A tough week for the Green Party just got tougher once Rongotai MP Julie Anne Genter lost her rag on Wednesday night and strode across the debating chamber to berate Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey.
Genter’s behaviour was outrageous and another unwelcome distraction for the Greens in a week they farewelled former co-leader James Shaw and after MPs paid tribute to the late Fa’anana Efeso Collins on Tuesday.
Speaker Gerry Brownlee is now considering a number of complaints against Genter before he decides to refer the matter to the Privileges Committee. He surely has no other choice given Genter’s conduct, in which she stood over Doocey shouting at him. National MP Tim van de Molen, who did something similar at the end of a select committee hearing last year, was referred to the Privileges Committee, which found him in contempt and censured him.
Genter likely faces the same response, with the Green Party itself having already started its own disciplinary process.
The Rongotai MP was not at Parliament on Thursday.
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson told RNZ: “It’s best that she was working from home today. We are making it really clear to her that behaviour shouldn’t have happened.”
Fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said what happened on Wednesday night was completely unacceptable and completely inexcusable.
“There is an internal disciplinary process that we’ll be following. We also will be participating in all of the processes of the House to ensure that order is restored,” Swarbrick said.
The Greens still have an independent investigation into new MP Darleen Tana to be completed by barrister Rachel Burt. Burt is looking into allegations linking Tana to allegations of migrant exploitation at cycle company E-Cycles NZ, which is owned by her husband.
Swarbrick told NBR at the beginning of the week that investigation was still progressing. In the meantime, Tana has been stood down from her duties.
Green MP Julie Anne Genter could be referred to Parliament’s Privileges Committee.
Aukus defamation
But Green Party politicians are not the only ones in the gun.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters might have got entangled in another defamation case after making critical comments about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr.
Carr has been one of those most critical of the Aukus agreement between Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom and, at a Labour Party-organised meeting last week, strongly urged New Zealand to have no part of Pillar Two of the agreement.
On Morning Report on Thursday morning, Peters made what the Labour Party calls a “totally unacceptable” attack on Carr, when he criticised Carr’s view of the Aukus agreement.
RNZ reports it has removed the comments from the interview online after Carr told the public broadcaster he considered the comments to be “entirely defamatory” and that he would commence legal action.
Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins said Peters had embarrassed the country and created legal risk for the Government. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should stand him down immediately.
RNZ reported that Luxon said the comments posed no diplomatic risk and that, as an experienced politician, Carr should understand the “rough and tumble of politics”.
On Wednesday night, Peters gave a foreign policy speech in which he laid out the Government’s approach to the possibility of joining Pillar Two of Aukus, saying it was simply exploring the option as the former Labour Government had started to do.
He made very similar comments in an interview with NBR on Monday last week and his position hardly seems to have changed, but Hipkins welcomed “him stepping back a little bit from his previous rush headlong into the signing up for Aukus”.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters.
Pharmac funding
Meanwhile, on Monday, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced what he called Pharmac’s largest-ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing what the Government has called Labour’s $1.774b fiscal cliff.
Of course, every year, ministers will announce record spending on Pharmac and health in general and demand drives up spending. But Pharmac has made clear the money will only allow it to continue funding the drugs it already funds. There is no extra money to pay for new drugs.
In his statement, Seymour said there was a risk that Pharmac would have had to delist medicines given the lack of funding.
“In a trying fiscal environment, the Government has to prioritise. Making sure that New Zealanders have access to the medicines they need for a fulfilling life is one of our greatest priorities,” he said.
Elsewhere in the public service though, spending cuts continued to bite, with more announcements of job losses and accusations from Labour and the Public Service Association that the cuts were hurting frontline services, not just back-office staff.
Labour’s children spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime said cuts at Oranga Tamariki risks more children falling through the cracks and she criticised Children’s Minister Karen Chhour.
“We’ve heard that she doesn’t consider Oranga Tamariki lawyers who support children in court as being frontline. This comes as there are 447 proposed job cuts and the ministry – which includes its international child protection unit, alongside funding for hundreds of charities that serve children – being put at risk,” Prime said.
Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced continued funding for Pharmac.
Teaching literacy
On Thursday, Education Minister Erica Stanford announced that, from term 1 next year, all state schools will teach reading using the structured literary approach. To help, this month’s Budget includes $67 million to support professional development on structured literacy for teachers, to provide books and resources, introduce phonics checks to assess student progress, and to pay for any additional support students need.
“Today’s funding announcement ensures teachers will receive the training, support, and resources they need to deliver this,” Stanford said.
The initiative is part of the Government’s target of getting 80% of year 8 students to curriculum level by 2030.
Brent Edwards is NBR’s political editor.
