Ardern Shane: General Debates 
Ardern Shane: General Debates 
[Volume:612;Page:8983] 
SHANE ARDERN (NZ National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 I want to start my comments by agreeing entirely with the Prime Minister. She is a victim of her own success without a doubt. Unfortunately her success the success of the New Zealand Prime Minister is one of deceit double standards half-truths and spin. She has been totally successful in hoodwinking the public of New Zealand—but not for much longer. 
I want to talk about an event that took place here on 4 September affecting myself and to draw a comparison with what I am talking about here. Somebody in a high place in this House—I cannot mention him because it would break the Standing Orders—said that on that day through driving a tractor up a few steps of Parliament I may have broken the law. I want to send the strongest possible message to anybody else who may contemplate doing such a heinous thing that he or she will be arrested and taken away straight away. I want to send that message. Then I got two apologies in the House from that senior person—one personally and one when I was not present. 
The second event which took place soon afterwards was that the acting Leader of the House came out and said the MP concerned was reckless and stupid and that if it had been anybody else he or she would have been arrested on the spot and taken away. That is what that man said. Further he made a whole range of comments that I do not intend to respond to because only a fool would respond to them. Only a fool would respond to such an ignoramus who proved his ignorance of what he was talking about in the statement he made. I do not intend to waste any more time on that. 
Then came the ultimate event in it all: the leader of the “sisterhood” went on national television in her post-Cabinet press conference and said that she thought the member’s actions were disorderly. 
David Benson-Pope 
: Whom are we talking about Mr Ardern? 
SHANE ARDERN 
: We are talking about the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister said that she thought the member’s actions were disorderly. Here is the first coincidence: within a few hours of that I received a call from the police. Within 2 days I was charged with disorderly behaviour. That was a total coincidence of course! Where is the double standard? The double standard is that I totally cooperated with the police answered all their questions and then was charged. Three senior members of the House suggested that I should be charged and I have been. Where is the further coincidence? Here is another absolute coincidence: the member of the police who came down with the charges happened to work just coincidently in the office of the Minister of Police for 2 years prior to holding the position he holds now. That is a further total coincidence. 
Here is where it gets worse; here is where it really gets bad. A member of the Alkema family contacted my office in Te Kuiti and talked about the Danny Alkema case. They talked to me about it and pleaded with me to bring it to the House and highlight the double standards. They also contacted the Rt Hon Winston Peters and he brought it to the House instantly and exposed it. What did we get then? Another member of the “sisterhood” Ms Dyson came into the House put on the cat-like vitriolic face that only she can and accused both Winston Peters and the Hon Bill English of engaging in the lowest of politics that one can get into. I think she said that the Hon Bill English was a disgrace to his Catholic upbringing. She accused him of breaking his religious background—that is what she did. If it came down to a choice between the Hon Bill English and Ms Dyson as to someone who has upheld Christian principles then I know whom the public would choose. That person is not unfamiliar with late-night roadside interviews by the police either. 
Then what happened? As if that was not bad enough the situation got worse. Two days later the Hon Steve Maharey—talking about the “sisterhood”—after having lived a life of blameless excellence went to the  
Sunday Star-Times 
 talked about the Coral Burrows murder and blamed it on section 59 of the Crimes Act. It does not get worse than that. It is a double standard.