced in her absence.

She said the Government had followed a proper process in its discussions with Mr Doone over the incident, and she was comfortable with her personal involvement in that process and her conversations with the Sunday Star-Times.

To confirm a false statement during an employment dispute is not proper. If anything, it's indicative that one is not negotiating in the "good faith" that Margaret Wilson, Helen's friend and erstwhile Attorney-general, required for labour negotiations. But why is Helen "comfortable" with her converstations?

But on NewstalkZB the Prime Minister said she could not recall "what was said in conversations five and a quarter years ago".

In Australia, this would be known as the Carmen Lawrence defence. The problem is for Helen that claiming that you can't remember may get you off a charge of lying about what you have done, it will not get you off the consequences of your original actions.