Hahahahahahhaaahahahahahahaaaahahahaaahaahahaha!
David Seymour hoists himself with his own petard, providing small moment of levityHenry Cooke 17:25 April 2nd, 2019
ROSS GIBLIN/STUFFACT leader David Seymour should be thanked for providing Parliament with a small moment of levity.
ANALYSIS: David Seymour seemed to realise something was wrong just when he was too late to do anything about it.
The sole ACT Party Member of Parliament was standing just outside of the House on Tuesday taking oodles of questions from media about why exactly he was going to stand athwart history and yell "stop".
His stand was against the Government passing its gun control laws in just two weeks, a move supported by everyone in Parliament except Seymour.
While Seymour couldn't stop the Government doing this, he could stop it getting the bill rushed through with the support of all of Parliament, instead forcing them into the messy business of urgency. All he had to do was yell that he objected when Chris Hipkins stood up and sought the leave to abridge the normal process, and he'd get his nice little rhetorical win, perhaps winning the votes of some frustrated gun owners in the process.
But alas, as Seymour stood taking a good five minutes of questions from the humble press gallery, the clock ticked past 2pm and the House got going in earnest. Hipkins, clearly not believing his luck, started to reel off the long point of order to an incredulous House, while MPs across the spectrum craned their necks to check whether Seymour had arrived.
He had not. Despite rushing off from the media when he realised just how late he was - there's a handy clock and bell system to stop MPs being tardy - Seymour did not make it, and the point of order was carried with no objection. Seymour had missed his chance to stop the law being passed quickly because he was too busy talking about stopping the law being passed quickly.
This David had met his Goliath in the form of the boyish Chris Hipkins. And this time Goliath had won.
The Government MPs maintained big smiles throughout Question Time, handing a bucket of lollies passed down the front bench, National MPs - including the man obliged to lose to Seymour every election, Paul Goldsmith - could be seen openly laughing, with Maggie Barry wiping what looked to be tears from her eyes.
The end result, as Seymour noted with a big smile on his face after Question Time, was the same: the bill was always going to pass within two weeks. This position is entirely true, but also happens to invalidate Seymour's original plan.
This is a clear victory for Hipkins' reputation as a manager of the House, which was left somewhat damaged after a mixup voting for the Speaker just as this Government began its term.
It's also provided a tiny sliver of levity to what will be a grim session of Parliament begins to fully reckon with the horror of the Christchurch attacks.
Parliament's proxy system means MPs very rarely actually have to be in the House for important things.
The last time something like this happened was in 2007, when United Future MP Gordan Copeland quit his party thanks to his opposition to the anti-smacking bill. He then missed the third reading debate - and the vote, although he managed to have this corrected later.
Copeland was soon booted from Parliament, winning just 515 electorate votes. A similar future seems unlikely for Seymour, although Epsom voters are not known for their love of guns.
At least Seymour doesn't have to face his caucus and explain himself any time soon - unless he catches himself in the mirror, of course.
Stuffhttps://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politi ... -of-levityghost note: What a shame the politicians of the United Kingdom can't find a way to work together for the common good.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
