Grandstanding

The leader of the neo-conservative Act Party, Rodney Hide, used to have a reputation for grandstanding on issues, making a big fuss over often trivial things. Good entertainment, but not much else. One of the founders of the party was particularly distressed at Hide's focus on trivial matters, and felt that it made the party look insubstantial.

For whatever reason, Hide stopped his grandstanding and, coincidentally or not, his party's fortuens plummeted. Well, he's back.

Last week, there was an altercation between two MPs in which one, Travor Mallord, a Labour Party MP and minister, admitted throwing a punch at Tau Henare, and MP of the conservative National Party. Mallord apologised, Henare accepted, and that was that. Or, not...

Hide demanded that the Speaker of the House investigate, but she said she had no jurisdiction in the corridors outside the House, where the altercation happened. Hide disagrees with her and now says that if she doesn't act, he'll lay a complaint with the police.

Hide knows that the police would probably back away from any action on the incident (can anyone seriously imagine the police prosecuting an MP for throwing a punch within the Houses of Parliament, even if it was outside the House itself?). So, his motivation must be to get publicity for himself and his party and, conveniently, cause embarrassment for the Labour Party. Just like the old days. I preferred it when he stuck to the real business of Parliament, but those days may be in the past—a bit like the party's ideology, but that's another issue altogether.