ROBERT KITCHIN/STUFF Winston Peters has been asked to explain donations to the NZ First Foundation.

Matt Shand broke the biggest political story of the year with explosive revelations about a NZ First slush fund. He talks about the clandestine way in which the documents came into his possession and asks why reporters must go to such lengths to access information which should be publicly available.

The winebox containing NZ First Foundation documents was next to a dumpster filled with used nappies from a nearby daycare. Or, at least it was supposed to be. There were no boxes in sight. No other options. Time to dig through.

For the past six hours "Deep Throat" figures had been sending me directions from random phone numbers to where the documents could be found. The information had already been uncovered, people wanted to talk, but hard evidence - the documentation - was key.

CHRISTEL YARDLEY/STUFF Reporter Matt Shand - following the NZ First trail took him to a diaper filled rubbish bin.

For the past few hours calls had come in from random numbers giving locations with little context. "The Square Hamilton," the voice would say and hang up. Then call back with another suburb or landmark. After walking around making many people suspicious of a creeper another call arrives. "The shop on (redacted) street. Another call. Another suburb. "Dumpster. Closed lid. Go now". Having never spoken to these people before it was all on good faith.

There were two dumpsters that matched. Neither in line of sight of each other. Left or right. Right was chosen. Wrong choice. Random callers on the phone should learn to be more specific. "Deep Throat" had turned into "sore throat" as there was nothing there. No wine box. Just a dumpster full of nappies.

Before concluding it was the greatest prank ever pulled there was one more check to make. The dumpster was near a preschool. Did they happen to see a box of papers dumped there? They had. It seems they had retrieved it for use as scap paper for the kids. With a bit of fast talking the wine box was finally secure.

Why the Winebox? Someone has a sense of humour. Winston Peters built his political reputation on the so-called winebox inquiry into allegations of incompetence and corruption within Inland Revenue and the Serious Fraud Office in relation to complex tax deals involving the Cook Islands.

The Winebox 2.0 documents, the only proof of the mysterious dealings of the New Zealand First Foundation and the coterie of Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters advisors that control it, was mere moments away from becoming papier mache.

It should not be this hard to find out who donated to a political party in New Zealand.

Stuff Political donations appear to have been hidden inside a secret slush fund controlled by a coterie of Winston Peters' trusted advisers.

Forgetting the rigmarole of finally getting hard proof, the information should be publicly available. It is beyond a lack of transparency. I feel it is a lack of basic honesty. For Peters the documents potentially betray his voters, the donors who back the party, his candidates, his MPs and democracy.

There are so many people left bloodied on the path behind him that a resistance started to form and say enough is enough. There is a shortage of people in New Zealand willing to stand up when they see a wrong but that attitude is changing and the reveal of these documents, and the reaction of the public to them, should send a strong message to politicians.

The odour remained at the office. This time from the papers themselves. Documents included bank statements, spending records, donation receipts, letters and emails. There is worse to come. Analysis revealed just more than $500,000 had been placed into the foundation which did not marry up with the Electoral Returns.

Calling the Electoral Commission for some clarity, this indeed, appeared to be a smoking gun. More sources came forward.

The first spin from Peters is that the foundation and party were unconnected and the donation issues were an administrative error. The unconnected foundation paid for the speakers at the party conference, reimbursed MP Clayton Mitchell for travel, made payments to Peter's partner, Jan Trotman, paid for the NZ First website hosting fees and it was even advertised as a fund as a "means to secure NZ First's future."

Two of its trustees are deep in the NZ First Party. The first, Doug Woolerton, is NZ First's founding party president. The second is Peters' lawyer, long-time friend, NZ First Judicial Officer, and self-proclaimed "Dark Shadow" of the NZ First Party, Brian Henry. Ironically, it was Henry who helped Peters out during the Winebox enquiry.

There were other links to the NZ First Party. Donors have outed Tauranga-based MP Clayton Mitchell as the man arranging the donations and working to give out its bank number. Donors said they thought money that ended up in the foundation account was meant for the political party.

The second spin was that the foundation gave the party loans. And this is true. It did. Payments were remade. Some loans seem strange. On April 29, 2019 the foundation loaned the NZ First Party 44,923. On April 30 the New Zealand First party paid $44,923 back to the foundation. None of the experts we've asked can think of a reason for this.

It should not be this hard to get straight answers.

NZ First has control of the $3 Billion Provincial Growth Fund, which comes under Minister for Regions Shane Jones.

Supplied Good times: Winston Peters, center, flanked by former right hand man turned lobbyist Doug Woolerton, left, and former Labour minister Dover Samuels right. Also pictured are former Foreign Minister Murray McCully, and NZ First MInister Shane Jones. The picture was taken before the last election.

Its mandate is to fund projects to improve infrastructure, primary industry sectors and regional development. Investors and primary industry leaders are among the main donors to the NZ First Foundation slush fund.

One trustee of the Foundation, Doug Woolerton, is also a political lobbyist whose webpage promises "personal introductions to relevant ministers and members of the public" with the guarantee of "discretion and confidentiality".

Supplied NZ First MP Clayton Mitchell was said to have arranged donations.

Woolerton also offers "better outcomes for clients" by offering to help and advise on drafting changes to legislation. He is a regular sight at Parliament, moving in and out of Government and Opposition MPs offices.

New ports, dredging, slipways, a mussel-processing plant in Marlborough, a $5.7 million grant to protect Manuka honey's trademark, money to plant trees and all manner of activity are funded by the PGF. Knowing what we do now, about NZ First Foundation donations, there are legitimate questions to be asked about the decision making process.

There are also legitimate questions to be asked about why the law can't force parties to be more transparent about their wealthy donors.

Because that's too important to be reliant on a handful of brave whistle blowers doing the right thing.