Leader Winston Peters at the New Zealand First party conference held in Hamilton. New Zealand Herald photograph by Mike Scott 12 October, 2024
It seems that when one political scandal ends, another one rises to take its place.
This week, the Green Party ended the saga that has dominated 2024 for them, with MP Darleen Tana formally removed as an MP in the first usage of the waka jumping bill.
As Chloe Swarbrick and her party look to the future, it was then National’s turn to deal with an unneeded diversion, after Minister Andrew Bayly was accused of abusing a member of the public at a business event.
At the same, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has engaged in a war of words with Te Pati Māori and the Labour Party.
Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent, Barry Soper reflected on these recent scandals on The Front Page.
The months-long debacle between the Green Party and their former MP Darleen Tana has ended with the party implementing the waka jumping bill to kick Tana out of Parliament.
Tana resigned from the Green Party earlier this year after allegations she knew about alleged migrant exploitation at her husband’s business. She had sat as an independent MP but the Greens decided to pursue their options under the 2018 waka-jumping law to remove her from Parliament altogether.
The party started that process in July.
Soper told The Front Page the Greens should have bitten the bullet right at the beginning.
“They had to eat a lot of humble pie in this, and it looked for a while that Darleen Tana was controlling the narrative, and indeed she was.
“There was only one outcome that this could have resulted in and that was for her to go.
“The Greens have come through this quite sullied. But, they’ll be able to rebuild. They don’t seem to have suffered, ironically, in the opinion polls. Which is quite extraordinary,” he said.
Revelations emerged of a complaint against Small Business and Manufacturing Minister Andrew Bayly - alleging he swore at, ridiculed, and mocked a worker during a business visit earlier this month.
That included the allegation Bayly told the worker to “take some wine ... and f*** off”, repetitively called the man a “loser”, and had been drinking alcohol.
The Minister repeatedly apologised but maintained he didn’t believe he swore and he wasn’t drunk at the time.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has accepted Bayly’s apology but hasn’t fired or stripped him of his portfolios - which Soper said is the right move.
Soper told The Front Page it’s extraordinary for a Minister to be accused of this.
“I know Andrew Bailey and I know him relatively well. He’s got an extraordinary CV for parliament.
“He thought he was cracking a joke. He thought it would be taken in the spirit that he intended it. But, for anyone to be called a loser and being told to eff off from his workplace is probably stretching what humour is.
“I’ve spoken to him... he says that it’s the worst period of his political life and it’s not been a terribly long political life. I think he’s probably done in his chances for reappointment to Cabinet if National wins the next election.
“It was a goofy thing to do. I don’t think he meant any malice. Nevertheless, you’ve got to be aware and the point was made by Speaker Gerry Brownlee this week that you are a Cabinet Minister 24/7 and you cannot indulge in this sort of behaviour when you’re out at the workplace,” he said.
Te Pāti Māori wrote to the Speaker to demand “swift and uncompromising action” following what they call an “abhorrent outburst” from Winston Peters in the House.
Peters posted on X (formerly Twitter) saying Te Pāti Māori’s claims were hypocritical and the party was a “bunch of coward bully boys”.
It’s all because of an incident in the House, amid questioning from Labour’s Willow-Jean Prime to Education Minister Erica Standofrd about cuts to a te reo Maori course.
Prime repeatedly interjected during an answer from Stanford, which appeared to lead Peters to stand and say: “Would students at te reo Māori lessons learn more if they kept their mouth shut while the teacher was talking?”
“That’s just Winston being Winston,” Soper told The Front Page.
Peters also aimed at Labour’s Ayesha Verrall, alluding in the House that a “close relative” of hers had not disclosed a conflict while working on smoking regulations.
“We live in a small country, and at times there are crossovers, maybe, with family. And that is true. I mean, I can name many cases where families, close associates, and some people would say, well, maybe there’s a bit of a conflict of interest there,” Soper said.
“But, that’s the sort of thing that happens in a country this size. Don’t forget, we’ve got a population about the same size as Sydney. So really, the Prime Minister is little more than the Lord Mayor of New Zealand.”
Listen to the full episode to hear more about these scandals and other political happenings this week with Barry Soper.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
NZ First minister Shane Jones loses a tooth while giving a speech in the House at Parliament this week. Video / Parliament TV