KEY POINTS:
United Future leader Peter Dunne has accused politicians of intruding into the grief of the Muliaga family.
And in a veiled reference to Prime Minister Helen Clark, he suggested politicians were wading too far into the tragedy.
Mr Dunne said "unseemly" scrapping between the Labour and National parties
over the death of Falole Muliaga should stop as a mark of respect to the woman who died hours after electricity was cut to her home and oxygen machine.
"I don't know what the family's position is, but I think there's been a huge intrusion into their grief," Mr Dunne told the Herald yesterday.
Asked if he thought the Prime Minister was among those wading into the situation, Mr Dunne made a general statement:
"I do think that politicians in these situations have to be very, very careful about not milking an awful situation for their own opportunity.
"And I do think that some of the comments that have been flying around, about what should be done and shouldn't be done, have a bit of that air about them."
Mr Dunne also doubted that tougher rules announced by Helen Clark on Monday to protect vulnerable electricity consumers were appropriate.
He said the proposals being put forward by the Government went beyond what the problem was.
"Thankfully, a case like this is very, very rare," Mr Dunne said.
"There's a real danger of going overboard, and creating a whole level of bureaucracy that won't be necessary."
But the National Party's idea of leaving power companies to sort it out was also "too cavalier", he added.
And the companies complained yesterday about the added burden. Retailers said it was hard to know if customers were struggling to pay accounts unless they were told.
Welfare authorities deal with about 32,000 families a year who cannot pay their power bills.
One of the new Government rules for electricity companies is that they find out if a consumer is "vulnerable" before disconnecting power.
But Mr Dunne suggested that if somebody was sent home from hospital with a dialysis machine or some other form of life-saving equipment, the district health board should make sure there was a power supply, or send the power company a letter of advice saying that the equipment was required.
Helen Clark has responded strongly to the death of Mrs Muliaga.
She attacked Mercury Energy for cutting Mrs Muliaga's power, then quickly produced plans to change the way electricity retailers treat vulnerable consumers.
Yesterday at the request of the Muliaga family she attended Mrs Muliaga's funeral and spoke at it.
Labour's Maungakiekie MP Mark Gosche and Associate Minister of Pacific Island Affairs Winnie Laban were also at the funeral.
Asked last night for her response to Mr Dunne's comments, Helen Clark said through a spokesman that she was showing leadership and working to deal with the issues raised by the case.
She would not have attended the funeral had she not been invited.
The National Party has also questioned whether tougher regulations are needed.
