Editorial: Over-the-top reaction to tractor case

Parliament is not short of the means for bringing recalcitrant members to heel. Its privileges committee can demand a resignation or, in the most extreme of cases, impose a period of imprisonment. Usually it falls to the Speaker to exercise his considerable powers to pull MPs into line. Why, then, is necessary for the police to become involved in a foolish prank involving the MP for Taranaki-King Country? Parliament had already dealt with Shane Ardern on its own terms. There was no need for police intervention, and every reason for the Wellington constabulary to devote its time and resources to matters of real mayhem.

Mr Ardern has been charged with offensive behaviour after he drove a tractor up Parliament's steps during a flatulence tax protest. The MP has conceded that, in hindsight, his action was wrong. Such, indeed, was the case, but the degree of misdeed must be kept in context. Above all, this stunt, perpetrated by a farmer, endangered no one, whatever the Government might purport. Once Parliament's manager of security put himself in front of the tractor, Mr Ardern stopped and reversed down the steps.

For his error of judgment, the MP has paid penance. He has had a private telling-off by the Speaker, Jonathan Hunt, and, on Tuesday, apologised to Parliament. "No offence was intended and I regret any inconvenience that this caused," Mr Ardern said.

With so much humble pie around, why did the police feel the need to lay charges? It is to be hoped it was not at the behest of a Government whose reaction to the incident has been over the top, a reflection perhaps of its discomfort over opposition to the planned tax. From the Prime Minister down, Mr Ardern's antics have been decried, even to the extent of the Transport Minister making lame references to the number of people killed in tractor accidents.

The Speaker, for his part, said the stunt was "totally morally reprehensible". Mr Hunt identified a litany of transgressions: a potential breach of the law, a failure to take safety measures, the risk of damage to a heritage building and the resultant need to embark on a costly review of Parliament's security. It all sounded more like the storming of the Bastille than an innocuous publicity stunt.

The Speaker has been careful to note that he has had no contact with the police, and that it was "their call" to bring charges. It is to be hoped the police were not influenced by the tirade directed at Mr Ardern by politicians keen to divert attention from the issues raised by an embarrassing protest.

What should definitely have influenced them was precedent. The police knew before deciding to charge Mr Ardern that his act was not unique. In early 1987 Bob Tizard, then the Labour Government's Energy Minister, drove a tractor up the steps of Parliament to demonstrate a form of alternative fuel. True to the nature of politics, Opposition MPs of the time tried to make capital by rattling on about safety. But there was no intervention by security, nor was there any rebuke from the Speaker. Nor did the police become involved. The incident was recognised for what it was - a harmless prank.

Quite how the police reconcile their stand over Mr Ardern with their inaction in 1987 has not been explained. Their response, from the start, has been numbingly pious. According to the Wellington area controller, "using vehicles or heavy machinery in a protest exposes a risk for the safety and wellbeing of others, particularly where there is a crowd of people involved". In many instances that is obviously so. In Mr Ardern's case clearly it was not. Nobody was endangered.

The errant MP has been called to account by the Speaker. That should be the end of it. The police have nothing to gain and much to lose in public esteem. The charge against Mr Ardern should be withdrawn.