Judith Collins, head of the Privileges Committee, was on with Mike Hosking this morning, ostensibly to talk about the suspension of three Te Pati Māori MPs for their haka in the House, but during the chat she deplored the decline of standards in the House.
“There's a lack of civility now and it's not acceptable, and I feel that the comments of the print journalist in the Sunday Star Times this last Sunday was one of the lowest points I think I've seen in 23 years. That and what happened on the 14th of November in Parliament. It's just the sort of behaviour towards each other that is despicable. So I'd say to Brooke, you know I wouldn't use the word myself, but I did feel that she at least stood up for herself and for all the rest of us, and I am waiting for someone of the left persuasion in our Parliament, one MP, just one, to come out and say it's not okay to attack people just because you don't agree with what they do.”
I think she'll be waiting a while. Karen Chhour has been consistently attacked by Labour MPs and Te Pati Māori MPs, really for just for being a Māori woman who has the temerity to be an ACT Party MP. And to be fair, when Jacinda Ardern and her preschool daughter were receiving violent threats —violent sexual threats, some of them very real and credible threats— there wasn't a universal condemnation of the abuse from National and ACT. Certainly Judith Collins, when she was the opposition leader, said she did not want to see Jacinda Ardern threatened when she visited Auckland in 2021 after the three-month lockdown. She said I don't want to see anything happen to the Prime Minister or have her threatened in any way. I think it's not good for our democracy and also it is not right for people to do that to each other, which is true, and good on her for saying that. But at the same time, it's hardly a universal, strident condemnation of the threats that the Prime Minister of the time was getting.
We were discussing this before the show, one of our colleagues said politicians need to be better otherwise people will just give up. They'll look at the carry on, they'll read the stories and think I'm not going to vote. I argued that there are House of Representatives – they are us, to borrow a phrase. Abuse of MPs on every level increased in 2022, 98% of them reported receiving some kind of harassment. Women were considerably more likely to face abuse on most counts than male politicians. Abuse increased across 11 of the 12 different mediums, with social media overtaking emails, faxes and letters as the most prominent. That came from us. That's men and women, normally erstwhile, law-abiding, God-fearing people who suddenly became more strident.
It was a result of societal factors, of lockdowns, of decisions made that had an enormous impact on people's lives and livelihoods and families. And there will be people who will never forget what happened. It can't be undone. But that all resulted in extremes, in the use of language and the vehemence of our opinions and our tribalism. I had a public Facebook page for years. I think in the in the seven or eight years I had it before Covid, I blocked two people. Once Covid started, I just got rid of it because it's why would you be a sitting duck? When I first heard about the death threats against Jacinda Ardern, I thought, well, who hasn't had them? You know that is not normal. That's not a normal response. The days of Socratic discourse are long gone.
So does that mean we have to give up, my colleague asked, that we have no expectations of our MPs? No. But I think before we ask anything of our MPs, we look at ourselves. I was thinking about that this morning. Can I call out the Principles Federation representative and say before you start looking at the government, how about you call out the poor parents who send their kids to school unable to hold a pen and not toilet trained? Whose fault is that? That is the parents. Can I say that? Absolutely I can. Should I mimic her voice while I'm saying that? No, I shouldn't. Talkback’s a robust forum. It's a bit like Parliament, people get heat up. We're allowed to have opinions. We should have differing opinions, but before I'm going to ask anything of our MPs, before I ask anything of my fellow journalists, I'll have a look in the mirror and check myself out.
Kerre McIvor, is a journalist, radio presenter, author and columnist. Currently hosts the Kerre Woodham mornings show on Newstalk ZB - where this article was sourced.
7 comments:
I watched the te pati leaders on their facebook page giving an interview about their suspension from parliament. Both were crying and saying parliament was racist. I thought gosh, am I watching harry and meghan? The victimhood and word salad were similar. Both used interviiewers who would not question their narrative. It seems that the woke marxist cult is to largely to blame for the downturn in standards in parliament and society
I do agree, and Kerrie is right about failing standards.
Abuse of Jacinda, however, is wildly different to calling politicians the c-word which we’ve probably all done, at least in private. Jacinda was an absolute midwit who pushed the government into places they should not be allowed to go, she was a wannabe dictator and probably a c-word to boot. We were not allowed to even question her governments actions much less disagree with them or protest. We had no voice then so I really don’t care what people say about her now; it has no bearing on this circus with Brooke VV.
Let’s quit the pearl clutching and admit that women are simply not as robust to criticism as men.
One more note to say - self-reported instances of abuse? Dubious to say the least.
Was the abuse & threats towards JA because she is a woman, or because she sucked as a PM & was & is overwhelmingly hated on a visceral level for what she did to us as a country?
And were her threats worse than what Simon Bridges received? People seem to conveniently forget what happened to him. He & his family suffered unprecedented hate & threats because of the media.
They also forget Steven Joyce had a dildo thrown at him. Where was the outrage against misandry then?
The abuse these politicians face, with the exception of JA whose own appalling comments & policies led to widespread community, social & democratic harm, is the result I think of a biased & vitriolic media.
Andrea Vance’s article went much further though. It was tantamount to hate speech against women - who, contrary to the confused men, are a protected class - and she should be prosecuted for attempting to incite violence against them. Her comments showed not only how ignorant & cognitively challenged she is, but that she is a contemptible human being.
Crocodile tears !
Can't you recognize them ?
Find me any Parliament in which a haka , or it's equivalent, would be acceptable.
Again, Maori demanding that we abandon civilized standards and do things they want .
I've got news for them, that isn't going to happen because of a massive reaction from the normally passive people.
Let’s quit the pearl clutching and admit that women are simply not as robust to criticism as men. Anon 8.27
Sad statement . Are you not aware of the statistics of violence against women and the abuse ( a form of violent criticism) piled on women because they are women?
.... which is long overdue. With the disorder and dissention in play, we must hope it will actually happen!
Politicians, like Church leaders, Judges, school Principals and others in high office, are held to higher standards of behaviour because of what they represent. When Mr Mallard allowed the standard of dress be relaxed, the behavioural standards relaxed too. If you dress casually, you feel in a casual mood and behave accordingly. It is a natural consequence of human behaviour. There is a reason our Court judges and lawyers dress as they do. It's hard to have a formal court atmosphere, if people are dressed in jeans and a T shirt! Male politicians should be dressed in a sombre suit and tie, no hats allowed. Females should also dress appropriately (most already do except some of the Greens and Maori Party. Just bring some decorum back to the highest court in this country and stop acting as if in a circus ring
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