If there was one place in New Zealand you would think Labour MPs would have steered well clear of last Saturday night then that place would surely have been SkyCity's corporate box at Eden Park. Well, you thought wrong.
Barely a month has passed since Labour slammed the Government's deal with SkyCity which will see the latter build an international-scale convention centre in return for securing up to 230 extra poker machines plus an extension of the company's gaming licence until 2048.
When the agreement was unveiled last month, David Shearer called it a licence to print money off the backs of problem gamblers. As late as Tuesday this week, the Labour leader was still describing the deal as "sleazy". However, it turns out Shearer was one of four Labour MPs invited to enjoy SkyCity's hospitality during the All Blacks' test with France.
That news came as welcome relief for National MPs in Parliament yesterday. They were getting heartily sick of Labour's constant refrain in the wake of Peter Dunne's resignation that the National-led minority Government was now propped up by two disgraced MPs, raising questions about both its stability and legitimacy.
It did not take long for those National MPs to start teasing their Labour counterparts, with interjections directed at Clayton Cosgrove - one of the SkyCity Four - when he rose to make a point of order.
