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Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Brendan Horan: I am scared of no one

By Natalie Dixon
Bay of Plenty Times·
10 Jun, 2014 12:30 AM4 mins to read

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Brendan Horan and Winston Peters

Brendan Horan and Winston Peters

He's been under fire amid allegations of wrongdoing but independent MP Brendan Horan is claiming the media spotlight just months out from the election. In this special report, he talks to Natalie Dixon and reveals more about his plans for a new political party.

Independent MP Brendan Horan says he has the 500 signatures he needs to launch New Zealand's newest political party.

The New Zealand Independent Coalition will be made up of independent MPs who are focused on doing what is best for their individual electorate instead of "bowing down" to a party, Mr Horan said.

He said Parliament had become all about parties, with each side arguing their position but not stepping back to think about what is best for the people of New Zealand.

A political party of independent MPs would "change the system" and make MPs "truly accountable and transparent" and see the creation of good, workable law, he said.

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"NZ Independent Coalition MPs will have to vote for what is best for their electorate, not what is best for their party, which is not currently happening in New Zealand."

Mr Horan will have to send the signatures to the Electoral Commission before the party is registered.

Mr Horan was left in the political wilderness in 2012 after New Zealand First expelled him, amid allegations he took money from his late mother's bank accounts, with some people questioning his right to be still be in Parliament as an independent MP.

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He has always denied the allegations and the executor of his mother's estate cleared him. However, police are still investigating after the Serious Fraud Office referred the matter to them.

But Mr Horan is now claiming the media spotlight just months out from the election - firing allegations of bullying and misusing parliamentary funding at New Zealand First and its leader Winston Peters under the protection of parliamentary privilege.

He maintained he did not have a professional spin doctor helping him attack Mr Peters, saying the recent exchanges just "happened how they happened".

THE ill-tempered exchanges between himself and Mr Peters started because he stood up to the New Zealand First leader, he said.

But Mr Peters' reference in Parliament to Mr Horan as "the Jimmy Savile of New Zealand politics" was "the worst". The late Sir Jimmy Savile has been accused of hundreds of child molestation offences.

"The first thing I thought of was my children. I have an 8 and a 12-year-old, and the effect on them at school, that got to me but I bit back a retort and just thought to myself, exercise some control here."

Mr Peters later withdrew the comment and apologised after Speaker David Carter asked him to.

But political expert Margaret Clark, of Victoria University, believed there could be more slurs to come.

"It is getting pretty nasty," she said.

"They are going tit for tat but we do see this sort of thing in the lead-up to the election. Parliament gets very nasty and I have a feeling we have not seen the end of it."

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Prof Clark said Mr Peters had dodged many attacks in the past.

"Horan's parliamentary privilege will end in three months, so he needs to make a big move soon, if he has one."

Mr Peters refused to comment on the battle between himself and Mr Horan, saying he was "not wasting him time on it".

Mr Horan said he was focused on the new political party and its policies, with the environment, the elderly and isolating skills needed in new technologies to create jobs for young New Zealanders at the top of the list.

A LONG-term economic goal for the country was also on the agenda, along with a decision on which electorate to stand in after recent boundary changes.

"I live in the Bay of Plenty electorate now, so I am going through the pros and cons of each."

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He denied he was looking at the Bay of Plenty electorate due to Tauranga MP Simon Bridges' popularity.

"Surely by now I have demonstrated that I am scared of no one."

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