Watch a heated back and forth around the topic of pay equity. Video / Parliament TV
Chris Hipkins admits it was a mistake for Labour to quote a column labelling female politicians offensively.
Labour MP Jan Tinetti’s question led to criticism from Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden.
Hipkins says the issue distracted from pay equity debate, acknowledging Labour “played into their hands”.
Chris Hipkins admits it was a “mistake” for Labour to ask a question in Parliament yesterday that directly quoted from a newspaper column that labelled female politicians “c***s”.
Speaker Gerry Brownlee has also told Parliament that he shouldn’t have allowed it to be asked.
Hipkins says that by Tinetti quoting from that Sunday Star-Times column in her oral question, Labour contributed to a distraction from the pay equity regime changes.
“We’ve got a process for signing off questions that went all the way through that process,” he said.
“We collectively own that. So as leader of the Labour Party, I’ll own that. It would have been better had we quoted from something else, not from that column.”
Prior to that question being asked yesterday, the Herald directly asked Hipkins whether he believed it was appropriate.
“It is quoting directly from an article that was published in the paper ... we live in a country of free speech,” the Labour leader said on Wednesday.
Asked today what had changed since then, Hipkins said: “This has now become a big distraction that is taking away from what is a very fair issue.
“I think we made a mistake there. I think when people who are affected by this see politicians fighting with each other and making it all about themselves as we’ve seen in the last 24 hours, I think they’ll feel somewhat despondent and dejected. We should get back to talking about the issues that affect them.”
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the question asked by Jan Tinetti was a mistake. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Hipkins said the Government wants to move away from the debate on pay equity and Labour “played into their hands in that regard a little bit yesterday”.
“I think that was unfortunate. I want to get the debate back to the fact that, you know, the people who are being affected by this have every right to feel aggrieved.”
He denied the language in Tinetti’s question was “misogynistic”.
“I think that there was certainly language in the column as a whole that was not language that I would use.”
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’."
Moments after the admission of an error by Hipkins, the Speaker told the House that he should not have allowed Tinetti’s question.
“I note that no party raised issues with the question during the pre-publication period. It was reasonable then to reach the assumption the House had accepted the content of the question as the House is the architect of its own procedure,” Brownlee said.
“Nor should I have allowed the word used in response to the question to go unchecked. The member concerned may wish to think about a belated action to uphold the dignity of the House.”
Brownlee made a ruling that says questions can be asked of a minister “if they agree with comments made in news or opinion articles or broadcasts, but cannot repeat comment if it is of a discreditable nature to any member of this House”.
“The use of socially unacceptable language or profanity, even if relevant to authentication in either question or answer, is not permissible and has been a long-held permission in this House.”
The Speaker, Gerry Brownlee. Photo / Mark Mitchell
“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’,” van Velden said.
“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.”
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. Stuffhas also published a spectrum of views on this issue, including today from the Minister of Finance.”
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub Press Gallery office.
