Where was the outrage?

Green MP Jan Logie got upset on Tuesday when Maurice Williamson asked the House to acknowledge Miss Universe NZ contestants; 3News reports:

An impending point-of-order war is on the cards in Parliament today as the Greens and Wellington’s Feminist Collective take on National’s Maurice Williamson and what they call his “patronising misogyny”.

Mr Williamson interrupted Parliament yesterday with an unruly point-of-order welcoming 10 Miss NZ contestants to Parliament.

His actions caused an uproar of laughter from MPs and despite his point-of-order being against the rules, Speaker Lockwood Smith allowed it, saying the girls’ presence was “very pleasant”.

Watch the video for footage of Mr Williamson introducing the contestants

Green Party MP Jan Logie says she found the whole affair sexist and offensive to women, and it was “patronising misogyny”.

“There are some clear messages around it in terms of him being the man and he can get into this space with all of these women.

“It is about objectifying women and he’s essentially saying how men become men is by hanging around gorgeous women,” she says.

Ms Logie will challenge the affair by calling a point-of-order today and asking the House to acknowledge finalists of a fictional ‘Feminist of the Year’ competition.

Ms Logie (with whom we have agreed in the past; on the sentencing of The Comedian) did indeed do that on Wednesday. We would have to wonder whether acknowledging fictional competitors is kosher, but it was an interesting diversion, and presumably honour was satisfied.

But whilst Ms Logie may have been upset at "patronising misogyny" on Tuesday, where was the outrage from the Greens and indeed from anyone in Parliament on Thursday last week (Budget Day), when one of the longest-serving Members of the House indulged in outright racism? Check this out from Hansard:

But that is not all; you have got these ones here. These are on the list. This one here, Melissa Lee, is No. 34—hello Pyongyang. No more National Party now. Then you have got Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi. Is there another corner dairy available? He will be on his way. There is no way he can last—not with a Budget like that. Then you have got Jian Yang. I hope there is a Chinese restaurant in Dominion Road still not taken up yet. But he is going be gone as well. Nice men, but they are going to be gone. Then you have got Alfred Ngaro. No more “kia orana”. The man from the Cook Islands, he is gone, because that is what happens when you are careless about a Budget. Then you have got—if you have seen YouTube lately—“Miss South Carolina”, Katrina Shanks. Have you seen the YouTube interview? She is gone. And then “Uncle Tom”—Tau Henare—needs a new job. He is definitely going to be gone.

Ross Robertson was in the Speaker's chair at the time, and at one point during this rant, the TV cameras caught him smiling where he should have intervened. This was nothing more than "patronising" racism from Winston Peters, the Leader of the NZ First Party.Yet no party has condemned him.

Peters has played the race card for far too many years, and yet he continues to get away with it. At least this time his racist remarks are written into the official record of Parliament for posterity; a fitting epitaph for a politicasn that plays on the prejudices of a portion of the electorate for political gain.