Guilty
Members of Parliament: Should they stay or should they go?
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Take back those tears and turn your head around
′Cause there's every reason to smile from ear to ear - Yeah
All those tricks and devices you used to turn on
They make you guilty - Guilty through neglect
Lyrics: Dave Dobbyn.
A few things happened yesterday. Darleen Tana finally became an ex-MP, and Andrew Bayly became a tad more forthcoming with the truth. His explanation of what occurred with the now famous worker evolved with the news cycle and the need to tell the truth in parliament.
It made me think of those MPs who’ve acted badly; some have done awful things, others misdemeanours. Careers have ended, while others have continued with little interruption.
There seems to be little rhyme or reason, not much in the way of natural justice, determining how an MP is treated. If you were a cynic, you might suggest the party they belong to and the demographics of the MP were significant factors.
But I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that brown women tend to take a fall while white men receive a mild ticking off. What is an outrageous scandal when done by someone on the left is just japes and jokes on the right.
Right?
Can we see beyond our own prejudices, though, and look at things reasonably? Let’s try for a moment...
Is Sam Uffindell an entitled thug and a hypocrite who makes a mockery of our system by prattling on about law and order and coming down hard on kids who’ve gone off the rails, or did he simply make a mistake when he was young? It's just a little tomfoolery and boys being boys; he didn’t mean anything by taking part in a gang assault on a much younger boy using weapons. C’mon, it was fun and games; nobody lost an eye.
But National stood by their man. He is biding his time on the backbenches until I assume they run out of more palatable options. To be fair, after the week Andrew Bayly has just had, Big Sam, the furniture man, has probably just moved a step closer to being a cabinet minister - and he didn’t even say sorry. Not really, and only when it benefited him.
Being fair-minded, I could forget what Sam did at school; he was just a kid, and we’ve all done some stupid things, right? Although I imagine relatively few of us have beaten someone up with a weapon.
The thing with Sam was that it wasn’t the actions at school that were the real problem; it was the ongoing pattern of behaviour with the flatmate at university and, most of all, for me, the utter lack of contrition. He acted like he could get away with it with just a few well-crafted words - and to give the guy credit, he was right - he has pretty much gotten away with it.
Not others, though. You know, the long list. We feel sorry for some, like Kiri Allan. They’ve broken the law and have to go, but we’re sorry to see it because we know they are fundamentally good people, and their horrible mistake was out of character and understandable on a human level. We mourn what might have been, and Kiri was special - she could’ve been our first Māori PM.
I was sorry to see Michael Wood go, but I hope he’ll return. Like Kiri, he has serious potential to lead the Labour Party and the country. What he did over the shares was stupid. He had to pay some sort of price, but I believe he has paid one out of all proportion. I don’t believe he intended to deceive or profit from doing something wrong. He simply failed to follow the rules, repeatedly.
Maybe that makes me sound biased. I’m sure I am. But it’s a little hard to take seriously any consideration of conflicts of interest over owning a few airport shares compared to the shenanigans of this current government with the fishing, mining, and tobacco industries. Those things are really serious and should be properly investigated by independent authorities.
Yesterday, as further details of Andrew Bayly’s behaviour were confirmed, I thought about Golriz Ghahraman, whose appeal against conviction was recently declined. On the one hand, she certainly committed the crime; on the other hand, this will seriously impact her ability to conduct her career for the rest of her life.
Maybe I’m naive, but I thought perhaps a bit of leniency might’ve been shown. Most people would accept that her shoplifting was out of character and a cry for help from someone who our political system and the way we treat female politicians, especially those who are not European, had broken her. It had broken her, and she did something insane, but I really thought she had suffered enough.
The contrast with the protection being afforded Mt Bayly by the PM was a tough watch. I posted the following:
It might be worth noting that I didn’t mention the legality of the actions. Shoplifting is obviously against the law, whereas bullying isn’t. My point was to contrast the intent of their actions and how they were treated afterwards.
One has acted abusively and arrogantly and then been reluctant to admit what happened. I’m assuming he wasn’t so drunk that he simply can’t remember. The other broke the law at a low point and has been as open as possible about what happened.
On Facebook, Tee made a comment that I heartily agreed with:
“I think the New Zealand Public, particularly hard-hearted racists, would be deeply shocked and not a little contrite if they saw the depth and volume of the rape and death threats she received over a long period of time. If anyone thinks their own behaviour would remain untouched by the level of stress she sustained? They would be sorely mistaken.”
Mr Bayly has been reluctant to tell the truth. On Friday, he said the following when asked whether he had called the worker a “loser”:
"There are issues with, obviously, people have different perceptions about what went on but I don't want to get into who said what."
However, when he was asked in parliament yesterday, he confirmed the following:
Arena Williams: Did he call the worker a loser?
Hon ANDREW BAYLY: Yes. I was wrong, but I intended the comments in a light-hearted manner; unfortunately, it has caused hurt and offence, and for that reason I've apologised unreservedly to the individual.
Arena Williams: Did he hold up the shape of an "L" on his forehead?
Hon ANDREW BAYLY: Again, yes, I did; but again, it was in the spirit of comments made in a light-hearted manner, and that is why I have apologised unreservedly to the individual.
To me, it seemed like one of these people had acted bizarrely in a few moments of madness while the other was bullying someone, playing up to others present, presumably because he thinks bullying is cool and would make him seem tough or some bollocks.
Thomas offered a suggestion for the different treatment:
“Andrew Bayly is white and has more brass than brain cells. The entire legal apparatus is designed to look after him and prevent the incursions of the natural world from knocking him off his otherwise precarious perch.”
Just to be clear, I’m not suggesting that Golriz should have gotten away with what she did. She broke the law, and it was entirely appropriate that she lost her position as an MP. I would simply have hoped for a bit more compassion at this point and see little benefit in punishing her further by significantly limiting her future options.
For goodness sake, every year, we read about a judge deciding not to convict some young rugby player who is guilty of a form of assault because it wouldn’t be fair for them to lose out on future opportunities. Yes, Golriz is older and should know better, but we’re talking about awful, violent crimes here, not shoplifting a few items of clothing from high-end boutiques.
This country has a serious problem with bullying. It exists in many workplaces, and the fact that Andrew Bayly thought he could casually undertake it at someone’s place of employment spoke volumes about that culture and about the man.
We like to feel that there is progress in addressing sexism and racism, and yet it is all too often that we see the same things happening. Punishment for some while others get off scot-free.
Even Darleen Tana, who cast a lonely figure in her interview with 1 News last night. To the best of my knowledge, she hasn’t told anyone to “fuck off” or called somebody a loser. She hasn’t beaten anyone up with a bed leg.
She was simply not forthcoming with the truth, which was really not cool, but can you imagine if we sacked every government minister who was less than forthcoming with the truth? There would be nobody left.
Christopher Luxon looks weak for failing to act against Andrew Bayly. He has set a very low benchmark for what government ministers can get away with. But what concerns me most about this, other than its unfairness compared to the treatment of others, is that it condones bullying behaviour.
If Luxon had thought Bayly's treatment of that worker unacceptable, he would’ve sacked him. The fact that he hasn’t says much about his attitude towards bullying.
Have a great day, all of you lovely people.
Today’s track is from National Treasures When The Cats Away with Dave Dobbyn’s Guilty. Watching the video made me wonder where those people in the audience are now. I sat school ‘C’ that year, back when that was still a thing. Seems a long time ago.
My apologies I won’t be replying until later. Had to rush out the door to get to the protest, got here just in time. Listening to Union songs in the rain waiting for it to start.
The fact that the likes of Uffindel and Bayley can remain when we have lost so much actual talent who were just honest and upfront and owned their missteps (I’ll never get over Metiria) is so depressing.