Brownlee Gerry: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Brownlee Gerry: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:624;Page:19689] 
2.  
GERRY BROWNLEE (Deputy Leader—National) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does she stand by her reported statement that John Tamihere’s comments maligning her and her Government were a result of stress? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Deputy Prime Minister) 
 on behalf of the 
 Prime Minister 
: The Prime Minister has no doubt that Mr Tamihere has been going through a period of considerable stress. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. That really does not answer the question at all. It loosely addresses it perhaps. The question asked whether she sticks by her statement. Now she is saying that she has no doubt that he was. It was categoric at the start of the week and it now seems to be sort of “perhaps”. Maybe we should have that clarified by the person who answered the question. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: The Minister addressed the question. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Did she note in Mr Tamihere’s apology on the  
Close Up  
TV programme that he did not resile from the comments he made about her Cabinet colleagues or herself except for Dr Cullen whom he wants to share a toothbrush with and about her caucus; and will she now accept the resignation he says he has offered or does she instead accept the truth in what he says? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Firstly I am sure the Prime Minister did note that and secondly the Deputy Prime Minister is grateful for the offer but has enough toothbrushes. What was the third point? 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Clarification is sought for the third point. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: The third point was: will she accept the resignation that Mr Tamihere says he has given or does she instead accept the truth in what he said? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: It is not for the Prime Minister to accept Mr Tamihere’s resignation from Parliament; it is the Speaker who accepts a resignation from Parliament. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. There was no hint from Mr Tamihere that he might resign from Parliament. There was a strong suggestion that he had offered his resignation from the Labour Party. Of course if he resigned from the Labour Party that would leave him as a member of Parliament much as Mrs Turia was left as a member of Parliament after her resignation from the Labour Party. The person answering on behalf of the Prime Minister said that it is not up to the Prime Minister to accept the resignation. If she is the leader of the party who else would accept it? 
Madam SPEAKER 
: The Minister addressed the question. 
Dail Jones 
: How long can the Prime Minister continue to support John Tamihere a Labour MP in a Maori seat when he is prepared to crucify his fellow Maori MPs by suggesting that they and he were duped by Dr Michael Cullen and New Zealand First over the foreshore and seabed legislation? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: My understanding although I have not seen the  
Close Up 
 interview or the transcript is that in fact he paid tribute to Dr Cullen’s drafting skills. 
Rodney Hide 
: In light of the answer he has just given does the Prime Minister believe it is acceptable for John Tamihere to go around saying that the Maori MPs were in fact duped by the drafting skills of Michael Cullen—including that of New Zealand First being duped? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: My understanding is that Mr Tamihere did not make that claim. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Does the Prime Minister contemplate a mechanism such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission from South Africa—and in the absence of Desmond Tutu I would be very happy to serve myself on it—and what it might make of the Christchurch  
Press 
 article today in which Mr Tamihere says: “… you can still have a professional relationship with a bloke but still think he’s a tugger.” and who in the Labour Party was he talking about when he used that phrase? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: The Leader of the House advises that he could definitely have a professional relationship with some people who think they are “tuggers”. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. There were two parts to my question. The first was whether this was a phrase capable of being reconciled on but I wanted to know who the Prime Minister thought Mr Tamihere was talking about amongst his colleagues when he referred to them as “tuggers”; he completely refused to answer that part of the question. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Would the Minister please address that part of the question. 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: I have no advice on that matter. On the first part of the question he originally asked perhaps some of us would rather see Mr Peters in a tutu rather than as a Tutu. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: That’s a pretty preoccupying predilection over there. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Mr Brownlee was that your question? 
Gerry Brownlee 
: No. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Would you please address the question. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Why does the Prime Minister continue to suggest that John Tamihere has been suffering from stress when last night when he was asked whether he was under stress he answered that he had been down a bumpy road—“But no” he said “I’ve checked my suspension and my suspension is riding OK.”; and does she agree with him? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Despite rumours the member’s suspension was not under threat from the Prime Minister at any point but I am advised that in fact anybody who has lunch with Ian Wishart is probably showing signs of stress already. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I ask the Prime Minister or her stand-in at the moment why on earth he would conceive of New Zealand First members of Parliament wearing tutus although it is obviously the kind of garb and dress that some members of his caucus commonly wear. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: It is a little wide of the question but would the Minister please answer it. 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: I am not quite sure what the member is getting at in that respect but I respect that some of my colleagues are very open about their sexual orientation. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: Is the situation we now have that Mr Tamihere has made very serious allegations against the Government that the Prime Minister says are untrue and defamatory; that last night on the Television One  
Close Up 
 programme Mr Tamihere did not retract any of the allegations but has said there is a reconciliation with the Government; and if that is so does the Prime Minister accept that this House and indeed the public are entitled to know who is telling the truth—the Prime Minister or Mr Tamihere—and how does she propose to resolve that matter? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: The Prime Minister has no responsibility for the statements made by a back-bencher only for statements made by Ministers. If I understand what Mr Tamihere said the process of reconciliation is under way with the Labour caucus. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Can the Prime Minister confirm that there is no way Mr Tamihere is going to be disciplined by the Labour Party because disciplining him would cause it to pay too big a political price? 
Madam SPEAKER 
: The question is addressing a matter relating to the party not ministerial responsibility. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. Forgive my inexperience. Can I reword it? 
Madam SPEAKER 
: The member can reword the question. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: It is a fairly substantial rewording Madam Speaker. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: As long as it relates to ministerial responsibility that is fine. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Does the Prime Minister believe that her Clayton’s style apology to the United States President for any offence she had caused when making remarks about the Iraq War served as a template for Mr Tamihere’s apology given on  
Close Up 
 last night and did she or her staff assist him in its preparation? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: I do know that the Prime Minister met with Mr Tamihere on Tuesday because the  
New Zealand Herald  
told me so and I also knew out of my own knowledge. As to comparisons between this event and matters relating to President George Bush I think that is drawing rather a long bow indeed.