It takes an awful lot to flummox Winston Peters, but Tariana Turia yesterday came as close as anyone is likely to get to doing so.
Resuming his intermittent one-man mission to destroy Turia's most-prized creation, Whanau Ora, Peters came to Parliament with a document which he waved as evidence that Turia was dishing out the dollars holus-bolus to various Maori entities, so they could fund their bids to run the multi-million dollar social programme.
The NZ First leader was so keen for the House to get to his question that he was barking orders at Bill English, variously telling the Acting Prime Minister to "sit down" or "stop wasting time".
When Peters finally got the call, he asked Turia, as Minister responsible for Whanau Ora, whether she had ever offered resources and staff, such as report writers, to prepare Whanau Ora commissioning agency bid documentation. "No," Turia replied.
Had she given $500,000-plus expert help to the National Hauora Coalition to prepare its bid for Whanau Ora money? Again, the reply was an emphatic "no".