Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden might have made Parliament history on Tuesday, using the C-word in the House while attacking Labour for not condemning a column that used the word “c***” against female ministers.
Today, Labour went even further than not condemning the language in the column, which was written by journalist Andrea Vance and published in the Sunday Star-Times. One of its MPs Jan Tinetti, a former Minister for Women, asked van Velden whether she actually agreed with a section of the column.
The section Tinetti raised did not include the offending word.
In response, van Velden said she: “disagreed with the comments made, particularly, the ... use of the term backhanding".
“I do not agree with the clearly gendered and patronising language that Andrea Vance used to reduce senior Cabinet Ministers to ‘girlbosses [and] hype squads’, references to girl math and c***s.
“The women of this Government are hard-working, dedicated and strong.
“No woman in this Parliament or in this country should be subjected to sex-based discrimination.
“It is a very curious feminist moment when a former Minister for Women repeats part of a clearly misogynistic article in this House,” van Velden said, to applause from her side of the chamber.
As the applause died down, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yelled “hypocrisy” to the Labour benches – allegations of hypocrisy are generally banned in the House.
It is not clear whether the c-word or a derivative of that word has been used in the House before.
Not everyone on the Government side cheered. Peters put his head in his hands after the word was spoken.
It is common in Parliament for ministers to be asked whether they agree with a piece of economic or political commentary.
Tinetti’s primary question to van Velden quoted Vance’s column on the recent pay equity changes. The question was: “Does she agree with Andrea Vance, who said about the Equal Pay Amendment Bill: ‘It is a curious feminist moment, isn’t it? Six girlbosses – Willis, her hype-squad Judith Collins, Erica Stanford, Louise Upston, Nicola Grigg and Brooke van Velden – all united in a historic act of economic backhanding other women’.
“If not, how is unilaterally stopping 33 pay equity claims not a historic act of economic backhanding other women?”
Several members of the Government, including Peters, Shane Jones and Chris Bishop, had asked the Speaker to reflect on the fact the question was allowed to be asked, given the obscenity in the article.
Van Velden said in response it was “hard to find a single sentence in Andrea Vance’s column that I agreed with”.
On his way into the House on Wednesday, Labour leader Chris Hipkins said he would not weigh in on the column and he was “not going to criticise the editorial decisions of newspapers”.
He said New Zealand was a democracy with a free press.
Former Labour leader Helen Clark said the use of the term was “unacceptable”.
“It is possible to express strongly held opinions without resorting to abusive language,” she said in a post on social media.
Hipkins was asked whether he would condemn the column if it had been directed at former Labour leader Jacinda Ardern.
He said this was a “hypothetical”.
Stuff, the publisher of the Sunday-Star Times, previously told the Herald that it stood by the column.
A spokesperson said: “The issue of pay equity has caused robust debate.
“This is not the first time our editors have allowed the use of this word – it is carefully reviewed by experienced editors and on this occasion it was decided it was acceptable usage in this context.
“Andrea Vance, and her editor Tracy Watkins, are two of the country’s foremost political writers. Stuff has also published a spectrum of views on this issue, including today from the Minister of Finance.”
Thomas Coughlan is Political Editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the press gallery since 2018.