None of the 32 ministries has been abolished. The civil service remains bloated, both in size and pay. The core public service is now 60% larger than under former Prime Minister Sir John Key, and average public sector pay exceeds the private sector average.
The Budget projects Government spending will reach 42.7% of GDP.
Let’s reflect on history. The Roman Empire lasted 400 years, built roads, funded a standing army, provided bread and circuses and did it all on less than 5% of GDP. Rome began to fall when the tax burden increased.
The size of Government today is a major reason this country is in decline. Yet, apart from Act, every party seems content or eager to borrow and spend more.
But something happened on Budget day that no party can ignore.
There had been protests that suspending the Te Pāti Māori leaders, following the Privileges Committee’s recommendation, would prevent them from participating in the Budget debate.
Yet when the Budget was read, the cameras revealed that neither leader had showed up. They did not bother to attend or contribute.
As someone who has been referred to the Privileges Committee twice, appointed a member by both Labour and Act, I had to become something of an expert on parliamentary privilege. The leading case on the subject, Prebble v TVNZ, was my case before the Privy Council.
I hasten to add I was never found to have breached privilege.
In a chamber as intimate as ours, order is essential.
Every forum, including marae, has rules. At marae, I have seen speakers sat down for breaking protocol. Once, I witnessed Māori from Australia expelled for not respecting procedure.
Claims standards of parliamentary behaviour have fallen are nonsense. Except for Te Pāti Māori, this is a well-behaved House.
The Speaker’s referral of the floor protest to the Privileges Committee was not discretionary. It was required by Standing Orders.
The Speaker was lenient. He could have ordered the Sergeant-at-Arms to end the Māori Party haka. Any MP who resisted is automatically suspended for the rest of this Parliament.
No Parliament can tolerate its proceedings being disrupted by protest.
In 1981, British Speaker George Thomas suspended Labour MP Ron Brown for 20 days for nothing more than placing a protest flag on the Commons table.
In 2023, the Tennessee House of Representatives expelled two Democratic lawmakers for leading a protest on the House floor.
Yes, there have been incidents of disorder in the House before, but all admitted their actions were wrong. No MP has ever refused a summons to the Privileges Committee. With respect to the Clerk’s advice, the House has regarded a refusal to attend as a contempt.
Peni Henare, who joined the protest, has not been suspended because he admitted he was wrong and apologised.
Te Pāti Māori MPs could have avoided lengthy suspension just as easily.
Here is where the Te Pāti Māori MPs’ actions are unprecedented. In the previous bad behaviour in the UK, Tennessee and New Zealand, none of the MPs were opposed to parliamentary democracy.
The party wants a Māori Parliament. Its website says there is a full policy, but access is on request. My request has been ignored.
What are the policies the party doesn’t want the public to see?
Across Europe, there are MMP parliaments with extremist parties that reject parliamentary norms. Europeans know it is a mistake to appease democracy’s enemies.
The democratic parties establish a “cordon sanitaire”. They refuse to form coalitions or alliances with parties that oppose democracy.
Here’s what is also unprecedented: the New Zealand Labour Party, long a champion of parliamentary democracy, has not set a cordon sanitaire and ruled out working with Te Pāti Māori.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins told Parliament that Labour wants no penalty on the MP who instigated the protest and just 24 hours for the party leaders – no real sanction in my view.
Parliamentary democracy is not safe with Labour.
That, not anything in the Budget, is the most serious issue to emerge in Budget week.
