KEY POINTS:
If Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer can come to New Zealand to address the National Party, then there can be no complaint that Hone Harawira has chosen to involve himself in Aboriginal politics up at Alice Springs.
The poor old justice and electoral committee's trip to Melbourne has started to resemble the plot of an Agatha Christie novel as the original eight dwindled to just four with Harawira's exit - the three Labour MPs and Nandor Tanczos.
No doubt the Clerk of the House, David McGee, will be working out some formula to give to Margaret Wilson whereby she will ask the Maori Party to pay for some of the Melbourne expenses, instead of charging it against the select committee travel budget.
How about giving him a break.
Sure, it's rude to leave a pre-arranged trip. But at the very least it can be argued he was on parliamentary duties of great relevance to his party.
Was Richard Worth personally billed for taking time to go camel riding in Egypt instead of attending the 60th anniversary of the battle of El Alamein he was flown over to attend in 2002?
Downer flew to New Zealand at the Australian taxpayers' expense, was put up in a hotel at the New Zealand Government's expense to speak to the Opposition party conference because he had arranged talks at the Villa Maria winery the next day with Winston Peters.
If you know how to work the system you can get away with murder.
