Beehive diaries: Which minister is in trouble for unparliamentary language

Women MPs celebrate achieving equal representation in Parliament. Photo / Robert Kitchin

Parliament celebrated the milestone of gender-equal membership this week with a celebratory photograph in the Parliamentary library and an event in the Beehive Banquet Hall.

New Zealand’s three women Prime Ministers were all in attendance (kind of - Helen Clark appeared via video link). Jenny Shipley made a rare public appearance (she skipped 2021′s 150th anniversary of the Press Gallery, quite the snub considering it was attended by every other living Prime Minister).

While National delivered New Zealand’s first woman Prime Minister, it has done relatively little to help achieve the milestone of gender parity in Parliament with its heavily male caucus.

Despite their very male membership, only one male National MP took up an invitation to attend the Banquet Hall celebration: Paul Goldsmith.

Goldsmith is no stranger to pumping up the number of caucus diversity. In 2020, former deputy leader Nikki Kaye mis-identified Goldsmith as Māori while defending her party’s fairly pale front bench.

On the gender front, National is still struggling to select women MPs. Of 23 candidate selections conducted by the party so far, just six have been women (and five of them are sitting MPs - congratulations to Rangitikei’s Suze Redmayne the sole woman selectee who is not a sitting MP).

It’s been a week of solid consumer affairs action in Parliament with the Prime Minister launching a broadside against the big banks and consumer affairs minister David Clark pushing New Zealand down the long road to open banking.

Voucher expiry date in spotlight

Congratulations too to Melissa Lee, who had her Members’ Bill on gift card expiry dates drawn from the ballot on Thursday.

The Bill would see the minimum expiry date of gift cards extended to three years, so that everyone has a fair chance to use their cards, Lee said.

Three cheers to that - especially going into the Christmas season.

But in an age of high inflation, we wonder whether there’s much need to extend gift card expiry dates - surely inflation eating away at the purchasing power of a voucher is enough.

According to the Reserve Bank’s inflation calculator, a gift card bought three years ago would have lost about 14 per cent of its purchasing power in that time - as sure an excuse to get spending as there ever was.

Angry Andy makes comeback

Angry Andy, the moniker of former Labour Leader and current Health Minister Andrew Little, reared his head again this week.

Little was given a ticking-off on Tuesday Speaker Adrian Rurawhe for an “unparliamentary remark” used in his answers to written questions from National health spokesman Shane Reti.

The “unparliamentary” slur? Little had mocked Reti for believing in “conspiracy theories”.

The Speaker awarded National additional questions as punishment.