Espiner on Mallard

And we get a double dose of Colin today – a blog post on Trevor as well as his column on the EFB.

I’m not sure about private prosecutions. Should someone who had nothing to do with an alleged crime be able to prosecute it, even if neither the victim nor the police believe such a prosecution is justified?

So the first question is this: Did police decide against prosecuting Mallard because he is a senior Cabinet minister, or because the offence was considered minor and the victim, Henare, declined to press charges? If it was the former, then McCready may have done us all a favour. If it was the latter, then Mallard is being held to a standard the rest of us are not required to meet.

In Mallard’s case it might well be a case of sauce for the duck, given what a goose the minister has been recently. Environment Ministry whistleblower Erin Leigh reckons her job prospects have been harmed by Mallard’s recent hatchet-job on her in Parliament. It wasn’t a pretty sight and coming so soon after his dust-up with Henare the senior Labour MP came across looking like a bully.

As the Dominion Post newspaper observed recently, it’s clear whatever anger management course Clark sent him on isn’t working. Perhaps a few days in the slammer would clear Mallard’s mind?

Colin probably speaks for a lot of people with his ambivalence.  We all have sympathy for MPs against spiteful prosecutions, but on the other hand seeing Trevor monster Erin Leigh in Parliament and appearing like a bully doesn’t exactly engender sympathy.