It's absolutely clear Horomia isn't, Mr Speaker

By AUDREY YOUNG political editor

Parekura Horomia habitually prefaces many of his answers with "quite certainly ... " or "let's be absolutely clear ... "

The Maori Affairs Minister then proceeds to absolutely confuse and to create anything but certainty in the burble that follows.

He has continued as he began. He launched his ministerial career in July 2000 - when he replaced Dover Samuels - talking at his first press conference about "the matrix of dysfunctionalism".

The Horomia lexicon is more notable than his political deeds.

The agony of his failings has never been more keenly felt than it was this week as he struggled against two of Parliament's cleverest operators, Act's Rodney Hide and National's Murray McCully.

Perhaps the most bamboozling answer of all was: "As I was about to say earlier on, that the timings of a lot of these questions of the two members who have been leading the entry on what dates, when and where, are well understood that I was to give the correct answers and were talked and discussed with on February earlier this year."

It is hard to imagine what the question was.

This has been a crucial week for Horomia, who is said to be more comfortable on marae than in Parliament. Going on this week's performance, he would be more comfortable camel-racing than facing a barrage of questions in Parliament.

The difference about this week is that his ability to handle the job is being openly questioned. And despite the empathy Maori might have for their minister, some have been wincing at his performance.

"He's a good joker but he can't do his job," says National's Georgina te Heuheu. "Everybody's sorry for him, Maori will be sorry for him, but that doesn't get over the fact that this is the best that this Government can offer us by way of leadership in the top Maori job in the country."

She might have to say that, but emeritus Professor Ranginui Walker doesn't - and talked of the younger generation of Maori, such as his grandchildren, being embarrassed.

Mr Horomia has some support. Titewhai Harawira says the minister's officials should be sacked. They were paid to do their jobs properly and if they didn't, they should be sacked, not him.

And former Alliance MP Willie Jackson said Mr Horomia was "really loved" by Maori people.

Mr Horomia is well-liked across the House. There's often a readiness to be amused by him, rather than outraged.

But goodwill turned to an icy realisation on Wednesday that not only was he politically drowning in his own verbiage, but he was unable or unwilling to give plain answers to plain unthreatening questions.

Mr Horomia's puzzling answer was, in fact, referring to Mr Hide and Mr McCully's attacks on him for having misled Parliament about the Maori broadcasting funding agency, Te Mangai Paho.

Few, if any, MPs believe he deliberately misled the House.

Answers are prepared by officials, as is the case with all written parliamentary questions, and even most of the oral ones asked each sitting day.

The only thing Mr Hide and Mr McCully have pinned on Mr Horomia is that he waited 12 days after the release of a Treasury-led report into Te Mangai Paho to correct some answers - 30 out of 200.

It should not be hard for him to justify the delay, waiting as he did until he received a formal report of the inaccuracies from officials.

Mr Horomia's Government colleagues were quick to stress that his job is safe. Their greatest hope, and the most likely outcome, is that the Opposition will run out of puff on this issue.

But if Mr Horomia continued to need the same nursing from colleagues Michael Cullen and Trevor Mallard as he did this week, tolerance may be limited.

The problem Prime Minister Helen Clark has is few alternatives for a portfolio so important to Labour.

Dover Samuels would be the best alternative if one were required.

But from the other parties' viewpoint, Mr Horomia is valuable in office as a source of on-going embarrassment.