Were we right? You betcha!

Did we predict yesterday that Joris de Bres might be in a spot of bother for going to the UN's racist conference which the government decided to boycott? With the utmost modesty, yes we did. And were we on the money? It appears so.

Audrey Young reports this morning that a "bitter feud" has erupted between de Bres and Foreign Minister Murray McCully. Young says:

Mr de Bres attended the conference independently and publicly criticised the Government for pulling out, implying it was trying to please the United States. But Mr McCully believes Mr de Bres has no business criticising foreign policy and implied that Mr de Bres was a Labour Party hack.

Chief Commissioner Rosslyn Noonan said she did not believe he overstepped any line. She said the Human Rights Commission - which is funded and appointed by the Government - had to be independent from the Government.

Mr de Bres was appointed by Labour for a second five-year term, through to September 2012.

Rosslyn Noonan is nowt but another Labour Party hack. Let us be in no doubt about that. And we are sure that both she and de Bres are delighted that they are not wholly independant of the government on the day their salary goes into their respective bank accounts.

And McCully leaves us in no doubt as to his opinion of de Bres's motivation:

Mr McCully took exception to the implications that New Zealand had boycotted it because the US had and he suggested Mr de Bres was politically motivated.

"I am not sure whether he is there is an official capacity or as a representative of the Labour Party," Mr McCully said before leaving for Singapore.

"But nevertheless the suggestion that we have been over-influenced by any of the other countries who have decided to withdraw is completely wrong."

"I have got a strong preference for a position where the New Zealand public elect their Government in general elections and then that Government - with advice from the ministry - goes about determining our foreign policy rather than having Mr Bres elect himself as our foreign policy guru.

Noonan and de Bres are supposedly intelligent people, even though both view the world through distinctly red-tinted glasses. But neither seems intelligent enough to realise that the political landscape changed on 8 November 2008. We look forward to reporting their respective resignations in the very near future.