Dame Susan Devoy: Brash gaffe hurts his main man

Most of us would have been guilty at some stage in our lives of engaging our mouth before our brain. However, most of us are not politicians or public figures so generally feel like an idiot but don't experience public condemnation.

Don Brash's proclamation to the country this week re his views about decriminalising the personal use of cannabis suggests the man may have spent too much time in a hot box itself.

There is no denying there is an argument to decriminalise the personal use of marijuana. New Zealanders are among the heaviest users in the world per capita. About 400,000 allegedly smoke it and it costs the government millions of police dollars to enforce prohibition and it doesn't appear to be making any difference.

It illegally creates a lucrative enterprise for criminals and gangs so there is a genuine cause to debate this issue, bearing in mind that decriminalising isn't the same as making it legal.

I would probably not have given it a second thought if this was proposed by the Green Party, long-time advocates of decriminalisation, but not Brash and the Act Party. Here is a party (albeit a rapidly diminishing one) promoting zero tolerance, tougher law and order so this doesn't fit, particularly when your leader knows or should know that your key trump card, John Banks the Epsom candidate, will have totally different views. Banks is the only hope Act has of getting back into government and, whether you like him or not, he means what he says and says what he means.

He is not a populist but a former minister of police with deep conservative views and does Don think that the conservative voters living in Epsom really want marijuana decriminalised?

There are pros and cons around the decriminalisation of marijuana but this is a real dichotomy to come from a man who flip-flopped when voting on the Civil Union Bill.

We all know that often it's not what you say but how you say it or the context it is delivered in. Brash isn't the only person guilty of that this week.

Steve Tew, CEO of the New Zealand Rugby Union, has made a veiled threat for the All Blacks to boycott the next Rugby World Cup. The essence of his argument is valid - that the cost of attending a RWC is prohibitive, the restrictions around sponsorship need to be relaxed and so forth. But we all know that he would never come within a bull's roar of being allowed to follow through with that threat.

And besides it's a tad churlish to be raising these concerns right in the middle of the greatest celebration Kiwis have seen for years. Not to mention that it is just another unwanted distraction for the All Blacks who have more on their minds than having to worry about fronting desperate journalists looking for a different angle.

Look, we all make gaffes from time to time and or say things without realising there may be implications. I am sure the PM regrets his intended joke to Julia Gillard, the PM of Australia, suggesting they might gift us a mine if the Warriors win tomorrow.

Nothing is secret and nothing is sacred, that's why they say timing is everything.

But no. Brash is a solitary man. A man from another generation where listening to others is low on his list of priorities. I have no doubt this may well be a deeply held personal view. But it clashes with his party, it clashes with the views of high-profile candidate Banks.