The problem, apparently, was that Mr Peters' presence on the bus could have breached the vehicle's certificate of loading. And just to emphasise the fact that the ministry will not kowtow to politicians who are prepared to play fast and loose with the safety of children, 24 hours wasn't enough time to reach a conclusion.
Is it any wonder that this country wallows in a sea of red tape? We have a government that wants to reform the Resource Management Act, one of the most complex (and damaging) pieces of legislation that has ever hamstrung this country, and the Ministry of Education needs more than 24 hours to decide whether or not an MP can be allowed to go for a ride on a school bus without breaking the law, and, presumably, endangering the lives of the bone fide passengers.
The only danger to the children in this case, one imagines, is that they would have been at risk of being driven into a state of catatonia had Mr Peters chosen to educate his captive audience on the failings of the government's immigration policy.
Of course he himself might have been at risk of choking to death on dust, but that potential outcome would more likely have led to instant approval of his request rather than calling a commission of inquiry to determine whether or not it should be granted.
Mr Peters might be a little quicker than most to detect a conspiracy, but it's difficult not to agree with him this time. It would hardly have come as news to the Ministry of Education, or anyone else in government, that dusty unsealed roads are an issue in Northland. It might have occurred to someone that if a dusty road needs sealing that message should go to the relevant district council rather than Wellington, but clearly it didn't.
Mr Peters' interpretation is that a group of parents and a school principal who wanted him to experience a dusty bus ride, presumably in the hope that he would be able to do something about it, have been denied their right to communicate effectively with their local MP by a government that will stoop to instruct its officials to lie to cover up a "nightmare" of political decision-making that went "horribly wrong".
True or not, the ministry, and its associate minister, have come across as ridiculously bureaucratic, and not especially sympathetic to the concerns of those who were hoping their MP would be able to do something about a genuine problem. Mr Peters wins again.
Imagine this scenario. The school bus contractor in Helensville imports a state-of-the-art bus from our good friends in Taiwan, and invites the local MP, the Prime Minister, to go for a ride.
Mr Key will obviously need police clearance - Mr Peters had that - just to make sure he's not a registered sex offender, and confirmation that there will be a spare seat. But the Ministry of Education says, 'Not so fast Mr Key. We need to check that the certificate of loading won't be breached, and we'll need more than 24 hours to do it. We will get back to you with our decision.'
Or this. The bus company takes delivery of its flash new bus and invites the local MP to hop aboard. The invitation is accepted by the MP, who will be accompanied by security and a horde of media representatives, and off he goes, presumably on a sealed road. It would not be a good look to have the Prime Minister coughing his lungs out in a dusty bus.
If this silly incident was an attempt by the government and its supposedly politically neutral officials to prevent Mr Peters from serving his electorate it was ill-advised. Every time Mr Peters will seize upon every opportunity to claim that he and/or his electorate are being shunned by the ruling party, to add to his stockpile of ammunition for next year's general election.
Making life difficult for him as Northland's MP is in fact making it more and more unlikely that National will regain the seat it lost last year. And making life difficult for Mr Peters reinforces the view that he expresses at every opportunity, that Northland doesn't matter to National.
He need only repeat ad nauseam, as he quite rightly does, that the two-laning of 10 bridges in Northland no longer seems to be the priority it was when National still had hopes of winning the by-election, but the government persists in handing him fresh evidence that Northland doesn't really matter.
True, the government has just released an economic development plan that it says offers real opportunities for Northland, but when it comes to all important public perception, Mr Peters being kicked off a school bus will have greater resonance with many voters than what might well be seen as just another plan that, like so many before it, waxes eloquent about the potential this region has had since the 19th century and which largely remains unrealised.
Even if this latest plan is a roaring success and Northland begins heaving itself out of the economic doldrums it has occupied for so long, it is the little things that people will remember, and in Winston Peters they have an MP who is an expert at ensuring that they won't forget every slight.
How happy he must be that on the one hand the government has drawn for his electorate a picture of future prosperity, and on the other imposes petty rules that are guaranteed to offend people out of all proportion.
