Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Will we ever get order back into Parliament?

It sounds like Gerry Brownlee thinks that the Māori Party punishment is too harsh.

He started Parliament today with the Speaker's ruling and he dropped some pretty strong hints that he thinks that 21 days without pay for Debbie and Rawiri over that haka is too much.

He called the punishment very 'severe' and unprecedented because up til now, the harshest punishment has been 3 days, not 21 days.

He pointed out that the punishment was only carried by a narrow majority on the Privileges Committee - and that going through with the punishment as it stands will deprive the Māori Party of their ability to vote in the House for several sitting days, and that Parliament does not have to go through with it.

He told them that - he said, you don't have to go through with it, Parliament can change the punishment.

Now, I can't say I agree with them on this for one simple reason, and that is deterrence.

Whatever the punishment is going to end up being, it has to be harsh enough to stop the Māori Party doing this again - or at least try to stop them doing this again - because this is a strategy from them.

We need to see this stuff for what it is. This isn't like Julie Anne Genter losing her rag in Parliament in the heat of the moment, apologizing, and then ending up with just a censure and perhaps never doing it again.

The Māori Party break the rules deliberately. This is their strategy, so you can assume that they will keep on doing it.

And the reason they keep on doing it is because it gets them attention.

Attention for wearing sneakers in the house, attention for wearing a cowboy hat in the house, attention for doing a haka in the house, attention for not turning up to the Privileges Committee, attention for leaking the recommendations of the Privileges Committee - the list just goes on.

They say this is about tikanga - but it's not about tikanga. Sneakers are not tikanga.

This is about breaking rules for attention - it's a PR strategy.

3 days without pay is not going to deter them. To be honest, I don't even know that 21 days without pay will deter them, but it surely has a better chance of doing it.

And for the record, a 21-day suspension is not that wild in the UK, where our Parliament derives from.

Just in the last two years, three MPs in the UK have copped suspensions of 30 days or more. In 2019, one guy was suspended for six months.

Now I don't know that we will ever get order back into Parliament the way things have gone in the last few months, but if we don't try, we definitely won't.

So in that context, 21 days doesn't seem overly harsh.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, it sounds like Jerry Brownlee doesn't think that the
or rather thinks that the Marty Party punishment is too harsh.
He started our parliament today with a speaker's ruling and
he dropped some pretty strong hints that he thinks that
twenty one days without pay for Debbie and rawri over
that Hucker is too much. He called the punishment very
severe and unprecedented because up to now the harshest punishment

(00:21):
has been three days, not twenty one days. He pointed
out that the punishment was only carried by a narrow
majority on the Privileges Committee, that going through with the
punishment as it stands will deprive the Maori Party of
their ability to vote in the House for several sitting days,
and that Parliament does not have to go through with it.
He told them that you don't have to go through

(00:43):
with it. Parliament can change the punishment. Now. Can't say
I agree with him on this for one simple reason,
and that is deterrence. Whatever the punishment is going to
end up being, it has to be harsh enough to
stop the Marty Party doing this again, or at least
try to stop them doing this again, because this is
a strategy from this from them. We need to see

(01:03):
this stuff for what it is. Right. This isn't like
Julie an Jenta losing her rag in Parliament in the
heat of the moment, apologizing and then ending up with
just a censure and perhaps never doing it again. The
Maori Party break the rules deliberately. This is their strategy,
so you can assume that they will keep on doing it.
And the reason they keep on doing it is because
it gets some attention. Attention for wearing sneakers in the house,

(01:24):
Attention for wearing a cowboy hat in the house, attention
for doing a hukker in the house, attention for not
turning up to the Privileges Committee, attention for leaking the
recommendations of the Privileges Committee, and the list just goes on.
This isn't about they say, this is about teacung. It's
not about tea hunger. Sneakers are not tea hunger. This
is about breaking rules for attention. It's a pr strategy. Now,

(01:44):
three days without pay is not going to deter them.
To be honest, I don't even know that twenty one
days without pay will deter them, but it surely has
a better chance of doing it. And for the record,
twenty one days suspension is not that wild in the UK,
where our parliament derives from. Just in the last two years,
threeps in the UK have copped suspensions of thirty days

(02:04):
or more. In twenty nineteen, one guy was suspended for
six months. Now. I don't know that we will ever
get order back into Parliament the way things have gone
in the last few months, but if we don't try,
we definitely won't and so twenty one days in that
context doesn't seem overly harsh. For more from Heather Duplessy
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