Editorial: Team Key: Pride comes before a fall

Prime Minister John Key. Photo / Mark Mitchell

First the Prime Minister disdained an apology to the woman whose alleged abuser was allowed to leave with diplomatic immunity, then the Transport Minister bypassed airport boarding security, now the Conservation Minister is telling the Fish and Game Council to back off the issue of dairy farms' river pollution. New Zealanders are quick to punish governments that come to believe they are "too big for their boots".

Polls suggest the Key Government is heading for a possibly stunning victory at the election less than eight weeks away. The margin of seats might be tight but National's vote could be higher than it was when it won a second term. To increase its vote at a third election would be a remarkable achievement. But it may not happen if the electorate detects a whiff of hubris setting in.

Leading members of all long-established governments succumb sooner or later to the belief that they should always get their way. If New Zealanders are quicker than most people to punish the first sign of this conceit it is a good thing that they do so, for New Zealand's system of government ensures that once elected, its leaders do almost always get their way.

We lack constitutional checks and balances such as an independent legislature, a second chamber or a written constitution. In their absence, statutory bodies such as the Fish and Game Council are especially valuable. The council administers hunting and freshwater fishing licences and is financed by the fees. Though it receives no money directly from the Government, it relies on the votes of a majority in Parliament for its exclusive right to issue licences and charge fees. Nick Smith seems to think it should be a tame creature.

He is annoyed that the council has joined environmental groups in criticising the damage that dairy farming is doing to rural streams and rivers. At a meeting on July 18 he told its representatives that "Fish and Game need to work out what they want to be - a statutory body [with] legislation and a relationship with the Government, or an NGO [non-government organisation]". The implication there was fairly clear: if it wants to be a critic of government support for irrigation and dairying it could lose its statutory role and assured income.

Dr Smith denied his comment carried that meaning and threatened to sue the president of the Freshwater Anglers Association for saying so - until John Key hauled his minister back from that hubristic excess. Mr Key may be satisfied the minister was merely stating an opinion and did not mean to threaten the council's existence but it is time for the Prime Minister to remind all of Team Key that they cannot afford many more self-important mistakes.

Gerry Brownlee's expressions of remorse after taking a short-cut past security at Christchurch Airport last week suggests he has had the lesson. His assumed privilege was not the serious security risk that some reports suggested. The Earthquake Minister, who probably uses that airport more than anybody, was recognised by the staff member who let him through a door when he was in a hurry. To suggest that all passengers would have had to disembark if the crew had known he had boarded without being checked was plain silly.

Even his political opponents mostly treated the incident as a minor, forgivable error. But the minister was wise to make a public act of contrition and mortify himself on television. It was designed to dispel the impression that he and his colleagues have come to believe they are above the rules they can impose on the populace.

Call it a clobbering machine or a tall-poppy syndrome, the Kiwi aversion to arrogance is an effective limit on every government's lease of power.