Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern admires Winston Peters' suit. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern admires Winston Peters' suit. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Beehive Diaries is back! This week, Simon Bridges goes to the dogs, Air NZ hosts MPs for its 80th, and the PM notes the longevity of Winston Peters' fashion sense.
Tuesday:
Air NZ hosted its annual event at Parliament, marking its 80th anniversary with a more subdued affair than usualin light of the uncertainty wrought by coronavirus.
The airline has forecast a hit of up to $70 million from coronavirus. So the elaborate decorations were said to be pared down – there were jokes that the old-school fake fuselage at the entry was recycled from the 1950s. And sparkling wine was taken off the drinks table – to ensure there was no inappropriate celebratory air.
Happily, the whiskey bar and oyster bar remained.
New chief executive Greg Foran stood at the entry way submitting with good grace to the repeated renditions of the same "joke" about his bad timing – he started his new job just as coronavirus came along.
PM Jacinda Ardern joked many things had changed in the airline's 80 years of existence, but one thing had remained the same – Winston Peters' fashion sense.
She noted Air New Zealand had changed its livery and flight attendant uniforms at least three times since Peters took on his pinstripe suit and pocket square styling.
But the bad news landed later that evening for the airliner – news that one of those confirmed as having coronavirus had travelled on Air NZ planes.
Wednesday: The hierarchy of lollies
Straight after PM Jacinda Ardern finished answering questions from National's Simon Bridges, Labour's whip Kieran McAnulty was spotted scuttling down to her desk with a pot of lollies to offer her.
As texts flew to his phone from journalists pillorying his obvious suck-up manoeuvre, McAnulty put that pot back in his desk and drew out another.
The second jar was then taken down to the lesser-ministers, Andrew Little and Megan Woods.
Andrew Little and Kieran McAnulty in 2017 before Little discovered he was down the lollies scale. Photo / Christine McKay
Beehive Diaries suspects that the second jar was the unwanted cast-offs from a previous mix, filled with banana fruit bursts and milk bottles.
Technically lollies are banned from the Debating Chamber – the only "consumable" the rules allow is water.
However, successive Speakers have turned a blind eye to the Parliament café's lolly cups.
An hour before the PM was due to go to Victoria University's O-week clubs day, media were told she had pulled out. The reason given was "meetings".
The initial suspicion was one of the "meetings" in question was the risk of meeting National Party leader Simon Bridges, who had been invited up to Vic at the same time as the PM. Perhaps the PM was worried he would sign all the nangs before she got to them.
The other theory was that she was lambasting Shane Jones after his comments about Indian students.
It transpired that Ardern had stayed back because the Ministry of Health was about to announce the second confirmed coronavirus case.
Earlier in the day, while the PM was dealing with coronavirus and Jones, Bridges had gone to the dogs.
He was down on Lambton Quay with a dog, Chica, collecting money for the SPCA. Chica was an SPCA special adopted by one of Bridges' staffers in late 2017.
Great to take a bit of time today to collect for SPCA New Zealand with Nicola Willis MP and our mate Chica who was an SPCA pup once upon a time.
By coincidence, Chica was also the very same dog former National Party leader Bill English had snuggled during the 2017 campaign.
Former PM Sir Bill English with Chica as a puppy. Photo / supplied
In 2017, Chica was still in the SPCA's care as a puppy, before the staffer adopted him and before she worked for National.
Thursday: Shoes for the sheikh and other gifts
Ministers' and MPs' expenses were released and revealed, and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters likes to take a personal approach to gifts for his counterparts overseas.
His card had a $160 charge for a pair of size 12 grey loungers from Allbirds– a gift for the UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed.
Japan's Minister of Foreign Affairs was treated to a Russian blue Icebreaker top, costing about $200.
The UAE Meydan Racecourse chairman got a book called The New Zealand Horse.
The expenses also revealed associate minister of transport Julie Anne Genter's office has a HOP card so her staff can use buses instead of cabs when travelling in Auckland with Genter.
Associate Minister of Transport, Julie Anne Genter with her bike and a bus in Wellington. Photo / Marty Melville
Justice Minister Andrew Little's mode of transport while in Australia was also noteworthy. Previous ministers have been pilloried for getting all-day driver services in Australia.
Little used Uber to get to a meeting.
It is the first time Uber has appeared on the credit card expenses – and the Department of Internal Affairs reportedly frowns upon it.
It transpired the eftpos system for taxis in Australia had gone down, leaving few other choices to get Little to his meeting.
The taxpayer also forked out $463 for Little and two staffers to be "fast tracked" and accompanied through to a connecting flight at Singapore Airport on the way back to NZ.
A spokesperson said the turnaround was very tight – 45 minutes – and the commercial airport option was much cheaper than using an official transfer service.
