'Holocaust' MP considered quitting job

By AUDREY YOUNG

Tariana Turia admitted in Parliament yesterday that she thought about quitting last week in the furore over her "holocaust" comments.

Asked in Parliament by National's Roger Sowry if she had thought of resigning, she said: "Yes. However, I apologised for any offence I might have caused and the matter for me is now closed."

But whatever self-doubts emerged in late-night discussions with senior ministerial colleagues last week about her botched "holocaust" apology, none was evident yesterday, when she helped to turn a possible sequel into a light-hearted exchange.

Mrs Turia is understood to have offered to resign in meetings she had with senior Labour ministers Michael Cullen, Trevor Mallard and Steve Maharey after using the term "holocaust" the same day she apologised for offence taken by her using it the previous week.

She later pledged to follow the "edict" of Prime Minister Helen Clark and not use the term again.

Mr Sowry failed in his attempts to entice Mrs Turia into repeating her claim that the word "holocaust" was appropriate in the Taranaki context.

In the process, she aired another controversial "H-word."

Mr Sowry: "Can the minister now confirm to the House that she no longer agrees with the Waitangi Tribunal's report on the Taranaki which used the word "holocaust?"

Mrs Turia: "Given that the National Party accepted that report in its entirety, I think it is hypocritical to ask me that question."

Mrs Turia was ordered to withdraw and apologise - "hypocritical" is a banned word in Parliament.

"I withdraw and apologise for using the H-word," she said, before being ordered to simply apologise without embellishment.

Attempts by New Zealand First leader Winston Peters to nail her also failed. Mrs Turia had earlier claimed that, as far as "my people are concerned, I have never sold out."

Mr Peters: "When the minister says that her people deem that she has never sold out, does that mean she tells her people one thing back home, and the Prime Minister something else down here?"

Mrs Turia: "I am not noted for speaking with a forked tongue" - her answer directed to the MP most frequently accused of it.

In reply, Mr Peters pointed out that Tonto's famous quote had "white man," speaking with forked tongue, "not brown man."