0 Emmerson on Peters' castle

New Zealand First celebrates 21 years at the party's annual conference this weekend. And List MP Richard "Wogistan" Prosser has a policy which should find plenty of red-necked support; the Herald reports:

A hardline law and order policy by NZ First would offer greater protection to homeowners, farmers and shop keepers who shoot to kill intruders during home invasions or burglaries.
Along with a 40-year mandatory non-parole sentence for premeditated murder, NZ First wants the Crimes Act amended to give certainty over the use of "reasonable force" for self-defence.
Ahead of the party's annual convention this weekend, law and order spokesman Richard Prosser said the policy was a response to a string of incidents that had seen farmers and shopkeepers in court over their use of firearms or even hockey sticks against would-be robbers.
Mr Prosser said so-called "castle doctrine" laws in some US states, which saw Texan Joe Horn acquitted after his 2007 fatal shooting of two men who had burgled his neighbour's home, were "so over the top that it wouldn't be something that I think anyone in New Zealand would give consideration to".
"But what I do think people have a desire for is the ability to actually defend themselves and their families in their own homes."

Mr Prosser wants a regime based on that introduced in Ireland in 2011 following controversy over the 2004 shooting of an Irish traveller by a farmer.
NZ First's proposal would allow for homeowners to use "any firearm that is lawfully available to that person" to defend themselves.

It's certainly an interesting policy from NZ First. And it has attracted Rod Emmerson's attention, which isn't necessarily a good thing for Winston First:

Anyway, congratulations to Winston and his cult party. Surviving for 21 years is quite an achievement, although Winston First's longer-term survival is not by any means set in concrete and the party appears not to have a succession plan.

Perhaps Emmerson's cartoon is a depiction of what it'll be like the day that Winston is voted out again, and someone comes round to give him the bad news!

0 More poll misery for Labour and Mr Cunliffe

After the difficulties David Cunliffe had last week, a number of pundits suggested that pressure might come on him if the next round of TV polls hurt Labour.

It has. The 3News/Reid Research poll has just come out, and it shows both Labour's and Mr Cunliffe's popularity slipping. Labour is down 2 points to 27.3%, and National (down 0.6% to 49.7%) has a commanding lead. The Greens have gained where Labour lost, and NZ First is still some distance from the 5% thresh-hold. The Internet Mana alliance will need to win an electorate if it is to figure, polling a mere 1.8%.

And in the Preferred Prime Minister stakes, the news is no better for Mr Cunliffe. John Key is up 3.1 points to 46.7%, whereas David Cunliffe remains stranded in single figures, down 0.2 points to 9.6% support.

National's polling is remarkably, given that they are a party nearing the end of their second term in government, whereas Labour's support is basically where it was at the 2011 General Election. And that, of course, was Labour's worst election result in some 70 years.  But in 2011, Labour was still almost in a position to form a government; it wouldn't have taken much of a swing to enable that to happen.

In the meantime, National heads into its election-year conference in Wellington tomorrow in bouyant mood, and why wouldn't they? We're sure that the party faithful will get plenty of warnings not to be complacent, and it is imperative that the party faithful take those warnings on board. 

Labour's upcoming conference, on the other hand, will be a little more subdued, after a series of dreadful poll results. Patrick Gower said on 3News tonight that "This poll is all about Labour wounded, and scared".  Given the current dysfunctional state of the Labour Party, a new record low on 20th September is a distinct possibility.


UPDATE: Here are the poll graphics from the 3News website:

 

0 More dirt from Horan

Brendan Horan's time in Parliament may be ticking down. But he seems determined to use what time he has left to extract utu for his summary sacking last year by Winston Peters; the Herald reports:

Rogue ex-New Zealand First MP Brendan Horan has made fresh allegations that his former boss, Winston Peters, is breaking parliamentary rules by having taxpayer-funded staff working on party business.
Speaker David Carter is currently investigating claims by Mr Horan that the party's taxpayer-funded Vanguard constituency management software is being used by the party to seek votes and raise cash.
Parliament's rules forbid the use of funding intended to support MPs and political leaders' parliamentary activities for party political activities.
Today, Mr Horan produced internal NZ First documents dealing with the party's move to raise funds via a regular direct debit facility for members.
He said NZ First 2013 board minutes "make it clear" the scheme was being run from Parliament by the party's director of operations Apirana Dawson whose salary is paid by Parliamentary Service.
"One really has to question what Parliamentary staff are doing being involved in raising money and trying to get votes for a political party when their job is obviously towards Parliamentary Service", Mr Horan said this afternoon.
Asked whether he understood that Parliamentary Service paid all of Mr Dawson's salary or that he received some pay from the party, Mr Horan said he didn't know.
"That's one of the questions that's fair to be raised."
Mr Horan's latest attack comes after he raised questions around Mr Peters' interest in a race horse which was not declared in the MPs' Register of Pecuniary Interests, and allegations of bullying of staff by another NZ First MP.
A spokeswoman for NZ First Leader Winston Peters said he would not comment on Mr Horan's latest allegations.

And whilst Mr Horan insists that this isn't personal, he is also less than complimentary about the Winston First leader:

Mr Horan told reporters he wasn't attempting to destroy Mr Peters' political career; neither was he engaging in a personal vendetta.
"I'm not out to destroy anybody. I despise the act of hypocrisy, I despise the act of bullying and I'm standing up against the biggest bully in Parliament. What I'd like to see happen here is the rules are followed, that the hypocrisy ends in this Parliament and we get on with the important business of trying to do what MPs do, which is supposed to be helping people and making the economy grow."

It's quite probable that NZ First will give the Speaker an assurance that no taxpayer money has been misused, and because the Speaker is obliged to take MP's at their word, he will be unable to do anything. But that should not be Winston Peters' prime concern.

Someone from within the party organisation has loose lips, and is feeding Brendan Horan with information to embarrass Peters and his party. Someone is telling Horan where the bodies are buried, and once the media get the scent of a story, they will be in regular contact with Horan for the next instalment.

Ironically, Horan has learned something from his time in the Peters party where he was originally the Master's Apprentice. Is Winston Peters going to be hoist by his own petard? 

0 Oh dear

There have been three political polls out this week. And they all tell the same story; support for National is rising, and support for Labour is falling.

Colmar Brunton helpfully sums up the One News poll in one graphic, which saves bloggers lots of typing; here 'tis:

And the 3News/Reid Research poll was almost identical showing National up 4.4 points to 50.3%, Labour down 1.7 to 29.5% and the Greens down 1 point to 10.2%. The only major difference is that 3News has Winston First surviving (just), but One News bids him farewell, at 4.8% support; the figures on the infographic are rounded.

These poll results, coming on top of a Roy Morgan poll on Thursday which had National ahead of the Labour/Green bloc again, will be terribly disheartening for Labour. It's also clear that all the energy expended on Judith Collins hasn't made any difference.

Things will be tense in Labour's War Room tomorrow as the party gears up for the last week of the current session of Parliament. Time is short, and the gap between the parties is as wide as it has been for some time.

0 Tracy was tough, but Duncan's even tougher!

If Winston Peters thought Tracy Watkins was tough on him and Winston First yesterday, we hope he didn't read Duncan Garner's Dom-Post column. Headed Is this all you have, Winston? Garner is absolutely brutal on Peters; he begins thus:

Poor Winston, what's going on? It looks like you're really struggling to land any decent hits in Parliament these days. It all looks a bit limp and sad.
You've been there since 1978, save for three years in the wilderness before this term. If you ever had the answers then you've had ample time to share them.
Instead, what did we see this week? You abusing your privilege of free speech by spewing vicious bile at an MP who is in Parliament only because you wanted him there. Brendan Horan is hardly the first NZ First MP selected for loyalty rather than ability.
Calling Horan the "Jimmy Savile of New Zealand politics" was evil and cowardly – and you know it. If anyone makes any sort of claim against you, you're quick to threaten legal action and demand retractions and apologies. But when you're the one dishing it out those rules don't apply: you can waltz into Parliament and get all the protection you need. 

"Evil and cowardly"; that's as trenchant a statement as we've seen a New Zealand journalist make against an MP for many years. And Duncan Garner doesn't do it under parliamentary privilege either!

Garner continues:

I can't help but point out the irony of it all to you. I remember covering a speech you made in Kawerau in 2008 and you had Horan along as your little sycophantic sidekick.
Horan was in awe of you, banging on to the journos about how you were an honest and loyal man who only wanted what was right for New Zealand. He told us you never took money from Owen Glenn and everyone was wrong to be questioning your integrity and honesty. Horan was really fired up that afternoon.
So how does it feel now he's firing a few at you? Suddenly the spending from your parliamentary leader's fund looks questionable – despite your denials.
And Horan's allegations might just be sticking too. Did you spend $20,000 on a computer system to aid your NZ First Party? That money you and all the other parties have in those slush funds has never been transparent.
Last week, before all this chaos, you were promising to take out Judith Collins. But when you pulled out your gun it merely went pop. 

But then comes the really scary bit:

Yet, despite your miserable week, I still can't write you off.
I was there in 1996 when you promised to get rid of Jim Bolger, Bill Birch and Jenny Shipley. I remember chasing you down Lambton Quay for weeks during the coalition negotiations. You loved the attention and you're at it again.
Here we are 18 years later and not much has really changed. You're still the potential king-maker and you like it like that.
David Cunliffe has flung the door open to you by shunning the Greens' offer to campaign as a Labour-Greens government.
That suits you – we know you don't like the Greens. It's why you couldn't go with Labour in 1996 – you didn't want to share power with the Alliance in a three-party coalition. 
Now we're back to square one. You've started talking about "bottom lines" again. Yet on really simple, straightforward questions you refuse to give a straightforward answer.
Yes, you've had some victories over the years, free healthcare for the under 6s and the Gold Card – but is there anything else after 36 years?
Now immigration is bubbling away as an issue again – just like 1996 all over again.
Yes, 98,000 people arrived in New Zealand last year and 65,000 left – but the fact is most of those coming here were Kiwis returning home. A small fraction of them were actually immigrants from another land. But let's not let the facts get in the way during the election campaign.
Really, Winston, I reckon the public is tired of all these silly games. It feels like you've become entertainment for the stupid and sycophantic, who don't take the state of the nation too seriously at all.
But still I think you'll scrape together the 5 per cent support to make it back to Parliament (which, of course, means that 95 per cent of voters don't want you). But 5 per cent is all you need and that will be enough to make John Key's life hell.
After 36 years, is the nuisance factor really all you have to offer? 

Yes Dear Readers; it's 36 years since Winston Peters first entered Parliament in 1978. And what does he have to show for it. He's been a Minister three times, without ever having served a full three-year term. Jim Bolger and Jenny Shipley fired him, and Helen Clark stood him down over the Owen Glenn donation and all the lies he told about that. He's brought such characters as Tuku "Underpants" Morgan, Ron "Fingers" Mark, Richard "Wogistan" Prosser, Andrew "Leaky" Williams and Asenati Lole-Taylor into Parliament. He has attacked immigrants, especially Chinese immigrants.

What will be Winston's legacy? A career of unfulfilled potential? New Zealand's pre-eminent conspiracy theorist? A lifetime achievement award for his contribution to the whisky industry? Or will a seat be saved in his honour at the Green Parrot Cafe in Wellington?

Winston Peters was once one of the most formidable politicians in New Zealand. In 2014 however, he is a far cry from that. The elderly and the rednecks may get him back for one more term, but it will be tight.  We really hope that come election night, Winston First falls slightly below the 5% mark.

There should be no place in our Parliament for a man who, under parliamentary privilege, likens another MP to an alleged serial child abuser and paedophile. Kudos to Duncan Garner for his denouncement of Peters' actions this week.

0 Watkins on "flaky" Winston First

Tracy Watkins doesn't mince words today. Under the headline Party in danger of Peter-ing out she opines:

Anyone who kids themselves that there is life after Winston Peters for NZ First only had to watch the party floundering in the absence of its leader this week.
Frantically trying to head off an attack by their former colleague, expunged NZ Firster Brendan Horan, Peters' front bench achieved the seemingly impossible feat of making Horan look good by comparison.
They were clueless in the face of Horan's determination to extract utu from his former party by tabling documents he claimed showed improper use of the taxpayer funded leader's fund.
Whether the documents do show what Horan claims remains to be seen; the Speaker is investigating although the explanation offered by Peters suggests the spending complies with the rules. But we know from long experience that politicians have a collective interest in not inquiring too deeply into the use of leaders' funds.
There is certainly no reason to be confident that they have cleaned up their act since an Audit Office inquiry several years ago found most parties treated it as a slush fund for party political activities. (NZ First was one of the parties pinged for unlawful spending to the tune of $158,000).
Regardless of the ins and outs of Horan's allegations, however, one thing seems clear: Horan is hellbent on using his last remaining months in Parliament to try to take Peters and the rest of NZ First down with him.
Even if he succeeds he will only be hastening by a few years what increasingly seems inevitable.
With its leader knocking 70, NZ First is a clock that has been slowly winding down since the 1996 election delivered Peters the balance of power. 

This is brutal stuff from Ms Watkins, but it is is also brutally honest. There is no way that New Zealand First will survive without its founder and cult leader. The ineptitude of the NZF caucus was there for all to see this week.

Tracy Watkins goes on to profile some of the more "colourful" members of the Winston First caucus:

Since the party's return in 2011, Parliament has been collectively holding its breath waiting for the current team to implode given some of the more eccentric selections - like former North Shore mayor Andrew Williams, notorious for urinating in a public place. 
The implosion hasn't happened yet but there have been plenty of flaky moments. Richard Prosser launched a diatribe against Muslims that prompted hundreds of complaints to the NZ First board. The party's Pasifika MP, Asenati Lole-Taylor, famously asked questions of the police minister in Parliament about blow jobs and has carved out a cult following on Twitter for her bizarre outbursts. Her most recent was to accuse a press gallery journalist of cyber bullying after he referred to her "shooting the messenger". Lole-Taylor thought he was alleging she had shot an actual parliamentary messenger. Horan, meanwhile, was dumped from the party over allegations of missing money from his dead mother's estate.
Horan's bitterness over his expulsion from the party is probably made even more visceral for his belief in himself as the obvious successor to Peters. A former TV weather presenter, Horan was noted for making sure he was always in screen shot when Peters was stopped on the way to the House.
Peters' dislike for his former MP, meanwhile, seems to run particularly deep, with his attack in Parliament on Horan as New Zealand's "Jimmy Savile" - a reference to Britain's celebrity child molester - plumbing the depths of personal attack. 

Asenati Lole-Taylor's Twitter feud with 3News journalist Lloyd Burr was somewhat surreal. It's fair to say that there are a number of MP's in the House with a better command of English than Asenati (perhaps as many as 120 more), but she made an absolute goose of herself, and not for the first time. In the past Ms Lole-Taylor has drawn attention to herself by gleefully announcing on a daily basis how many Twitter users she had blocked that day for daring to have a contrary opinion to hers!

Winston First may squeak back in at September's General Election. However we wouldn't put money on it; Peters himself is a pale shadow of the brash young man on 1996. In recent weeks he has looked far from well and we genuinely wonder if he can pick himself up for one final campaign. He will have to, because none of his current caucus looks capable of winning a chook raffle at the local pub, let alone winning votes in an election.

Father Time has not treated Winston Peters kindly; the late nights, fags and whisky have taken a cumulative toll. And it may well be Father Time who determines whether Winston First survives beyond 20 September 2014.

0 The rudderless SS Winston First

Winston Peters has been away from Parliament the last couple of days. He told reporters that his absence on Wednesday was because he was addressing a Grey Power meeting in West Auckland. However, as Pete George disclosed yesterday, the Grey Power meeting in question was actually held yesterday afternoon. Mr Peters seemed to have got his wires crossed.

But in his absence, his caucus has been an absolute shambles. We blogged yesterday about their attempts on Wednesday to stop Brendan Horan raising legitimate concerns about the possible misuse of taxpayer funds on party politicking. They were at it again yesterday as Mr Horan asked questions about workplace bullying. We've blogged the video of that question and the unsuccessful points of order here, and the Herald has also reported on the ongoing feud between Messrs Horan and Peters.

But the NZ First caucus was at that point yet to reach its nadir. Bill English closed the Budget Debate with his right of reply speech, after which Parliament voted; first on the no-confidence amendment moved by David Cunliffe, then on the Budget itself. Check this out; if you don't want to watch a spirited speech from Bill English, jump straight to about the ten minute mark:

They took the vote on Mr Cunliffe's no-confidence amendment first, and both the Greens and Winston First voted against it. The Greens realised the mistake before the count was made and corrected it, but NZ First did not. Watch the video; Denis O'Rourke is staring at Jan Logie as she amends the Green vote, and the penny hasn't dropped; what a plodder.

We can understand the Greens' error; when you are against everything the Government does, voting to oppose is your default setting. Jan Logie paused before announcing the Green vote, but at least was able to correct it with minimum embarrassment.

Denis O'Rourke's cock-up however was a real embarrassment, given the scrutiny his party and its leader have been under this week. One really has to wonder what NZ First adds to the current Parliament.

The story didn't end there however. Barbara Stewart had to come back into the House an hour later and seek leave to correct the result which initially saw Cunliffe's motion defeated 50-71. That it took NZ First an hour to grasp the effects of its stuff-up when it was causing mirth on social media at the time it happened is telling.

It hasn't been a great week for Winston First, or for its aging leader who is a shadow of his former self. Without Peters, the NZF caucus is a shambles, and there are now real doubts as to whether this is really the beginning of the end.

0 Winston First under investigation - again

Winston Peters and his party are under investigation by Parliament's Speaker for the second time this month; the Herald reports:

Parliament's Speaker David Carter has confirmed he is investigating whether NZ First misused taxpayer funding by paying for software used to seek votes and raise cash for the party.
Former NZ First MP Brendan Horan yesterday claimed claimed NZ First had spent as much as $20,000 in parliamentary funding from Winston Peters' leader's budget to develop and operate "taxpayer-funded software for party political purposes such as campaigning and fundraising".
He made an complaint to Mr Carter, who early this afternoon confirmed the matter was under investigation.
Mr Horan also said yesterday that NZ First parliamentary staff were working on running the Vanguard software during the election year.
"This is a clear breach of Parliamentary Service guidelines.

"I call on the leader of the party to open his leader's budget accounts to the scrutiny of the Speaker first and then the public of New Zealand."
Rules for parliamentary funding are intended to ensure the money is not used for party political purposes and the Parliamentary Service rules of conduct state that parliamentary staff, must, in the course of their work "avoid electioneering, political party business (i.e. acting for the non-parliamentary branch of the party, such as political party administration, fundraising or campaign related activities), and other actions that are party political in nature".
Mr Horan said the public had "a right to know what their money is being used for and whether it is being used legally", and last night confirmed he had lodged a complaint with Speaker David Carter.

We commend Brendan Horan for doing the right thing here. He made his point, then did exactly as he said he would, and made a formal complaint to the Speaker. An investigation into Winston First's use of taxpayer funds is now underway.

Contrast this with Winston Peters' modus operandi; threats, unsubstantiated allegations, smears and promises of revelations which never come. The Winston Peters of 2014 is a pale shadow of the Peters, even of the mid-2000's. He is living on borrowed parliamentary time.

That Speaker David Carter has deemed Horan's complaint as worthy of investigation is a victory for the "independent List MP". Here's hoping that he has got all his ducks in a row, and that the allegations he made yesterday are supported by stronger evidence that Peters' "smoking gun".

0 Winston First is transparent. Yeah right.

Brendan Horan promised to dish dirt on his former party yesterday, and he was as good as his word. Unfortunately, Winston Peters wasn't there; perhaps he was keeping a low profile after his disgraceful behaviour on Tuesday. The Herald reports:

While he denied he was running away from a fight, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters left his MPs to defend the party against claims by independent MP Brendan Horan the party misused taxpayer funding to raise cash and seek votes.
After weeks of ill-tempered exchanges between Mr Peters and his ousted caucus member, Mr Horan yesterday fronted up in Parliament with what he said was proof of misuse of parliamentary funding by the party.
Mr Horan claimed NZ First had spent as much as $20,000 in parliamentary funding from Mr Peters' leader's budget to develop and operate "taxpayer-funded software for party political purposes such as campaigning and fundraising".
Mr Horan also said NZ First parliamentary staff were working on running the Vanguard software during the election year.
"This is a clear breach of Parliamentary Service guidelines.

"I call on the leader of the party to open his leader's budget accounts to the scrutiny of the Speaker first and then the public of New Zealand."
Rules for parliamentary funding are intended to ensure the money is not used for party political purposes and the Parliamentary Service rules of conduct state that parliamentary staff, must, in the course of their work "avoid electioneering, political party business (i.e. acting for the non-parliamentary branch of the party, such as political party administration, fundraising or campaign related activities), and other actions that are party political in nature".
Mr Horan said the public had "a right to know what their money is being used for and whether it is being used legally" and last night confirmed he had lodged a complaint with Speaker David Carter. Mr Carter's office did not respond to requests for comment.

We commend Mr Horan for standing up to the man who unilaterally sacked him, in a manner totally contrary to the principles of fairness and natural justice. Here, courtesy of In the House is his Budget Debate speech from yesterday afternoon:

The worst aspect of this was the attempts by Winston First lobby-fodder MP's Barbara Stewart, Richard Prosser and Andrew Williams to deny Mr Horan a voice. There were repetitive, unsuccessful points of order, all of which were over-ruled by the Assistant Speaker. And when Horan came to try to table documents in support of his allegations, the NZF MP's objected loudly on each occasion.

Now any MP has the right to object to leave being granted to table a document, without any reason being given. But yesterday's antics gave the perception, perhaps unfairly, that Horan had hit the jackpot, and that the Peters Party had been busted.

We look forward to hostilities being resumed, the next time Mr Peters considers a trip to Parliament worthy of his time. And we look forward to the outcome of the Speaker's investigation into these allegations of further wrongdoing by the party leader who was censured by his peers in 2008 for wilfully misleading them.

UPDATE: Over at Your NZ, Pete George notes that the Grey Power meeting Peters claimed to be attending is actually on today, and notes:

And very ironic. An MP well known for his attacks on others in Parliament seems unwilling to be on the receiving end of accusations.
There could be another reason for his absence yesterday, but why would he make up an excuse that is easily proven incorrect? Why would the event be removed from the NZ First website?
There’s a perception that Peters is trying to hide something, or hide from something.
His accusations on Tuesday have been called the worst seen in Parliament for a long time. Is NZ First reacting to that? Is Peters not prepared to face an accuser? Or is he trying to hide something?
He was Missing In Action and making things up yesterday. He would be one of the first to hold another MP to account for anything like that.

We could not agree more.
 

0 Quote of the Day - 16 May 2014

We won't inflict 15 minutes of Winston Peters on you this morning. But the NZ First leader did, perhaps unwittingly, provide on of the more memorable quotes yesterday with this piece of logic:

"We're going back to the glory days of the past for a better tomorrow" 

Mr Peters was talking about how a Winston First government would reform the economy, We're still not quite sure exactly what he means!

0 Clifton on Peters

Even the woman doing sign language struggled with Winston Peters yesterday!

Jane Clifton has been around Parliament's Press Gallery for almost as long as Winston Peters has been a patron of the Green Parrot cafe. And it's fair to say that they have crossed swords more than once.

But Clifton's column on Stuff today is so good that it merits publication in full and interrupted. It's vintage Clifton reporting on a less-than-vintage Peters; under the heading Winston shoots from hip, Henare hits bullseye Clifton opines:

It was less the promised "smoking gun" than a dribbling water pistol, but Winston Peters made sure to get himself turfed out of Parliament yesterday to ensure his allegations about Judith Collins made the news one way or another.
With great fanfare, including giving it his special gravelly- voiced shouting treatment, he announced that the justice minister had sinned by failing to declare aspects of the funding of her Chinese trip on the MPs' register of pecuniary interest, given that a portion of the trip was for private purposes.
And the prime minister knew all about it, he added, seemingly pausing for gasps of astonishment.
"Why . . . didn't he sack her?" he thundered, when the gasps were not forthcoming.
The NZ First leader seemed genuinely astonished that Prime Minister John Key didn't break down and confess to this conspiracy. Instead, Key said he would look into the matter, but as Collins had declared all the information about her trip and its funding in her ministerial declaration - which was why Peters was able to access the details - the material was hardly a dark secret.
The Government backbench sniggered.
This lack of traction so irked Peters that he cranked up from his Avenging Prosecutor setting, to his Witchfinder- General mode. This involves repeating allegations at machinegun speed, with extra rhetoric and gravelly shouting and his trademark eyebrow haka.
Unfortunately, at this tempo, Peters' words emerge so fast, they barge into one another - "Benefits-cover-up- foreknowledge-November 7-pecuniary-interest . . . !" - leading, as Key smirkingly pointed out, to incoherence.
"From what I can see, if the member could just speak a bit more clearly, it might help everyone, including the media," Key said.
Adding to Peters' annoyance, Speaker David Carter was gun-shy about MPs making imputations against one another's integrity, as he ruled had occurred illicitly during last week's "cash for access" allegations. He interrupted and warned Peters several times.
Peters furiously declared that he would not be stopped from "answering" questions, when he meant to say "asking" them. Then he called Carter's rulings unfair, and had to withdraw and apologise.
In a subsequent exchange, Peters muttered aloud in a derogatory tone during another of Carter's rulings, prompting the Speaker to expel him.
"And pick up your smoking gun on the way out!" National's Tau Henare interjected, to general hilarity.
Peters' deputy, Tracey Martin, complained that Henare should be turfed out as well, as he too was guilty of interjecting.
While Carter was considering this, a beaming Henare evicted himself - safe in the knowledge that no-one was going to top his well-timed one-liner. 

Tau Henare's interjection was one of those rare moments where almost the whole House (bar the NZ First caucus) found humour in Peters' discomfort. Even David Carter found it hard to suppress a smile when Tracey Martin made the rookie mistake of repeating Tau Henare's interjection verbatim, to further mirth.

Poor old Winston; he's copping it from all over today. That's really no way to treat Parliament's elder statesman. Even Gordon Campbell from Scoop has fired a shot at Peters this morning, beginning his piece with "Once again, Winston Peters failed to ignite on the launch pad.".

It's sad to see in some ways. Winston Peters was, in his prime, a very good politician. Sadly, those days were some considerable time ago, and the 2014 version of Peters is a shadow of his former self.

0 A tale of two polls

The Left was cock-a-hoop at the end of last week when the notoriously variant Roy Morgan poll showed Labour/Green ahead of the National Party. But this morning, the bubbly can go back on ice.

Stuff has released the latest Fairfax-Ipsos poll, and it makes grim reading; that's if your name is Cunliffe, Norman or Turei. And if your name is Peters, or any other NZ First MP, you'll be dusting off your CV ready for a return to the job market in October. Tracy Watkins has the grim details (for those mentioned above, and their supporters):

National has shrugged off weeks of scandal and is riding high in today's Stuff.co.nz/Ipsos Political Poll.
With Finance Minister Bill English poised to unveil tomorrow what he hopes will be an election-winning Budget, the poll suggests there is no need to pull any rabbits out of the hat.
It puts National on 47.6 per cent support, down 1.8 percentage points on our last poll, but still enough to govern alone if the results were mirrored on election night.
Labour has slipped to 29.50 per cent, taking it below the morale-busting 30 per cent threshold for the first time. 

The Fairfax-Ipsos poll has tended to flatter Labour. Whereas other polls have had David Cunliffe's team fluctuated above and below the 30% line since the 2011 General Election, Labour has held its ground in this particular poll. Until this morning, that is.

And Tracy Watkins predicts a new round of naval-gazing in the War Room:

Today's result is likely to cause soul searching within Labour, however, over leader David Cunliffe's failure to get traction against Key despite the succession of ministerial scandals.
The poll shows Cunliffe sliding in the preferred prime minister stakes to 13.4 per cent, down 3.9 points from our last poll in February and well behind Key, who is on 48.6 per cent. Labour also suffered a blow during the polling period with the news that former leadership hopeful Shane Jones is quitting Parliament. But Labour's biggest enemy may be the improving economy, with the poll showing 63.6 per cent of voters believe the country is on the right track. 

Indeed. Bill English is set to announce the economy is back in surplus for 2014-15 when he delivers tomorrow's Budget, more people in New Zealand are in work than at any time in the country's history, manufacturing and exporting is humming, and tourists continue to visit New Zealand in record numbers. Bill English and John Key have a strong platform from which to campaign for re-election.

Here's how the parties stack up:

Ms Watkins notes that the Greens seem to have picked up some "soft" Labour support, whilst NZ First is going nowhere. Winston Peters is going to need more than a luke-warm spud gun to gain any traction, as Labour threatens to trump him with anti-Chinese rhetoric.

John Key and Bill English will be feeling positive ahead of tomorrow's Budget, and they have every right to be. Bill English has steered the economy through the worst recession since the Great Depression, and the waters ahead are calm, especially compared to the heavy seas facing Australia. Why would any sensible voter put that at risk?

0 Is Winston Peters past it?

Winston Peters got turfed out of Parliament again this afternoon. He claimed to have found the smoking gun that was going to end Judith Collins' political career. Make yourself a cuppa, sit down somewhere comfortable, and watch the fun:

The actual ejection doesn't take place until around the 17:30 mark. But it was a long and tortuous build-up as Peters rambled on and on in an often barely-coherent manner. He did not look well, and more than one of the Press Gallery journalists who gathered in the foyer as Peters tried to plead his case noticed that he was sweating profusely. We were wondering if he has had a small stroke, whilst other, less charitable explanations were offered which we will not repeat here.

Winston Peters not only didn't have a smoking gun, but whatever he had wasn't loaded, and probably wasn't even a gun. But more than that; we wonder if he has another election campaign in him. He is a shadow of the cheeky, grinning Winston Peters of days gone by. Father Time, fags and late nights seem to have caught up with him.

Is Winston Peters past it? Based on today's effort, after John Key called his bluff yesterday, you'd have to seriously wonder if this is the beginning of the end of NZ First and its charismatic leader.

0 Soper on the Kermits and Luigi...

Barry Soper's columns on the Newstalk ZB website are usually pretty irreverent, even if the hide a more serious message. And his effort yesterday was not particularly flattering to Parliament's third and fourth most populous parties, or in one case, the cult of personality behind one of them; Soper opines:

On the face of it, it does sound a bit dodgy. Politicians soliciting cash for access, or in the Tory's case it's the Cabinet Club where at fund raising knees ups they get dosh from the punters who want to get into a Minister's ear.
It's got The Kermits croaking. They reckon it reeks of punters paying for favours, buying political friends and influencing their decisions.
But before jumping off their lily pads they'd do well to reflect on how the business of politics stays afloat.
In effect they're talking about donations, The Tories have their election war chest topped up by corporate donations, the unions kick in for Labour and even The Greens admits to getting money from like minded, sandal wearing, celery munchers.
How they go about getting the money varies but if donations are a dirty word, what's the alternative? The answer's obvious, the taxpayer would once again have to dig even deeper into their pockets, which is what they do already in the run up to the election as the advertising dosh is doled out.
Perhaps this is a case of the politics of envy from The Kermits, given they more than the others find it difficult to find cash flush followers.

Soper is dead right; this is all about the Left's push for taxpayer funding of political parties. The Greens initially, but Labour as well now that the money has stopped flowing seem to resent the fact that New Zealanders can vote with their wallets, and donate legally and openly to the political party of their choice.

The Left believes that the solution is taxpayer funding, and quite by coincidence, there are similar pushes going on in Australia and the UK from the Left. Quite frankly, we are totally opposed to our taxes being spent on funding any political parties, beyond their MPs' direct costs in Parliament and within electorates.

Barry Soper then turns his attention to his old sparring mate:

But cash is at the heart of a constitutional change being considered by the political Godfather Luigi Peters. He more than other political leaders knows what it's like to get coattail politicians into Parliament, only to see them skiving off after a fallout with The Don.
So he's planning to do something about, forcing a defecting MP to bugger off within three days of getting the boot or face a fine of, wait for it, three hundred thousand bucks, the equivalent or a couple of years wages for them.
It would of course make The Don all powerful. If he has a falling out with one of his hangers on he'd be able to effectively give them the boot. It'd mean the likes of the brazen Brendon Horan would no longer be picking up his Parliamentary pay and perks, and Luigi must know there'd be a lot who'd find favour with that.
And besides, the colossal cash penalty if a bad smell MP decides to stick around wouldn't do the party's coffers any harm.
Forget the Cabinet Club, this has the potential to become tetchy Don's cash cow! 

The thought of Winston "Luigi" Peters as Parliament's Godfather is an interesting one, on many levels. Given Peters' link to the racing industry, a certain scene from the original Godfather movie springs to mind, but we should probably park that for now.

But something went wrong when Peters tried to equip Brendan Horan with political "concrete galoshes", and the Winston First leader seems intent on making sure there is no repeat. 

Of course, the New Zealand public could do him a huge favour and spare him from future blushes due to his unenforceable contract by simply making him an offer he can't refuse on September 20, and, as happens with horses, putting him out to pasture.

0 Winston First

In case you needed any convincing that New Zealand First is a Winston Peters cult, here it is; Radio NZ reports:

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says a new plan to fine its MPs if they leave the party but stay on in Parliament will help ensure fairness for voters.
The party is changing its constitution to stop its MPs staying on in Parliament after they have resigned or are expelled from caucus.
The new constitution states that any new member who agrees to become a New Zealand First candidate will have to sign what's intended to be a legally enforceable contract.
That stipulates that if they resign from, or are expelled from, the New Zealand First parliamentary caucus, they must quit their seat in Parliament within three days. If that contract is broken, the new rules say the member would be liable for $300,000 in damages.

Clearly, this is designed to mitigate the embarrassment Winston First has endured since the summary expulsion (without a fair trial) of Brendan Horan from the WF caucus in 2012. Mr Horan has since been cleared of any wrongdoing with regard to his mother's estate by both the police and the executor of the estate, but natural justice seems not to be of any interest to Mr Peters. What will happen is that members serve totally at the whim of Peters, not the party. That is simply unacceptable, and completely undemocratic.

Meanwhile, Stuff reports on Mr Horan's reaction:

NZ First MPs who are sacked or resign from the party could face a $300,000 fine if they don't give up their seat within three days, though legal experts say it's unlikely to be enforceable.
The rule was written into NZ First's constitution after Brendan Horan was sacked by party leader Winston Peters in 2012. Horan, who has remained in Parliament as an independent MP, has dubbed it "Winston ruling by decree".
"That's bullying and intimidation of the worst sort and it's another way to make sure MPs stick in line with whatever the leader said. It's just about giving Winston Peters more power," he said.
Horan was expelled after allegations he took money from his late mother's accounts, though he has strongly rejected the allegations. 

And the initial legal opinion on this "rule" will not endure Andrew Geddis to Mr Peters; read on:

 

Professor Andrew Geddis, a constitutional law expert at Otago University, said the clause was unenforceable.
"What they're trying to do is essentially strongarm someone out of Parliament through this fear of a financial penalty."
There was no law preventing an MP from switching parties during a parliamentary term, with the Electoral Integrity Act expiring in 2005, and this was NZ First's attempt to create a restriction.
Geddis said Peters had successfully challenged a similar situation in 1993 when the National Party tried to make him sign a clause preventing him from standing on his own or for another party in Tauranga when he failed to win its nomination.
"The High Court said, no, we won't enforce that on public policy grounds because the question of who can and can't be elected a member of Parliament, that's too important to be decided by an employment contract between individuals." 

You'd have to be mad to sign a contract with Winston Peters and then expect everything to be plain sailing. After all, the taxpayers of New Zealand are still waiting for Peters to pay back the $158,000 that NZ First spend unlawfully in 2005. With nine years of accrued interest, that amount must be well over $200k by now.

Then again, cast your eye over the current Winston First caucus; perhaps they will all gladly sign up...

0 A dodgy NZ First MP? Surely not...

Winston Peters had more reasons than most to be grateful for the Maurice Williamson story yesterday. It took media focus away from some allegedly dodgy dealings by on of his own MP's, Denis O'Rourke.

The Herald ran this story yesterday morning:

A New Zealand First MP is the subject of a complaint to Parliament's Speaker over the employment of a person who lives at the same property.
Queenstown resident David Simpson has raised questions about the nature of the relationship between MP Denis O'Rourke and Stephen James, whom Mr O'Rourke employed after the 2011 election. MPs are not allowed to employ their partner, husband or wife in or outside Parliament.
A spokeswoman for Parliamentary Service, the in-house watchdog, confirmed Speaker of the House David Carter had "referred an issue to us and we are looking at it, but that's between us and the Speaker's office. I'm not going to say any more than that".

The story went on to allege:

Mr O'Rourke and Mr James were listed as living at the same address in the 2011 electoral roll, but Mr James is listed as living at a separate address in last year's roll.
However, Herald investigations reveal both addresses apply to the same property - Mr O'Rourke's home.
On Tuesday Mr James emerged from the Mt Pleasant property to check the mailbox. He was later seen inside the property but refused to answer the door.
Mr O'Rourke later confirmed Mr James lived at the same property.
"Yes, there's a flat attached to my home with separate bedroom and kitchenette and an ensuite and so on. It's separate accommodation."
Online records show Mr O'Rourke's property is listed as a single dwelling. Mr O'Rourke later said Mr James lived in "a room that's been separated from the house and used as a bedsit".
"It's not a formal subdivision ... I did upgrade it a couple of years ago and that's the same time that we got the separate letterbox."
He reiterated that he and Mr James were not partners. "We're deliberately not partners and whatever it takes to convince people we're not partners, that's what we'll do. We don't intend to be partners, we've agreed not to be partners, we don't do the things that partners do, so we're not partners."
He said Parliamentary Service had not spoken to him about Mr James. "I haven't heard anything about a complaint so as far as I'm concerned a complaint has not been made."

If Mr O'Rourke was wanting to fan the embers, and turn them from smouldering into a conflagration, his rather bizarre statement about relationships will have done the job quite nicely.

And let's get one thing straight; this is not an issue of sexuality. If (and we emphasise "if") Messrs O'Rourke and James do indeed live at the same property, then there is an issue with Parliament's rules being broken, and public money is being spent on something outside the rules. That is the only issue as far as we are concerned.

And the Herald has a follow-up story this morning which makes Mr O'Rourke's behaviour look even more dubious:

New Zealand First MP Denis O'Rourke is under further pressure after being caught out over a fake testimonial on the Trade Me page of his classic car rental business.
Parliament's Speaker David Carter yesterday confirmed he is formally investigating the relationship between the list MP and his taxpayer-funded staffer Stephen James with whom he shares his Christchurch home.
However, the complaint from Queenstown resident David Simpson which sparked the investigation said there was "a clear case of Mr O'Rourke and Mr James conspiring to create bogus testimonials about a wedding car hire firm they both have an interest in".
The pair were directors of Christchurch-based wedding business Garden City Weddings.
After the business ceased trading, Mr O'Rourke continued to lease classic cars for weddings, including a 1948 Jaguar Mark V named Winston.
Under his Trade Me handle DJSteve, Mr James wrote: "Such beautiful black cars - thanks for your great service for our wedding."

Mr O'Rourke replied: "Denis: Many thanks Steve. it was our pleasure."
The post was placed three months before Mr O'Rourke was elected to Parliament in 2011 and has since been deleted.
Mr O'Rourke said he knew Mr James had placed the reference but, because it was done before he was an MP, he did not need to apologise to the public. The NZ First Justice spokesman said: "It's probably not proper but it's no big deal, I wouldn't have thought." Mr O'Rourke said all of the other testimonials on the page were genuine.

Winston Peters' response is entirely predictable:

NZ First leader Winston Peters said the allegations were part of a smear campaign against his party.

We will reserve judgment on Denis O'Rourke until Parliamentary Services has conducted its investigation into his and Mr James' living arrangements. Then we will all know whether Mr O'Rourke's conduct is "no big deal", or a rather substantial deal.

0 Tweet of the Day - 15 April 2015

Check this out:

What would be the response if National Party president Peter Goodfellow posted something like this on social media? Or Moira Coatsworth from the Labour Party? Or Naida Glavish from the Maori Party?Or Anne Martin, the president of NZ First?

We reckon there would be outrage, and even moreso if the person posting the image was a male. So why is Kim Dotcom, founder and "visionary" of the Internet Party getting a free pass? 

It's time that the New Zealand media stopped fawning over Dotcom, and now that he is directly involved in politics, holding him to the same standards that others involved at a similar level are held.

0 Armstrong on Labour's dilemma

John Armstrong paints a difficult picture as he sums up Labour's current electoral dilemma. Under the headline Labour steps over Greens to pick Peters he opines:

Having turned its caucus room in Parliament Buildings into a war room staffed almost around the clock by policy wonks, political strategists, experts in social media, plus assorted press secretaries - all in readiness for the coming general election - the Labour Party may find itself with another war on its hands before then. Or something close to it.
The "enemy" on this occasion will not be National. Neither will it be Act. Nor United Future. Nor Colin Craig's Conservatives. Nor even Kim Dotcom and his Internet Party.
No, this war will be of the internecine variety where the combatants all come from the same neck of the (political) woods.
It will have been sparked by the seemingly endless positioning and posturing ahead of September's election which will count for little in the aftermath. But this week it all turned ugly for the Greens. And things may yet get uglier still.

It may be that fate has decreed that the power struggle between Labour and the Greens takes centre stage at the worst possible time for the centre-left.
It may not come to open warfare. But the dismissive, almost contemptuous attitude displayed by David Cunliffe with regard to a supposed ally is bound to rankle deeply wherever Green Party members gather.
You can be assured there will be a response; that there will no longer be any scruples about upstaging Labour on the hustings.

Readers with good memories will remember how outraged Clare Curran was in 2011 that the Greens would DARE muscle in on Labour's vote. Yet that is exactly what Labour is now doing in reverse. To give the Greens credit, they campaign well, so any moves by Labour to steal votes from the Greens will not be met with silence and indifference.

Armstrong continues, noting that it is Labour which has caused this situation to develop and fester; something that the Greens have, up until now, been relatively patient about. But with an election just over five months away, time is short:

The Greens may put the stress on peace, love and understanding in the resolution of disputes. Their image may be more flower power than firepower.
But the closer the party gets to seats around the Cabinet table - and thus the exercising of real power and influence - the more the Greens are toughening up to cope with the pressures of being a coalition partner. They simply have to do so. And this week showed why.
Russel Norman, in particular, has shifted into a higher gear in terms of tenacity in both promoting and defending his party. He is now de facto leader rather than just co-leader. He grabs people's attention. And they listen. The same cannot be said for Labour's leader.
The Greens have been exceptionally patient with Labour in expectation that a centre-left victory in September will finally bring long-delayed reward.
They are acutely conscious, however, that time is running out and Labour has done precious little to fill the empty canvas on the centre-left which is Labour's failure to paint a picture in voters' minds as to how a Labour-Greens government would function and what its priorities would be.

When push comes to shove, and Labour needs the Greens in order to govern, you can bet that David Cunliffe will go to Russel and Metiria on bended knee, sincerely apologising for having ostracised them. But how will such an approach be met?

And then there's Winston Peters, not that a Labour/NZF grouping could even get close to governing on the current polling numbers. How does the Labour rank and file feel about Cunliffe climbing into bed with Winston Peters? Will they hold their noses, and pretend it isn't so?

The Left is divided at the moment, and there are no signs of division healing any time soon. Will voters risk a centre-Left coalition, knowing that at any moment it could all turn to custard? We think not.

David Cunliffe has some serious decisions to make; far more serious than his Royal tour pettiness.