16 November 2000, 4:51 pm Press Release: Libertarianz Party

14 Year IRD Battle Shows Still Too Soon To Celebrate

"Courageous battlers Jan amd Murray Willis deserve congratulations from every New Zealander for their victory over the IRD bullies," says Libertarianz Leader Peter Cresswell. "Their fourteen year fight to get justice is something no-one should have to endure, and their victory shows it can be done. However, there is nothing to indicate that things will change with the way IRD operates," he says.

"An apology from new IRD Commissioner John Perham is certainly welcome," he says. "Compensation for Janette and Murray Willis' lost wealth - and the many lost years' of their lives - is certainly welcome."

"However, nothing in their victory suggests any likelihood of change in this Department," says Cresswell. "Indeed, the fact that it took fourteen years to get justice shows how entrenched IRD is. As long as this Department is empowered to treat taxpayers as guilty, we should expect more such cases to occur. Indeed, as long as the Department of Legalised Theft is empowered to steal, we will have to expect them to act like bullies."

IRD victims such as Dave Henderson, Errol Taylor, Dr Gerald Cosgrove, Trevor Norriss, Pru and Roly Broughton, Donald McNally, Gordon and Hugh Spiers, Mike White, Karen and John Saunders, Trino Koers, Gerald Somerville, Bill Duncan, Ron Denby, and countless others have already shown us what happens when politicians empower bullies to steal for them.

These, and tragic victims Annette Faulkner, Ian Mutton, and Trevor Mutton should not be forgotten. "Their murderers do have blood on their hands," says Cresswell, "and it is time for a sharp break with the past. We need to abandon the sick culture of government theft, and put the fear-mongers and murderers before a Truth Commission."

The memory of the IRD's many victims deserves no less.