Editorial: MPs are walking a very fine line

Tracey Martin

At some point someone will have to draw a line to mark the border between an MP acting on behalf of their constituents and an MP acting inappropriately.

Even with just over four months to the election and next week's budget looming, important national issues have taken a back seat lately as the political focus remains fixed on errant MPs.

The ever-evolving Judith Collins affair, punctuated by the fall of Maurice Williamson, means all MPs are under the spotlight, as New Zealand First MP Tracey Martin has discovered.

The Rodney-based list MP wrote to a senior police boss to voice concerns about the possible transfer of a local sergeant who was on the same school board of trustees as her.

Martin wrote a letter to Inspector Scott Webb on her official MP letterhead - but reportedly in her capacity as the chairwoman of the Mahurangi College board of trustees - about the redeployment of a long-serving officer in charge of the Warkworth station.

Collins had suggested that Martin interfered in a policing matter. This just days after suggesting TVNZ political reporter Katie Bradford had acted inappropriately in raising a personal matter with her.

Like the latter, this latest suggestion is sure to also backfire on the under-fire Justice Minister, given the relatively tame offence it would appear to be.

There's a huge difference between Williamson's interference in a police investigation into domestic violence - a move which led to his resignation - and what Martin has done.

It does seem strange that she would use official MP letterhead if she's writing in her board of trustees capacity - you could argue it's trying to exert undue influence - but it's hardly a scandal in the same league as Williamson's.

It genuinely sounds as if Martin was looking out for her local community - something we'd expect from any MP, surely.