Hold the phone! In this morning's Dom-Post, Vernon Small (one of the recipients of the Carter letter) writes:
Rebel MP Chris Carter could escape expulsion from the Labour Party and may only be suspended as party bosses tread warily over how to discipline him for public attacks on leader Phil Goff.
Party insiders said the cautious approach was driven by concerns over a possible legal challenge but also by the Te Atatu MP's health and state of mind.
Mr Goff said yesterday that Mr Carter was "unwell" and several of his colleagues had earlier questioned Mr Carter's rationality.
Hutt South MP Trevor Mallard suggested Mr Carter was suffering from stress because he was about to be disciplined over an unauthorised trip to China. Mr Carter dismissed the idea as "spin" aimed at deflecting attention from his calls for Mr Goff to go.
Labour president Andrew Little said it was a requirement of Labour's constitution to follow the rules of natural justice and give Mr Carter a chance to put his case.
Ah yes; the rules of natural justice; it seems that Phil Goff, Trevor Mallard, Maryan Street and all those who have been rolled out to dismiss Carter as unstable have forgotten about that concept. Goff's bravado seems now to have been premature.
More interesting though is an apparent difference of opinion between party leader Goff and party president Andrew Little. Goff has said he's comfortable with National's proposal to allow employees to cash up their fourth week's annual leave. Little, according to Vernon Small sees it very differently:
Meanwhile, Mr Little has confirmed that Labour opposes the Government's plan to allow workers to swap their fourth week of annual leave for cash. Mr Carter had claimed Mr Goff, in an unguarded moment, had bucked the caucus and union position and essentially supported Prime Minister John Key's position.
Speaking on TV3's The Nation, Mr Little said there was no question that "when Labour is returned to government next year the minimum annual leave entitlement will be four weeks".
Mr Goff has also said the policy is unchanged, but stressed there were more serious issues in the Government's industrial relations proposals, in particular the extension of the 90-day probation period to all workplaces, and changes to personal grievance laws.
Mr Little also said it had "become evident" in the past few days that long-serving MP George Hawkins could be challenged for the Manurewa nomination and that could come from a member of the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union that Mr Little heads – another of Mr Carter's claims.
That's all very, VERY interesting. What Small has written this morning backs up two of the claims made by Chris Carter in his now-famous letter. Only one claim remains unproven now; that Phil Goff is unelectable.
UPDATE: We hadn't read Brian Rudman's Herald column from this morning when we blogged earlier. It's well worth a read ...
6 comments:
"...Mr Little said there was no question that "when Labour is returned to government next year the minimum annual leave entitlement will be four weeks"..."
These are the words of someone who is in the loop, very near, or is the centre of power. This proves Goff is unelectable. It is Goff who should have said these things. Little is publicly contradicting his leader. Goff is gone.
We're not arguing with you GG!
Yes - this ties in with my views . . http://monkeyswithtypewriter.blogspot.com/2010/08/little-voice-in-his-head.html
it looks like Carter was used as a political pinata to further someone elses' longer-term aims . .
Do you ever NOT cut and paste someone else's work? It's like reading yesterday's newspaper delivered by a teenager who overslept.
If you don't like the paper Anon, no-one's forcing you to buy it.
As a teen who oversleeps, I find the news here as fresh and exciting as if I'd woken on time. Why would I change? Thanks Keeping Stock. You're the greatest.
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