KEY POINTS:
Prime Minister Helen Clark has unearthed new "evidence" on the Mallard affair which (taken at
face value) suggests she has carried out a gross miscarriage of justice by dropping his Cabinet status.
If National MP Tau Henare had assaulted Trevor Mallard first - as Clark effectively claims -
the
Cabinet Minister could have justifiably claimed his controversial punch was merely self-defence to stop the National bruiser from choking him after he called him on making an "oafish" (Clark's word) insinuation which called into question the integrity of a married woman.
The Leader of the House Michael Cullen would not have been compelled to march Mallard over to his National counterpart Gerry Brownlee's office to apologise for punching Henare. The boot would have been on the other foot.
Henare and Brownlee would have been called up to Cullen's Beehive office and the National MP hung out to dry as the prime miscreant.
Clark would not have bumped Mallard off the front bench, publicly humiliated him or sent him off to anger management counselling. There would have been no need for Mallard to suffer the indignity of being trailed by TV journalists asking him when he would control his anger problems.
From day one of this affair the Prime Minister would have been on the war path, defending her
Cabinet favourite against brutish attacks by a National opponent.
Here's what the storyline would have looked like:
National MP Tau Henare falsely implied in Parliament that Cabinet Minister Trevor Mallard was engaged in a tryst with "Sharon", a married woman. Mallard beckoned the National MP outside the debating chamber to set the record straight by pointing out he was not involved with Sharon - a false rumour that had been published by a gossip columnist - but somebody else.
The cold-blooded Henare again tried to provoke Mallard by making it absolutely clear that he couldn't care less that he had used the name of a woman wrongly and said he knew he had used it wrongly. Mallard stoically turned the other cheek; Henare resorted to violence - by grabbing Mallard's tie and throat out of the blue. Mallard, fearful for his own safety, resorted to self defence by punching Henare on the jaw to break the chokehold which was by then preventing him from breathing.
Mallard complained to Cullen that he had been forced to defend himself after a National MP assaulted a Cabinet Minister. Cullen bawled out Brownlee and Henare. A breach of privilege charge was immediately mounted against Henare.
Parliament's Speaker Margaret Wilson ruled a prima facie case existed. Mallard is now being lined up as the prime witness against Henare at a Privileges Committee inquiry.
Henare is on an anger management course and has been dropped from National leader John Key's top tier. Mallard was this week promoted to number three in Clark's Cabinet and made deputy finance minister.
It was "Congratulations all round Trev" at today's Labour party conference.
The story did not pan out this way for the obvious reason that Clark's version of events has been pushed (publicly) days after last week's Weekend Herald's scoop that the three words Henare used in Parliament that sent Mallard into a rage were: "Shut up Sharon."
Henare admits he did grab Mallard's throat - but after he was punched - and maintains Clark is attempting to "rewrite the sequence of events" to invent reasons for why she treated Mallard so leniently in the Cabinet reshuffle.
"The Prime Minister is undermining his apology to me - he graciously apologised and I accepted."
Henare doesn't want to take it further. But the Prime Minister's allegation that a National MP instigated the fracas by "grabbing" a Cabinet Minister's throat must be investigated.
The Speaker was yesterday still weighing whether to allow Act leader Rodney Hide's request for the issue to be investigated by the Privileges Committee.
Hide's letter - sent before Clark (publicly) alleged that Henare "grabbed" her Minister by the throat - charged Mallard breached standing order 400 (l) and committed a contempt of Parliament when he punched Hon Tau Henare when Parliament was sitting on Wednesday, October 24.
The specific contempt of Parliament covered by this standing order is "assaulting, threatening or intimidating a member or an officer of the House acting in the discharge of the member's or the officer's duty".
Hide's letter is a wonderful exercise in political opportunism but with a serious point.
"I am sorry I have to write this letter. I am sure its one you wish you didn't have to receive. But it's an important letter. And your response will be very important for the signal it sends New Zealand about our country's attitude to physical violence.
"Of course, I know your views - and I know our Parliament's - but actions following incidents such as this speak louder than words. It's what we do that counts - and that we are seen doing it."
Now that Clark has put Henare in the frame, Hide should write to Wilson again and ask for both MPs to be investigated for contempt. And cite the Prime Minister as the prime witness.
