Tiger, Telecom, ministers apologise, but not the NZX

NZ chief executive Mark Weldon. Photo / Mark Mitchell.

I couldn't find any mention of an apology on the NZX website following its confused position on the index-worthiness of Allied Farmers.

And while NZX chief Mark Weldon might be even now crafting his apology speech, he will be selling his sorriness into buyer's market.

For example, the NZX site itself carries a link to, another, apology from Telecom head Paul Reynolds. As a late-adopter of technology I have no personal interest in the problems of Telecom's XT network but Reynolds' apology was terrific and I almost felt sorry for him.

Another recent apology that Weldon would have to compete with - if indeed he felt the urge to apologise for keeping retail investors out of a very important information loop - is this heartfelt one from Housing and Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley.

Heatley, who after acting a bit loose with his Ministerial credit card, spilled his guts in the official statement, which provided intimate details of some trivial expenditure.

"I have also reimbursed $31.50, being my share of a business sector lunch at Killer Prawn in Whangarei when hosting my colleague Steven Joyce," Heatley writes. Was the bill split evenly? And if so does $63 represent good value for a lunch at the Killer Prawn?

He doesn't say but Heatley admits to being embarrassed, and sorry.

"I apologised to the Prime Minister last night and want to extend that apology to my colleagues and the public."

Gerry Brownlee was less effusive in his apology, which appeared just below Heatley's on the Beehive website, for wasting 151.90 good taxpayer dollars on an electorate staff lunch.

Brownlee bristled while defending the validity of other contested expenses, which included the $1109.37 food and accommodation bill at the Seaview Lodge and Restaurant in Tonga.

Nonetheless, he swallowed his pride, returned his credit card and said sorry, although not to us.

"I accept I have made a mistake and I have apologised to the Prime Minister," he says in the 'Statement from Gerry Brownlee'.

Maybe the NZX is measuring the value of all these official apologies before contributing its own to the mix, or maybe it's trying to match the recent celebrity apology benchmark set by Tiger Woods.

"For all that I have done, I am so sorry," Tiger Woods bleats in his speech.

But what about the things he didn't do but should've?