January 28, 2014
Harawira blamed for MPs’ time clock
When the Maori Party came to parliament it promised to change MPs’ behaviour.
Credit though for the biggest change in MP’s behaviour since then is being given to its maverick former MP Hone Harawira, who now leads the Mana Party.
The Tai Tokerau MP was cited by Prime Minister John Key as the reason for introducing an attendance register for MPs, who will be fined for unexplained absences.
Mr Key says the public paid a lot of money for MPs to attend Parliament, but some haven’t treated the place with enough respect.
Mr Harawira says all 68 sitting days last year that he was away from parliament were approved by the speaker as being work-related.
He says he is one of parliament’s harder working members, and Mr’s Key’s comments were a continuation of the prime minister's petty bickering about his attendance at Nelson Mandela’s funeral in South Africa.
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