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 The GIMPs revisited - by Curly Sue

Our resident song-rewriter Curly Sue has been at it again, reaching back into the mid-1970's to reprise an Elton John classic. Here's a very early version or the real McCoy by a rather follically-challenged Reggie Dwight:

Curly Sue saw our post yesterday about the GIMPs (Green, Internet, Mana, Peters), and the creative juices must have flowed almost immediately, because this arrive by e-mail late yesterday afternoon:

Davy and the GIMPs

Hey kids, you all can vote together
The spotlight's hitting Dotcom
His girth is known to change the weather
We’ll write off student loans tonight
So stick around
We’re gonna dust off Laila
The lolly scramble will astound

Say, young apathetics, have you seen them yet?
But they're so hot right now, D-D-D-Davey and the GIMPs
Oh but their line up is wonderful
Oh Davey he's really keen
They got goose step boots and Winston too
And they’re gonna dig up Alamein!

D-D-D-Davey and the GIMPs

Hey kids, plug in the “inter-web-thing”
They hope you’ll be blinded
And Davy makes them tricky
Rort MMP, and hope the youth come along
But left wingers doing it all for money

Is nothing but wrong

Say, young apathetics, have you seen them yet?
But they're so hot right now, D-D-D-Davey and the GIMPs
Oh how will they co-operate?
Oh the train wreck will be out of sight!
They got some union fruits and they’re cashed up too
Unfreeze Anderton from Carbonite!

D-D-D-Davey and the GIMPs

Say, young apathetics, have you seen them yet?
But they're so hot right now, D-D-D-Davey and the GIMPs
Oh but their line up is wonderful
Oh Davey he's really keen
Oh It does not compute; who’ll be the next recruits?

Corkery’s undies must not be seen!

D-D-D-Davey and the GIMPs

This isn't the easiest song in the world to mash, but we reckon Curly Sue has done a masterful job here. She and we hope you like it. If it helps the GIMP label to stick on Labour's potential coalition partners, who are we to complain? 

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 Now, about that export crisis...

New Zealand's export crisis has deepened further. There must be a crisis in exporting; after all Labour, the Greens and Winston First keep telling us that there is a crisis, and they wouldn't tell fibs, would they?

Well yes; they would, and they have been; Scoop reports:

New Zealand's trade surplus narrowed more than expected in April as exports fell more than imports, driven by a drop in shipments of dairy products and meat.
The trade surplus was $534 million in April, from a revised $935 million in March, and $171 million a year earlier, according to Statistics New Zealand. The annual trade balance turned to surplus of $1.19 billion, or about 2.3 percent of exports, from a deficit of $687 million a year earlier. Economists polled by Reuters predicted a monthly surplus of $667 million and an annual surplus of $1.3 billion.
Exports fell 11 percent to $4.5 million in April, for an annual increase of 9.5 to $50.6 billion. Imports declined 4 percent to $3.96 million in the month, with an annual increase of 5.3 percent to $49.4 billion.
Milk powder, butter and cheese exports rose 36 percent to $1.22 billion in April from the same month last year, for an annual increase of 33 percent to $15.2 billion. Meat and edible offal rose 5.2 percent in the month to $585 million for an annual gain of 3.5 percent to $5.5 billion.
The trend for the dairy exports showed a seasonally adjusted 1.8 percent fall this month and is now 5.4 percent lower than December's peak, while meat and edible offal exports fell 5.9 percent, Statistics NZ said. Both export groups reported lower volume in the month - milk powder, butter and cheese volumes fell 5.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted 216 tonnes and meat and edible offal fell 8 percent to 73 tonnes. 
"Exports have begun their normal seasonal decline," Michael Gordon, a Westpac Banking Corp senior economist, wrote in a note. "The fall this month was driven by quantities rather than prices, with dairy products down 5 percent and meat down 8 percent by volume. While dairy prices in the GlobalDairyTrade auction system have fallen sharply since March, these prices related to delivery at future dates, so the impact should start to show up in the trade figures in the next few months."

That we are exporting more than we are importing is good news, even if things are starting to slow as they traditionally do over winter. Doubtless the opposition parties will seize of the seasonal decline as incontrovertible evidence that exporting is indeed in crisis.

And for those who think that trading with China is bad, check this out:

Exports to China, the biggest market for New Zealand, jumped 38 percent to $895 million in April for an annual gain of 52 percent to $11.43 billion, or 23 percent of all exports. Imports from China lifted 7.4 percent to $631 million in the month, to an annual increase of 8.5 percent to $8.4 billion.

China has become a very important market for New Zealand, and China's growing middle class seems to have an unquenchable appetite for our produce. Phil Goff should again be praised for his determination to push through the China FTA, which makes Labour's talking down of the export sector now even more mysterious.

0 Is Shane Jones the new Winston?

We've often said, semi-seriously, that Shane Jones would be a natural to replace Winston Peters as the leader of Winston First. But could that be closer to the mark than we think? Check out this morning's Herald:

Even before he gave his farewell speech in Parliament last week, renegade former Labour MP Shane Jones was already in a conversation about his return to politics with Mana's Hone Harawira, who in turn indicated he is considering leaving.
Ahead of his valedictory speech in Parliament on Thursday, Mr Jones was given a lapel microphone to wear by TVNZ's Marae programme. Yesterday Marae reported fragments of a conversation before the speech between Mr Jones and Mr Harawira who was unaware of the live microphone.
"If you come back in 2017 with Winston, I'll f****** hang round mate. Otherwise I'm out of here", Mr Harawira said.
Mr Jones who was rumoured to be considering throwing in his lot with Mr Peters' NZ First yesterday denied he was contemplating a return in 2017.
"My whole focus is te Moana Nui a Kiwa (the Pacific)."
Mr Jones left Parliament to take up a newly created role as a roving economic ambassador across the Pacific.

He said he had no idea what lay behind Mr Harawira's comment.
"You've got to go and ask Hone that."
Mr Harawira did not respond to requests for comment.

This is a fascinating insight into the mind of Hone Harawira. While all this is going on, the negotiations between his party and the Dotcom Internet Party, still without a leader or any candidates, continue; read on:

Mr Harawira's suggestion to Mr Jones he also considering leaving Parliament comes as his party closes in on a deal with Kim Dotcom's Internet Party.
Mana Party secretary Gerard Hehir yesterday confirmed the party had finalised a draft agreement with the Internet Party over the weekend.
That agreement now required final approval from within each party which was expected this week.

We're yet to be convinced that the Internet Party has any future. Kim Dotcom's extradition hearing is set to begin on 7 July, and Dotcom himself suffered a major setback when the courts ruled against him on Friday. 

Shane Jones is probably the only person who could revive Winston First though, once Father Time takes care of Peters once and for all. The survival of the party in September becomes all the more critical, but the polls last night suggest that's by no means a given.

We're in for a few interesting months.

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 Tweet of the Day - 15 May 2014

It's hardly surprising. With the revelations yesterday about Winston Peters' equine interests, and his performance in the House the day before that people started talking on Twitter:

Jimbo's place? Oh; they must mean this Jimbo's!

Seriously though, It's been a pretty rough days for Mr Peters. The Winston First's bluff was called by John Key, his smoking gum failed to fire and he has been possibly exposed as a serial pecuniary interest abuser; let's not forget the Owen Glenn donation and Mr Peters' censuring by Parliament in 2008. He looks a shadow of his former formidable self, and perhaps being put out to pasture, as he claims that Bellazeel has been, for "years" is not the worst option for him. 

It surely beats petfood!

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...