Protecting Peters

This cartoon from the Southland Times sums it up.

The General Debate yesterday saw the most extraordinary “Operation Protect Winston” from Labour and WInston himself. It took 90 minutes for Rodney Hide to make a five minute speech as senior Labour Ministers and Winston did everything they could to stop Rodney from revealing further damning claims of corruption, including alleged lies to a select committee.

Considering how often Winston Peters and Trevor Mallard have made wild accusations under parliamentary privilege, it was galling to see them both work towards stopping Rodney Hide quoting someone who was willing to state their views on camera to TVNZ.

The Dom Post reports Auckland University law professor Bill Hodge expressing concern over how the Government is trying to block Hide from revealing accusations of corruption.

On a related note, it was telling last night when the audience at Back Benches were asked to indicate if they beleive Winston Peters was telling the truth regarding Owen Glenn. Not a single person in the audience indicated they thought Peters was telling the truth.

The Government should be demanding the SFO investigate the allegations or be setting up a Commission of Inquiry into them – not trying to shut MPs down.