KEY POINTS:
Maybe it is because Keith Locke has the luxury of being able to condemn violations of human rights by foreign powers and demand New Zealand do something concrete about them without him having to worry about the potential retribution.
Or maybe it is because the Green MP is
so easy to bait. Or, as he put it, "red-bait".
Maybe it is a bit of both.
Whatever, Labour's Michael Cullen yesterday added his name to the list of politicians, including Winston Peters and Richard Prebble, who have sought to knock the Greens' foreign affairs spokesman off his moral high-horse by reminding him of an article he wrote more than 30 years ago.
Much to Locke's annoyance, the piece, in a 1975 edition of Socialist Action, has been dredged up repeatedly to make the claim he once praised Pol Pot, the Cambodian despot responsible for the genocide of around one million people in the late 1970s.
What was different yesterday was that the ribbing should come from Labour, which has good reason not to upset the Greens in election year. The deliberate provocation resulted in not one, but two personal statements from Locke to Parliament in a bid to stop MPs tormenting him.
Fat chance of that happening. Speaking on Peters' behalf - the Foreign Minister was on an out-of-town speaking engagement - Cullen was answering questions from Locke on how New Zealand had responded to China's crackdown on demonstrators in Tibet.
Cullen made the usual noises about the Government regularly raising human rights issues with Beijing. But then he added: "However, it is fair to say that the Chinese Government's record in these matters is somewhat better than in the depths of the days of the Cultural Revolution, when that member supported the Chinese Government's approach."
Not surprisingly, Locke was instantly on his feet. The Cultural Revolution resulted in many deaths and huge disruption to Chinese society. Locke took strong offence at this "abuse" and demanded Cullen apologise.
But Cullen was still in the mood to taunt. "Clearly my memory as a fellow student of the member at Canterbury University is now somewhat faulty on these matters. I must remember him referring to the Pol Pot regime."
That was the big red rag to Locke who angrily pointed out that he had repeatedly told Parliament he had never supported Pol Pot or his genocidal policies. "I think it is a disgrace for a Labour Deputy Prime Minister to sink to that level."
On Speaker Margaret Wilson's instruction, Cullen apologised. However, a short time later, with Locke out of the chamber, Cullen tabled the Socialist Action article, which was headlined "Cambodia Liberated: Victory for Humanity".
Returning to the house, Locke said the article had been written after the fall of the previous "corrupt" regime and it was widely hoped the new government would be an improvement.'
The MP, the son of feminist and socialist Elsie Locke, was soon in full flight explaining how his activism had been moulded by listening to the radio during Hungary's failed attempt to break free from the Soviet bloc in 1956.
"I think the member has made his point," the Speaker interrupted.
But it was Cullen who got the last word. "The member has got to stop being so sensitive about something he wrote in 1975."