OPINION
Simon O’Connor
Husband, step-father, and longtime student of philosophy and history. Also happen to be a former politician, including chairing New Zealand’s Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Committee.
So, another week and another Green MP is in trouble. This time Julie-Anne Genter, who broke the rules of Parliament when aggressively crossing the aisle and physically fronting up to a government minister. It then turns out she has allegedly been aggressive to several business people in Wellington as well. I suspect there is more to come – the old, ‘where there is smoke, there’s fire.’
Parliament has rules for a purpose, including that MPs can only speak from their seats. This is for the very simple reason that you don’t want literal face-to-face arguments as you sometimes see overseas. As you can imagine, tensions can get quite high in parliament as MPs express their strongly held views against others who hold equally strong, but opposite ideas.
A key aspect to stress of course, is that no political party holds the moral high ground when it comes to the behaviour of MPs. The Greens are certainly going through a rough patch currently with two MPs being reviewed for misconduct, and two others having resigned recently due to their actions. National had its fair share in recent years, from dishonesty to disgraceful family conduct. Labour is not immune, nor ACT. As I say, every Party. Parliament is made up of fallible human beings after all!
What is striking to me however, is how the various excesses or errors of MPs are treated. It seems some get a rather light touch by the commentariat, while others are harangued, pilloried, and harassed endlessly. Take for example how Julie-Anne Genter is being treated as compared to National MP, Tim van de Molen who apologised for his aggressiveness during a select committee last year. Arguably, similar incidents and yet handled quite differently. For Tim, it was near daily coverage, being chased for comment, and constantly challenged on what happened. For Julie-Anne, it seems that many commentating are content to accept that she is ‘on leave’ or to list an array of excuses including she was under pressure (who isn’t in this modern world!!). Granted, as I write, the pressure does seem to be slowly rising but again, for other MPs the pressure existed from the very beginning and never let up.
Now, I am not arguing for the unrelenting pursuit of MPs. They are human too. But there should be some consistency around accountability. There is a line between appropriate public holding to account and what can sometimes be outright bullying. I recall a now former colleague of mine being literally chased around the parliament by a frenzied media pack. The latter had smelt political blood and were akin to sharks searching out a sensational story. So stressful was the situation that security was posted around the corridors to stop reporters from coming into areas they should not, and MPs keeping a constant watch on a now overly stressed colleague.
With the Greens, expect to see much more hand-wringing and excuses for what is happening with their MPs. There are of course reasons why people act the way they do, but they are rarely excuses. We should also rightly hold them to a higher account not simply because they are in a public role (and this applies to all MPs from all Parties) but also because the Greens make so much of their ‘anti-bullying’ work. Put bluntly, they talk a big game in this space and yet many in the Party are bullies themselves. Whether it is – the behaviour of Julie-Anne Genter, the vocal support of protests and words designed to intimate New Zealand’s Jewish community, or how the Greens facilitated and supported the violence in Albert Park last year – there is much hypocrisy to be pointed out.
One final point. It is easy to focus on this poor behaviour of MPs across the parliament. What we should not forget, is that there are many more who are working hard and just getting on with their job. Many you will never hear of in reports but they are doing long hours, spending weeks away from home, and feeling the enormous pressure and stress that this role entails. We should be grateful to them and perhaps, if we get the chance, say thanks to them for taking up the mantle on behalf of our democracy.