Anderton's integrity under fire

By AUDREY YOUNG political reporter

Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton sat conspicuously silent in Parliament yesterday amid furore over the presence of two Alliance leaders in the House - him and Laila Harre.

Opposition parties mounted a vigorous attack, saying Mr Anderton was undermining the integrity of the whole Parliament by calling himself parliamentary leader of the Alliance when everyone knew his membership of the party had been revoked last weekend.

Ms Harre, a fellow Cabinet minister, was elected leader but will not contest Mr Anderton's title in Parliament for fear of creating a dispute that could lead to an early election.

National Party leader Bill English called the situation "a calculated deception of Parliament and voters".

He also toughened up his stance on an early election, twice shouting across the debating chamber to the Government: "Why don't you call one?"

Labour's deputy leader, Michael Cullen, answered all questions about the Alliance.

He even answered questions about Mr Anderton's specialist subject of Government support for Sovereign Yachts.

Written questions had been directed to Prime Minister Helen Clark, but she was in Christchurch farewelling troops to East Timor.

She can choose who deputises for her, and her advisers say it is common for her to choose Dr Cullen and not the Deputy Prime Minister to deputise when she is in the country.

But Mr English said Labour did not want Mr Anderton to answer questions on the Government's behalf.

"They know they cannot afford to have Anderton on his feet because he will look like a total hypocrite and they know he will get jeered and booed."

National said Mr Anderton should be called leader of the Save our Salaries and Perks party - a line Labour had used for party-hoppers last term.

Dr Cullen said Mr Anderton was not the same as Alamein Kopu, whom Jenny Shipley when Prime Minister had induced to leave the Alliance and take up a Beehive suite, or Tau Henare, who left New Zealand First and voted against it.

Act leader Richard Prebble said later he was most disturbed that MPs might be required to refer to Mr Anderton as a member of the Alliance when he clearly wasn't one.

And Greens co-leader Rod Donald said: "It's worse than 'it's not a good look'. It's actually undermining of both the Parliament and the electoral system. And yet it's got nothing to do with MMP, but it unfortunately rubs off on MMP."

New Zealand First MP Ron Mark wanted to know whether the anti-party-hopping bill would be invoked - and force Mr Anderton's resignation from Parliament - if Ms Harre wrote to Speaker Jonathan Hunt saying she was the democratically elected leader, not Mr Anderton.

Mr Hunt said he did not deal in hypotheticals.

Ms Harre has said she will not force the issue in the House because that could destabilise the Coalition.