Derek Cheng: Petty dig backfires on MP

Labour MP Maryan Street. Photo / Greg Bowker

It was meant to come across as fighting for the suffering people of Christchurch. But it ended up sounding petty, senseless and bordering on offensive.

Senior Labour MP Maryan Street timed her line of questioning in the House yesterday to coincide with a protest in Christchurch by business owners frustrated with being continuously denied access to their central city premises to salvage what they can.

That is a legitimate source of frustration. They are trying to piece their lives together after the February 22 earthquake, and having their livelihoods back up and running is an important part of that.

But according to Street's questions, their grievance is the result not
of safety concerns, but because the Prime Minister has been sauntering around the CBD like some celebrity tourist.

"How many business owners could have been given access to equipment and records that are vital to restarting their businesses, if time and resources had not been diverted to escorting the Prime Minister through the red zone on repeated occasions?" she asked during Question Time yesterday.

Unsatisfied with one jab, she threw another: "How does the Government explain its priorities... when repeated access for the Prime Minister appears to be taking precedence over access for business owners and central business district residents?"

How dare John Key be present in the CBD! He is only the country's leader in the midst of one of the most tragic natural disasters in the country's history. Imagine the outcry if he had not gone.

And it's not like he was free to run in and out of red-stickered buildings, grabbing essential printouts and laptops while he was there.

Several cabinet ministers also made the journey to Christchurch in the immediate aftermath. As they should have. They sit around the cabinet table to consider the best response to the crisis. They needed to see the crippled CBD first-hand.

And what of Street's own colleagues - Phil Goff and Labour's Christchurch-based MPs Brendon Burns and Clayton Cosgrove? They have all spent time in the CBD. Is it their fault, too?

Street could easily have raised the plight of Christchurch CBD business owners without trying to make it John Key's fault. Painting it as she did only served to trivialise their case, as well as her own.