Peter Williams: The Greens just can’t say sorry

The reaction of the Greens to Winston Peters post about the MP Benjamin Doyle’s pre-Parliament social media activity has been one of all-out attack.

There was no comment whatsoever from them about what looks like some suspicious behaviour by the now MP when he posted pictures of himself with a young boy and used phrases such as “biblebeltbussy” and “bussy galore” alongside them.

Even this thoroughly uncool and out of touch 71 year old could work out pretty quickly that “bussy” is a derivative of a boy’s pussy, or boy’s anus. Which is just far too close to being suggestive of homosexual paedophilia - which is both illegal and disgusting behaviour.

That’s the kind of man, for a man he is despite whatever other self-identification he may wish to go by, who has come into Parliament as number 18 on the Party list after the departures of James Shaw, Golriz Ghahraman and Darlene Tana. He’s a one-time schoolteacher and Burnett (formerly Aids) Foundation staffer and has been an MP since October last year.

I’ll tell you a little of Mr Doyle’s beliefs shortly, but in response to his social media posts with “biblebelt bussy” and “bussy galore” the Deputy Prime Minister has asked some perfectly relevant questions along the lines of - is this person fit to be an MP?

To be honest I have serious doubts, but he’s now in the job through a process that we’re stuck with so we can’t do much about how he got there.

The questions that Winston Peters have posed are ones that thousands, if not millions, of New Zealanders have been asking since X poster Holyhekatuiteka (@2ETEKA ) unveiled a series of photos on Friday featuring Doyle.

One of them had him kissing a young boy, another with a child his lap. Subsequent reports suggest the child may be his son. I reckon that’s irrelevant because the comments accompanying the photos are highly questionable, especially “bussy galore” which is a play on the famous lesbian character Pussy Galore portrayed by the glamorous Honor Blackman in the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger.

Amazingly one of the original photos on Friday’s post is of a certificate for a Masters degree – with First Class Honours - from the University of Waikato awarded not to Benjamin Doyle but to Bible Belt Bussy! The man who is both Vice-Chancellor of the university and Chairman of the Reserve Bank Neil Quigley has his signature on the bottom of that certificate. Of course it was awarded for Māori and Indigenous studies.

After Holyhekatuiteka’s expose on March 28 there was literally radio silence, and a TV and all mainstream media silence too. There was a weekend of a media void until the Deputy Prime Minister made his move on Sunday.

But the Green Party and mainstream media reaction has been remarkable. Nowhere have I seen the original photos published.

Chloe Swarbrick has even gone so far as to accuse Winston Peters of doubling down “on disinformation, fanning the flames of hatred towards the rainbow community that we have recently seen can lead to real world violence.”

She then told us that Benjamin Doyle has been subject to “immense death threats” and that she’s calling on the Prime Minister to reign in the Deputy Prime Minister.

Boo-hoo Chloe. Is there an MP who’s never had a death threat?

Of course she didn’t elaborate on, or wasn’t asked, just what exactly was “disinformation.”

As for” fanning the flames of hatred towards the rainbow community” a few answers from Mr Doyle would help to set the record straight. Like what does Bible Belt Bussy actually mean? And does Bussy Galore mean you like having sex with little boys? Or at least like looking at photos of them naked?

But then the Greens can never come clean about anything. They’re always the victims. Did James Shaw ever get a BA from Victoria and if he didn’t then how did he get into a post-graduate course in the UK? It wasn’t her fault that Golriz was shoplifting until it was obvious it was. We paid Darlene Tana’s salary for way too long when it was obvious she was in involved in her ex-husband’s dodgy employment activity.

Then there’s the mainstream media. Why did it take from Friday till Monday morning to have any reaction to the post on X? Why aren’t the photos of Doyle with the boy, and the associated comments, being published on the Herald, Stuff and RNZ websites? Why is the angle of the story now Swarbrick’s attack on Peters?

Jim Grenon’s move on NZME can’t come soon enough.

Postscript: The following is from Benjamin Doyle’s page on the Parliament website. Don’t worry I couldn’t understand it either.

Benjamin fundamentally believes that there can be no justice without radical and transformational love. Looking up to taniwha such as Bell Hooks, Audre Lorde, Moana Jackson, and Georgina Beyer, they heed the call to advocate for a balance restored, where we build up our people and our planet while simultaneously dismantling what never has and never will serve Aotearoa New Zealand, a politic of radical love, and a politic that imagines the impossible.

Peter Williams was a writer and broadcaster for half a century. Now watching from the sidelines. Peter blogs regularly on Peter’s Substack - where this article was sourced.