The truth comes out

The NZ Herald reports a damning story by NZPA about how Harry Duynhoven told some constituents that he was happy for there to be a by-election but that Labour was worried it would take a hammering over the foreshore and seabed issue.

Now some people have not been convinced that this is a big issue. But just think about the precedent that we have allowed this Government to not just set, but get away with.

We now have a precedent that the Government can retrospectively amend the electoral act to avoid an election, because the timing is politically inconvenient.

Clark has already shown a willingness to have an early election on the filmiest of grounds (that seven minutes a day of points or order were making the Government unmanageable), and now she has cancelled an election on equally flimsy grounds. Arrogance doesn’t even come close to the epitaphs I am thinking of.