Paul Holmes: Loose words cause awful lot of bother

Well, Rodney Hide might have said that John Key doesn't do anything, and I'm sure that is not right judging from Key's gratifying speech last month on tackling the "P" problem in New Zealand, which was clearly his own initiative.

To be fair to Hide, he is also quoted as saying that you wouldn't find a better bloke to work with than John Key. It is not the end of the world. However, as I said on radio the other day, we kind of understand what Hide was saying. And if Hide is right that Key "doesn't do anything", we kind of like that, anyway.

Key has a pleasant, easy-going nature which could lead a person to think he does take it easy. He does not run round the country telling everyone what to do. We like the easiness he projects.

But we should not be fooled. Behind that facade is a decisive man of action. Behind the friendliness is a brilliant political gambling instinct that saw him rise dramatically in the National Party. He makes good, quick decisions.

Key made a fortune out in the big world. He took the shrewd gamble before the last election not to deal with Winston Peters should he be in a position to do so after the last election. In fact, he said he would rather not be Prime Minister than deal with Winston. He shut down the smacking debate when John Boscawen's private member's bill came up in the ballot straight after the large vote for the right to smack in the referendum, a decision that could have exploded in his face. It did not. People were sick of the dopey argument. He knew it.

He is proving adept at keeping the coalition together. This is not helped by the actions of Hone Harawira who skived off for a day's sightseeing in Paris instead of attending the key meeting for which he had travelled to Brussels. Harawira was the leader of the small New Zealand parliamentary delegation. That Harawira felt he could miss the meeting tells us that whatever the purpose of the meeting was, it was worth zilch, and the Speaker might need to ask if the stressed taxpayers should have paid for such a jaunt round the globe.

What is extraordinary is Harawira's outburst when asked a simple question by email from Buddy Mikaere about who paid for Harawira's wife Hilda's trip to Paris. Harawira's reply was breathtakingly furious and angry. "Gee, Buddy, do you believe that white man bullshit? White motherf**kers have been raping our lands and ripping us off for centuries, and all of a sudden you want me to play along with their puritanical bullshit. And, quite frankly, I don't give a shit what you or anyone else thinks about it. OK?"

Now, I suppose Harawira was feeling pushed and pressed upon by the kerfuffle about his side trip for sightseeing. And he and Mikaere obviously have history. But, as former Labour Party President Mike Williams once shrewdly observed to me, "If it's on paper, it's in the paper." It was incredibly stupid of Harawira to write that stuff and email it, yet Harawira is far from stupid. I have dealt several times with him in my work and he is an all right guy of not inconsiderable charm. He is deeply committed to his cause. In any case, we know Harawira.

But, leaving all that aside, is that really what Hone thinks of white people? If so, it is appalling. Is that where he is coming from in his parliamentary work? Hatred of the white man?

Here is the other thing, the obverse side of the coin. Imagine the reaction if a white Labour or National MP had said that about a Maori and used a similar tone. He or she would be gone by lunchtime. Sacked immediately. Imagine the public outcry.

So Harawira is in plenty of trouble, not only with the Speaker who says shooting away from parliamentary business overseas for sightseeing is not the done thing, but with his formidable co-leader Tariana Turia. She has made it clear she understood Harawira was sick in Brussels, so he may have committed the further sin of misleading his leader. In other words, Harawira threw a sickie and dived off to Paris with his wife. You have to ask why he did not wait for the conference to end before taking some formal leave for a couple of days, paying for it himself.

Whatever, Harawira has misread this badly, not only in the making of the trip but in his comments. It does not reflect well on the Maori Party. Then again, Hone is Hone. He speaks his mind.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY