Claire Trevett: Little's misdemeanours take heat off the enemy

Andrew Little speaks during a leadership meeting for the Labour Party. Photo / Jason Oxenham

It was a gung ho Labour which returned to Parliament this week, its arsenal stock full of missiles to hurl at the Government on issues such as the SkyCity convention centre and the looming deployment of military trainers to Iraq.

But having being praised for his handling of the big steps in his leadership so far, Andrew Little quickly found out it is the small steps that trip you up.

The first was neglecting to pay NBR columnist David Cohen for some work he had done during Little's leadership bid last year. Cohen wrote about his long-lost payment four months later. Alas, Steven Joyce picked up on Cohen's complaint and used it in Parliament to rebuff Labour's attacks on National's record in employment relations.

That prompted one wag on Twitter to observe that Joyce was the expert in late payments given he was the minister responsible for Novopay, the problematic payroll system for teachers.

It also gave the first glimpse of what Little is like under the type of pressure that is the lot of Opposition leaders. He first of all blamed his underlings, saying the invoice was sent to someone on his campaign team who had left it sitting on a desk. It had then "flitted around between some others" before Little found out about it at the end of January and got the invoice last week. It was paid this Tuesday - the same day Steven Joyce raised it in Parliament.

Little refused to say whether it was paid before or after Joyce's comments. He said Cohen's decision to dob him in was down to his tendency to write "septic articles".

By yesterday Little had well and truly lost patience, berating media for not listening to his answers and for using the word "worker" instead of contractor. Overall, the incident is more embarrassing than damaging and Little was duly embarrassed.

There was a bigger civil war breaking out on the left. Little had nominated his fellow Labour MP, David Shearer, to go on the Intelligence and Security Committee with him. That brought an end to the Green's six-year hold on the second Opposition seat in the committee.

Little's decision was understandable from his point of view. He is not an expert on intelligence and security himself and the committee is about to embark on a significant review of the intelligence agencies.

As party leader he will be unable to attend some meetings. He wanted his own man sitting in there to ensure Labour's interests were represented and the party had a consistent and reliable presence while the committee was considering matters with long-term ramifications.

Nobody can throw a tantrum like the Greens and the beauty of their love of transparency is that they throw them in public. Russel Norman dobbed Little in on Twitter. Metiria Turei put on her best patronising tone. She pointed out the law required Little to consult them and if Little was struggling to comprehend that law she was happy to help, given her own legal background. She knows full well that Little is also a lawyer. The most stinging critique was when Turei attributed Little's "mistake" to his newness as leader. "He's an amateur in the role," she said.

National couldn't believe its luck. Not only was it rid of the Greens on the committee but it could point to the tiff between Labour and the Greens as what voters could expect from a future coalition. The two parties were also so distracted by each other that they forgot about their natural enemy.

That enemy was also busy. The Minister of Pet Projects, Steven Joyce, was confronted with requests for money by both SkyCity and Team NZ at the same time. The deadlines for decisions on that money coincided rather awkwardly. The Government likes to put an "economic benefit" rule over such decisions.

In terms of political capital, the Government could only really afford one public backlash. Would it be the elitist America's Cup or the casino? SkyCity lost the coin toss. Government funding for Team NZ has been controversial in the past, but Joyce also clearly remembers all the controversy is swept aside by warm glow once the event begins - even more so if Auckland is home to a qualifiers' series in the leadup to it. New Zealand has more chance of reclaiming the cup than of New Zealanders getting warm fuzzies about a convention centre, eyesore or not. Critically, the America's Cup is not the only competition of note in 2017. The next general election will happen soon afterward.