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Labour hardman Trevor Mallard is set for anger management and stress counselling after his fight at Parliament.
The senior minister reappeared at Parliament yesterday after several days' leave following his punch-up with National MP Tau Henare. But he did not join colleagues who greeted the visiting Irish President in the Beehive.
He looks certain to be removed from Labour's front bench when Helen Clark unveils her long-awaited reshuffled Cabinet line-up tomorrow.
The Prime Minister was giving nothing away last night when questioned by reporters, but did say it was important Mr Mallard became a good example of what happened when people did things like he had.
That included his undertaking to get support to deal with the pressures that caused him to react the way he did to a taunt from Mr Henare.
Asked if she was referring to anger management and stress counselling, Helen Clark said she was.
"I think he's been in a very stressed position for reasons which are totally understandable, but it's not a shameful thing to seek some support when you're under that sort of stress.
"Parliament actually does provide for services to members should they need them."
She was "absolutely certain" Mr Mallard would seek some support.
Mr Henare called out, "Shut up, Sharon" across the House to Mr Mallard before the fight, in an apparent reference to a woman who had earlier wrongly been publicly linked to the Cabinet minister.
Mr Mallard motioned to his rival to step out to a lobby, and a heated argument ensued that led to the Labour MP landing a punch on Mr Henare's jaw.
However, while Helen Clark has made it clear she cannot ignore the incident, yesterday she referred to the "huge contribution" Mr Mallard had made to the Labour-led Government - perhaps indicating his punishment would be limited.
And scuffles occurred "day in, day out", mainly between men, that went unnoticed, she said.
Act leader Rodney Hide says he may take the matter to the police, who have said they will not investigate unless a complaint is lodged.
* TIME-OUT THE LESSON TO LEARN
Trevor Mallard's professional help with anger management will probably involve learning to take time-out.
Wayne Froggatt of the New Zealand Centre for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy said most anger management courses started by teaching participants to understand what caused anger and the different types of anger.
"Anger is not necessarily a bad thing. We teach people that there is helpful and unhelpful anger. There's a difference between just feeling anger and actually acting on it. You don't have to act on it."
Participants are taught to recognise the symptoms of anger early, such as their heartbeat speeding up.
Then they are trained in different anger-management techniques such as time-out.
"When you feel anger rising you can leave the situation you're in and do other things to help reduce the anger.
"This works particularly well in domestic situations.
"A guy, for instance, getting angry with his partner - it's important he walks away so he is not putting other people at risk."
After the time-out, the person could return and try to sort out the problem rationally, Mr Froggatt said.
They would be taught how to speak to someone in an assertive rather than aggressive way.
- Alanah May Eriksen
