Kerre Woodham: Master muck-raker does it again

What a load of old cods over not much at all last week in Parliament.

David Benson-Pope was stood down (or stood aside, depending on which press release you read) after five of his ex-pupils got the ultimate payback when they went on TV3 and repeated their allegations of bullying by the erstwhile associate education minister.

Last week, all we had was Act leader Rodney Hide casting all sorts of aspersions, as is his wont, and Mr Benson-Pope's flat denial of the allegations, and it appeared as if the story might go away. Once the former students came forward however, things got very serious. Someone was lying.

Either Benson-Pope had committed the acts as alleged, or he had not. If he had, then he'd misled the House, a sin on the scale of voting against a parliamentary salary increase, and there would be no way he could keep his portfolio.

If he had not, then he had some very vindictive pupils willing to go to a great deal of trouble to give their old teacher grief. Nobody really has a problem with what Mr Benson-Pope is alleged to have done. Shoving a partially flat tennis ball into the gob of a mouthy teenager or an act of similar effectiveness is something most teachers and parents would fantasise about. And, as we all know, you can't really judge the conduct of teachers 20 years ago based on the rarified standards of today.

No, the real issue is who's telling porkies. And really, the only people who care seem to be the politicians and the media. The public couldn't really give a fat rat's bum about this. They would rather see politicians getting on with their work rather than scoring points off one another.

They don't seem to regard misleading the House with the same degree of seriousness as politicians do. A lot of people think politicians prevaricate anyway, if they mislead the electorate, why wouldn't they mislead one another? Politicians are always at the bottom of those lists which rank professions according to the public respect and trust - just below journalists, as a matter of fact. And that shoot-the-messenger sentiment may be why the mud-slinging tactic isn't working for Act. It would be far better for the party if it was commanding column inches for the policy ideas of Stephen Franks and Muriel Newman rather than Hide popping up in the media on a daily basis, crying crocodile tears over the dreadful burden of bearing bad tidings.

He told John Campbell, and I paraphrase, that he wished that there was no muck to rake, but there was, and if nobody was going to protect these innocent young men (the former pupils) from that monster (David Benson-Pope, father, former teacher and mild-mannered minister), well, then, hell, he, Rodney, would come to their rescue. It's a wonder he wasn't struck by lightning. Wished he didn't have to muck rake indeed! If he didn't enjoy getting down and dirty quite so much, then nobody would know his name. And while he says he doesn't enjoy spreading the dirt, the public doesn't like hearing it either.