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Otago Daily Times
December 1, 2003
Hood upset her book not required reading for MPs
NZPA
Christchurch:
A controversial book on the Christchurch Civic Creche case is not officially
available to politicians investigating the need for a top-level inquiry.
Labour MP Tim Barnett, who chairs the justice and electoral select committee,
said no budget was available for items such as A City Possessed .
A brief summary of its 640 pages has instead been prepared for committee
members weighing the merits of a royal commission of inquiry.
Dunedin author
Lynley Hood was "totally thunderstruck" to discover her book would
not be required reading for the 11 MPs.
Hood, who led the petition for an inquiry, said discounted copies could have
been made available by the publisher.
She urged the MPs to search out the full story.
"I think it's fundamental to the credibility of the committee. To ask
for a summary says to me they are not taking the task seriously.
"They have to see what I actually said in context."
Hood said she was not requiring people to accept her stance that former
creche worker Peter Ellis was wrongly convicted of child abuse.
"All I'm asking is for them to read it and make up their own
minds."
Mr Barnett said no money had been set aside for select committees to buy
books that might be relevant to their work.
Told this, Hood said: "I might stand in Lambton Quay and shake a can for
these poor parliamentarians."
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