There are a couple of gongs floating around this household. Both were total surprises, as they are to most recipients. It also surprised me to see that apart from the few public figures present, those attending the investiture ceremonies were very much middle of the road and ordinary New Zealanders. The system seems to work and although some may see it as "gilding the lily", I think it has a place in our community.
But like all such processes it has one serious flaw. It has always concerned me that sitting members of Parliament could receive an honour. After all it is they, usually at the top end of the system, who appoint the honours committee that recommends such awards.
Surely this leaves a suspicion there could have been some leaning on those ministers who approve and recommend such honours.
I recall the morning after sitting Prime Minister Rob Muldoon had jumped from ordinary "Mister" to Sir Robert Muldoon. He came into the National Party caucus room and thanked "all but three of you who have congratulated me on my knighthood". I nodded to two of my colleagues and friends whom I knew shared my views.
In that 1980s era, when the "other lot" were in power, a member of their honours committee, the late Trevor De Cleene, told me why the publication of the list of the Queen's Birthday awards was three weeks late. Apparently some sitting MP poo-bah, who couldn't be ignored, had at the last moment insisted he should receive a knighthood. Only five names could be sent to Her Majesty for approval as dames or knights. This late intervention threw the process askew, hence the delay.
Maybe it is time a member of the Opposition introduced a Private Member's Bill forbidding sitting members from being recommended for an honour.
Wouldn't that cause a rustling of parliamentary feathers?
Michael Cox is a former National MP. He received an OBE "six years after my unfortunate removal as an MP"
