Emotions ran high after a man tried to jump from the public gallery to the floor of the House yesterday afternoon. It was a moment of high drama, and in its aftermath there was an exchange which did no-one any credit. Insults flew across the floor of the House in a moment of considerable disorder. We're sure that a number of Honourable Members including the Prime Minister, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and the Opposition's Junior Whip will be reflecting on the incident, and their reaction to it. Things are said and done in the heat of the moment which are later regretted; something we know only too well.
Ironically, the 49th Parliament has been one of the better behaved of our memory, and we put that down to two things. Firstly, Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith has been an outstanding Speaker; probably the best in the time in which we have been actively interested in politics. He has an obvious passion for the institution of Parliament, and significantly, one of his first acts as Speaker was to reintroduce the procession into the House each day so that the Speaker entered via public areas and not through a private corridor. That was a small but important acknowledgment that MP's are the servants of the people who elect them. Dr Smith has also tried hard to make Question Time more useful, and require Ministers to answer questions, and for that he deserves credit.
The second aspect has been the absence of Winston Peters. The NZ First leader had an inate ability to incite disorder in the House, especially via the use of frivolous points of order. Parliament has been more orderly for Peters' absence.
So here's a song for our MP's as the 49th Parliament is dissolved this afternoon:
School is indeed out; until the summer, at least. And for some today, school's out for ever. Some will know that, and have said their last hurrahs; others will become casualities of that odd thing we call democracy.
10 comments:
The Prime Minister, moments after a man attempted to throw himself over the rail of the public gallery, shouting accusations at John Key and Paula Bennett, accused Labour of being responsible for the near tragedy and made a throat-slitting action aimed at Phil Goff, who was addressing the House. The Labour MP reacted with disgust at Key's actions. Goff, in a very level-headed way, praised the actions of the staff for the way they dealt with the distressed man, and expressed his displeasure at Key's behaviour. Key slouched in his chair in response, rolled his eyes and smirked at the suggestion that he had behaved in a grossly irresponsible manner, then left the House.
Is that how you saw it Inv2?
Why don't you bugger off rg?
Fantastic to see all those troughers delivering valedictories this last week. And it was all Liarbour deadwood, mainly unionists, being shed. Long overdue. Not that I listened to any of their swipes at the system. Just a few more weeks till the final Liarbour rout.
I look forward to Winnie being in the next intake to liven the place up.
I can't imagine you being so diplomatic and forgiving regarding this incident had the shocking behaviour that Key displayed yesterday come from Goff or anyone in the Labour camp INV2.
"We're sure that a number of Honourable Members including the Prime Minister, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and the Opposition's Junior Whip will be reflecting on the incident, and their reaction to it. Things are said and done in the heat of the moment which are later regretted; "
Well said, I2.
It was a very concerning incident for the man, the security guard who was hurt, onlookers and parliament.
Our forgiving host can't accept what happened jacqueline it doesn't fit his belief system. John just can't have done those nasty things its just not possible and I won't think about it.
Sickening and repulsive.
@ Jacqui; had it been a normal exchange on a normal sitting day, it would have been inexcusable. But yesterday was anything but normal; I've certainly never seen anything like it in the 40+ years in which I have actively followed politics.
People react to stressful situations in different ways; the classic "fight or flight" response. The atmosphere in the House yesterday was incredibly tense after the incident, and what later happened needs to be judged in that light. Key's response was out of line, as was the response to the response. But I think that everyone can be cut a bit of slack yesterday simply due to the extreme nature of what happened, and that as I said in the main post, when they look at how they responded, they will wish they could have the time over again.
Fair call.
Yeh cut the prime minister some slack jacqueline after all whats wrong with throat slashing from a prime minister anyway it what you expect when hes had a terrible shock you would do the same thing and dont forget the labour mps were really rude to john just because he gave the throat slashing sign to phil goff and said they were responsible for the man wanting to jump the prime minister is blameless in fact goff should apologise for provocing the throat slashing thing
Heh - thanks for the giggle Anon.
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