Frank Newman: "Inside the mind of Trevor Mallard"

Political Reporter, Audrey Young, has penned a piece in this morning's NZ Herald called "Inside the mind of Trevor Mallard".

One could be forgiven for assuming that would be a short article. It isn't. It's well worth a read, simply because it exposes the mentality of the man who holds one of the highest and most respected positions in our Parliament. Regrettably, while many respect the position of Speaker, few respect the man who holds the position.

Here are some extracts from Audrey Young's article. It is behind a paywall; hence I have quoted extracts rather than the whole article.

When asked about the protesters, he said “It is the biggest collection of ferals that I’ve seen.”

That seems similar to Hilary Clinton referring to Trump supporters as a "basket of deplorables”. That was before she lost the election to Trump. Her comment simply galvanised the support for Trump. Ironically it was Helen Clark who has previously described Mallard's behaviour as deplorable in 2007 after he got into a fight with Tau Henare outside Parliament's debating chamber. Young: "For the fight, Helen Clark described Mallard’s behaviour as “deplorable” and demoted him off the front bench — although by only three places."

When asked if he had any regrets about blasting loud music to the protesters he said the only regret was that some of the music "produced headaches in the police officers on duty near the loudspeakers". (As an aside, the thing I don't understand about the music selections is if they were supposedly the worst songs ever, then how come they have sold so many records?)

When asked about the wisdom of turning the sprinklers on he said, "the ground was going to get sodden with heavy rain anyway and after seeing some people urinating and defecating in the grounds on Tuesday night, he had no qualms about his actions. 'Diluting a bit of the s*** and urine was not a major issue for me.'"

While Trevor thinks this protest is a basket of ferals, he has quite a history of protests himself. Young reports, "He has been arrested so many times himself, he has lost count, and he has convictions for obscene language and obstructing a footpath."

It seems, protesting against the establishment was OK when Trevor was not part of the establishment, but not OK when he is.

The article concludes with the comment from Trevor: “It’s more important for me to do the right thing than be popular.”

I guess the wisdom of hindsight will judge whether water sprinklers and loud music was the right thing to do, or whether his appointment as Speaker will be judged to be yet another mistake of the Ardern administration. The latter is the odds-on bet at the moment. Frank Newman, a writer and investment analyst, is a former local body councillor.