Whangarei MP Shane Reti should be miffed - apparently Associate Tourism Minister Paula Bennett is leading the charge against Wicked Campers' vans.
Dr Reti stood up in Parliament over a week ago and railed against the company, and their stupid, offensive slogans. It was essentially a stern telling off, butit was Dr Reti's telling off, not Ms Bennett's.
Dr Reti had spoken out after he responded to constituent Terry Harris' concerns. Mr Harris had spotted a campervan from Wicked Campers parked at Waipu, bearing an obscene message. It seems there is a legislative hole - the phrase was obscene enough that if you uttered it, a police officer could arrest you. Because it was written on the side of a van, police can't prosecute. And local councils aren't prosecuting either - not yet anyway.
Terry isn't the only Northlander to complain - Karen Edwards spoke out about Wicked's slogans last year. The fact that Paula Bennett is Johnny Come Lately on the Wicked bandwagon is irrelevant, as long as something gets done.
The politicians deserve credit with tackling something that has been in the 'too hard' basket for too long.
Although this isn't a new issue - where were they a year ago? Regardless of where the politicians were, let's hope a picture is building of where Wicked will end up - slithering back into the legislative hole from which it crawled out of.
