Parliament's been wound up in a debate that on the surface looks trivial, but really centres around the bullying and harassment of an MP.
Gerry Brownlee, Speaker of the House of Representatives, in the Chair. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
The Speaker of the House Gerry Brownlee is under fire for perceived inconsistencies in his rulings and letting trivial matters stop politicians answering questions in Parliament.
On the surface this looks like a debate over laptop stickers and lapel badges.
But underlying it is a complaint by the ACT Party that the MP fronting some of its most unpopular policies - Children's Minister Karen Chhour - is being singled out for bullying and abuse, and Parliament's referee is letting the opposition get away with it.
Frustrations have boiled over to the extent that Act leader David Seymour has broken with convention to criticise Brownlee in public, saying his confidence in him is falling by the day.
The speaker has hit back, reminding MPs there is a forum for complaints against him in the form of the Commissioner for Parliamentary Standards - and saying as yet there have been no complaints lodged.
Former MP and political commentator Peter Dunne says that under standing orders the only way you can criticise the speaker is to move a formal vote of no confidence in them, which means a debate in the House.
"That would be going too far," he tells The Detail. "But the fact that Seymour has gone public with his criticisms suggests to me two things - one is that he's failed privately to persuade the speaker to change his view; and secondly, there's obviously a measure of deep frustration within the ACT Party about how things are panning out for them."
As to the bullying complaint, Dunne points out that the speaker can only rule on what happens inside Parliament, not outside in the corridors, where Chhour says she's being attacked.
"A lot of the work the speaker does is behind the scenes - getting the parties together and talking through the issues, and talking through expectations of behaviour.
"I think that's the sort of thing that needs to happen."
"It's a tough job, and a lonely job," says Dunne.
"And the speaker will always come under fire from one side or the other who feel he's not quite seeing things their way. That's part and parcel of the job but I think part of the difficulty at the moment is there appears to be one or two inconsistencies in some of the things that Gerry Brownlee is ruling upon and that always gets under a party's skin, if they feel that not only are they getting the wrong end of the deal, but also that it's not the same deal that applies to everyone else."
RNZ political editor Jo Moir says Chhour has raised concerns with the media that she felt the comments and the attacks on her - playing the person not the ball - had spilled into the hallways of Parliament and she was feeling unsafe.
Seymour wrote to the speaker about it, but feels not enough was done to help her.
There followed a series of strategic game plays - an ACT MP complained about the political stickers on the laptop of a Te Paati Māori MP, Brownlee ruled them out of order, then he followed that up by saying ACT politicians' lapel badges must also go. That's in spite of the former speaker saying they were fine.
That led to the farcical situation where government MPs were not allowed to answer questions, because they were still wearing their pins. They refused to remove them in protest at the speaker's handling of their harassment complaint.
That in turn contradicted standing orders which say if a government MP is in the House, they have to answer questions put to them.
In spite of the ructions, both Moir and Dunne say Brownlee is the right man for the position.
"I think he's done a pretty good job so far," says Dunne.
"I'm not being critical of him in that respect. But I think there's a danger always when you've got control, just to sort of over-control. You know 'I'm in charge here so do it my way' and that sometimes goes a little too far ... it may be the former teacher in Gerry's background coming to the fore.
"But I think there's a time when you just need to pull back, and work out what's feasible, what's not, what's important and what's not - and frankly when we've got issues regarding the way in which Karen Chhour says she's being treated, the question of lapel badges should fade into the distance."
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