Brownlee outburst backfires

Gerry Brownlee says his comments were not intended to be a personal reflection on the Governor-General but were made in reference to her office. Picture / Mark Mitchell

A blatant political attack on Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright by National Party deputy leader Gerry Brownlee over Government formation backfired on him.

Mr Brownlee said he had lost respect for Dame Silvia because she should have made inquiries of other parties during the post-election period rather than consulting only with Prime Minister Helen Clark.

He also implied she did not have the interests of the country at heart.

But Helen Clark released a letter the Cabinet Office sent to all party leaders, including National leader Don Brash, after the election making it clear Dame Silvia did not intend to meet leaders during negotiations, but was available if leaders wanted to contact her.

Mr Brownlee said on National Radio that he had stayed away from a function on Monday at Government House, the Governor-General's official residence.

"I have to publicly say that I have lost respect for the Governor-General and I think it is time we sat down now and started to look at a much more formal constitution for New Zealand."

He said that when the situation became "tight", the Governor-General should have made inquiries of other parties.

"I think we do have to be assured that the head of state has the interests of the people at heart."

The head of state is, in fact, the Queen, and Dame Silvia is her representative.

The "tight" situation Mr Brownlee referred to was a period about four weeks after the election in which National held meetings with four political parties in a competing bid to form a government.

However, it became clear soon after that meeting that Helen Clark had enough support to form one.

Helen Clark said Mr Brownlee's comments were "completely inappropriate".

If he were her MP, she would ask him to apologise.

She said the government formation had followed a "very, very proper process".

The Cabinet Office advised her when she should phone the Governor-General and when the Governor-General should phone her.

The Prime Minister said the Cabinet office had told her in the final two weeks of negotiations to inform the Governor-General of progress.

She had explained that while New Zealand First had said it would not allow the Government to fall on a confidence motion, she had wanted to try to get into a stronger position than the possible 57-57 gridlock that could emerge from National's bid.

National leader Don Brash said after his caucus met yesterday that he knew nothing of Mr Brownlee's comments.

Last night, Mr Brownlee said he could not take back his comments, which were not intended to be a personal reflection on Dame Silvia but were in reference to her office.

He believed that when Helen Clark announced she had enough support to form a government, Dame Silvia should have quizzed the Labour leader about how she had achieved it - in particular about dispensing with collective Cabinet responsibility when it came to the non-ministerial responsibilities of New Zealand First leader and Foreign Minister Winston Peters and United Future leader and Revenue Minister Peter Dunne.

Mr Brownlee said Dame Silvia should have clarified whether Mr Peters and Mr Dunne were members of the Executive.

Dame Silvia did not comment.