Barry Soper: ZB senior political correspondent on Takuta Ferris being called to apologise by the Privileges Committee

A report's been tabled in Parliament, recommending a Te Pati Maori MP apologise for deliberately misleading the House. 

In a debate in September last year,Takuta Ferris described MPs as being masters of obscuring the truth. 

Ferris denied an accusation he'd called MPs liars - language considered un-parliamentary -  and it was referred to the Privileges Committee.

ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper says Ferris needs to apologise.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Barry Soper, Hello, you've got to turn your microphone on.
Hold on, Tom, there we go and had to turn
the microphone. Oh and being naughty boy again, Can I,
before we move on, just admit that Nokia is in
fact finished, not Danish. But never mind, I just had
to do that now. I also just said about David
Seymour riding the land rover up the steps, and I said, look,

(00:24):
he's not a stupid man. It was a stunt, you know.
He wanted to get some headlines. He wanted to be
a little bit of a renegade. Why are we wasting
so much oxygen?

Speaker 2 (00:33):
About wasting a lot of oxygen in the debating chamber
about it. They were again today telling the Prime Minister
that he should be dismissed as a minister. It's unbecoming
behavior of a minister in his cabinet. They want him sacked.
They have questioned Luxon's ability to discipline his minister as well.
You imagine if he disciplined David Seymour, an Act coalition partner,

(00:59):
you might see the coalition sort of falling apart. But nevertheless,
so the issue from labor today though, the real issue
they are concentrated on was the so called racial statements
being made by Luckson's ministers, outlined by Leader Chris Hopkins.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
Have a listen to Todd mcclay's statement to another MP,
you're not in Mexico now, Shane Jones's statement send the
Mexicans home, and Whinster's Peter's statement immigrants should quote show
some gratitude, meet his expectations of ministerial conduct.

Speaker 4 (01:30):
If so, why well.

Speaker 5 (01:31):
An answer to the last part of that question, I
have huge confidence in the Deputy Prime Minister who really
believes in the Mexico New Zealand relationship and visit in
the country and cares deeply about those relationships.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
To the Prime Minister. Does dis government have any plans
to go through the telephone book and find home buyers
with Chinese sounding names.

Speaker 4 (01:55):
No, The real issue here is no one can surely
be condemned for expecting immigrant to come to this country
to big greatfuls the country they've come to.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
So there you go. Winston had the final say, but
you remember it was Andrew Little who was accused of
looking for Chinese names to prove that they were buying
up all the houses here. So look, it goes on
and on and.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
On see if a man had that good a question,
David Seymour, do you really think he's that stupid that
he didn't know the rules? Oh? Can I just also
say that security guard that stopped him, great job. Man,
deserves a raise.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
I know the guy. He's been there a long time
and he's a really good man.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Wasn't intimidated straight out, No, No, great policing. Shane Jones
has been talking about mining the gold in them the hills,
as Shane. What I like about Shane Jones is that
he likes preaching in parliament rather than simply asking or
answering patsy questions. Of course, gold is a big deal

(02:52):
in New Zealand at the moment when you consider that
in twenty twenty one, New Zealand produced four hundred and
seventy two million dollars worth of gold. In twenty two
that was up to six hundred and ten million. Now
apparently there are billions of dollars under the ground here
in New Zealand. The mining cheerleader, as I said, Shane Jones,

(03:13):
he was on his feet in Parliament today preaching the
value of coal and of gold mining in this country.

Speaker 6 (03:20):
I have been to a gold mine located at way
Here to launch New Zealand's and Lord Greal mineral strategy.
And whilst I was there, it was evident that economic
seeds are germinating, buds are developing. No longer will this
sector be shackled in green tapes. No longer will people
be able to carry on talking on smartphones dependent on

(03:42):
minerals rare earth minerals imported into the country when we
have them in our own country. And also it's my pleasure,
sir to tell the House that most of the people
there reminded me they never left the Labor Party. The
Labor Party left them.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
I always like the upward inflection is that he speaks,
and I mean it's preaching and I always enjoy shown
Joanes style.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
Very good stuff. And the Mary Party MP found guilty
of misleading parliament.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
Taker to Paris. Yes, he deliberately, according to the Privileges Committee,
misled the House. They recommend that he be forced to
apologize to the House because he had denied that he
had called his fellow MPs liars. But I've got to
say today an apology wasn't forthcoming. It would usually be

(04:32):
the case as soon as possible after a Privileges committee finding.
The irony in this case is that Perris was what
the one apparently telling lies about those who he accused
of being liars. I haven't listened to the exchange which
got him into trouble last September. Lies. In other words,
many in this House are masters of it, and it
is a.

Speaker 5 (04:51):
Disservice to those who voted you into your positions.

Speaker 4 (04:55):
Well, unless, of course, it is certainly not acceptable of
for use. I'm on that inexperience as he is too. Nevertheless,
I accuse some other MPs keep quite when I'm making
a point of all. All right, he made the allegation
that members of the Parliament of liars, you should have
been stopped on the tracks right then.

Speaker 5 (05:09):
But if he has made that statement, then he should
withdraw and apologize as quickly as possible. I haven't made
that statement.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
It just finished making the statement, and you said this
man he was there, and normally you're expected in a
Wednesday debate, which was what this was, not to speak
from notes. He was speaking from a computer. You meant
to be able to regale stuff without using notes in
the debating chamber. But that seems to have changed.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
Which means he had intention to use the word liar
to It didn't just pop into his head. He wrote
it down on a computer. He said it. He's thought
about the whole thing. And when I find amazing about
that word liar, too many people in this world these
days fleeer it around and it's one of the worst
insults you can do. If you're pulling out the liar,
you were going nuclear.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
And he didn't have the good grace and surely he
must have known he accused them of being liars. Didn't
have the good grace to immediately stand as most MPs
would do and say, look, I apologize, you know, because
he obviously must have realized that he was in the wrong.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
So now we await his apology, and I thank you
very much.

Speaker 5 (06:19):
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive.

Speaker 4 (06:22):
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