Defending anti-police anthems. An MP refusing to back down. The end of a controversial bill. A Minister becoming an octogenarian.
That’s just lately in New Zealand politics.
This week The Treaty Principles Bill was voted down in its second reading after more than a year of protests and an unprecedented 300,000 written submissions (the previous record was just over 100,000). Of these, 90% opposed the legislation, 8% supported it and 2% had not clearly stated their position.
There was little doubt over its demise. NZ First’s Shane Jones described it as “wretched” and National’s Tama Potaka said “nehu [burial] day is coming” for it.
Despite this, Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls told The Front Page the bill’s cheerleader, David Seymour, has vowed this isn’t the end of the conversation.
“But there is almost no way that Christopher Luxon will let this happen. He probably won’t say it in public, but he probably does quite regret letting this bill come out in the way that it has. He has been very forthright in his condemnation of the bill, but that is after it did have its first reading where the Nats voted for it.
“It has been somewhat of a weight around Luxon and National’s neck and in the House yesterday their MPs were talking about how they were happy to see the back of it. So whether we are actually able to move on is really up to Seymour,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Green Party has been both the bringer and receiver of controversy. On one hand, MP Benjamin Doyle came out firing against online trolls for a firestorm that swirled around their interpretation of the word “bussy”.
They said “I refuse to be disappeared by hate” before admitting they were “politically naive” in not deleting their private Instagram account, at the suggestion of the Green Party.
Doyle said they had fielded “a significant number of threats to my life and the safety of my child and family”.
On the other hand, MP Tamatha Paul has doubled down on her anti-police comments - which have triggered a tit-for-tat among parties, particularly with the once-close Labour.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said Paul’s comments were “ill-informed, were unwise, in fact were stupid”.
Walls said Labour was not happy about it.
“Hipkins came out very strongly against Tamatha Paul... since then, Paul has fired back at Hipkins. So there’s a lot of friendly fire going on that doesn’t actually look particularly friendly.
“The Herald released some exclusive polling from Curia which showed that even amongst Greens supporters there was not a lot of sympathy for this idea that a lot of people are afraid of the police or feel less safe with the police.
“So I thought there was a massive miscalculation by Tamatha Paul who was actually really digging in on this issue. I get it, it’s fine to raise the issue and say this is the issue with some people. But, what she’s done was incredibly politically naive because it’s opening the door to the National Party, Act and NZ First to unload levels of attacks on the Green Party,” he said.
Someone who’s seen his fair share of political scandal is Winston Peters, who turns 80 today - and celebrated his birthday week with a strong showing in a 1News Verian poll on Monday.
“If you started talking about the succession plans, the first person that would come at you would be Winston Peters. You say his name three times in a row, spin around, and he appears behind you to tell you how you’re a bad journalist.
“But he’s still doing well. He’s one of the best, if not the best, Foreign Ministers New Zealand has ever seen. He’s well respected by not just the Ministry of Foreign Affairs but by other diplomats around the world and other people in Government.
“It really depends on the next iteration of Government. I think that he could probably keep going if he was a minister. I think he would have a lot harder time in opposition,” he said.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about
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.
The doctor denies that any sexual activity took place while at his work.