Prime Minister Christopher Luxon gave the Opposition an easy comeback in Parliament today. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
Analysis - The prime minister's attempts to turn the tables back on the Opposition at Question Time today went down like a lead balloon.
In an attempt to be politically agile and perhaps show a funny side, Christopher Luxon reached for some Alanis Morissette lyrics while answering a question from Chris Hipkins.
The Labour leader had asked why Luxon had not demanded a resignation from his minister David Seymour for writing a letter to police in support of Philip Polkinghorne, "when the ACT leader had said in 2023 that ministers interfering in judicial decisions should be prepared to resign the post if the prime minister thinks that's in the best interests of New Zealand".
Luxon - visibly tired by the line of questioning - reiterated his comments that Seymour wrote the letter while he was an MP and before he was a minister in the coalition government.
Instead of stopping there, Luxon went one further and used his answer to point to previous Labour ministerial scandals.
"I've just been reminded of the words of the Canadian songstress Alanis Morissette, who said 'isn't it ironic?' - because let me give you four names - Michael Woods, Meka Whaitiri, Stuart Nash and how about Kiri Allan."
What Luxon unfortunately forgot while attempting to nail a zinger was that all four of those former ministers were sacked - three of them by Hipkins himself, while Whaitiri was removed by then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
The Opposition could not believe its luck. MPs merrily leaned off the edge of their seats and loudly shouted at Luxon: "They all got sacked".
Never mind the fact Labour was rejoicing in recalling a series of events that no doubt contributed to it being knocked out of power in 2023, the prime minister had scored an own goal.
There is a lesson there for the prime minister.
If you're already on the backfoot answering questions about poor decision-making by one of your ministers - decisions Luxon himself has called "ill-advised" - the shorter the answer, the better.
It is not the time to launch into political point-scoring, lest you forget some of the details of the history you are retreading.
It was just one piece of a very messy Question Time that began with the speaker Gerry Brownlee confirming he would not be taking any action against Seymour for driving a Land Rover up Parliament's steps.
Instead, Brownlee said he had received an apology from Seymour and it would be up to police to lay charges if they thought it met the threshold.
Brownlee also clarified his office had not given permission for the charity event organisers who had brought the vehicle to Parliament to drive it up onto the steps.
Question Time also got heated around political donations with Hipkins questioning Luxon whether Polkinghorne had donated to the ACT Party, and if so, if that had created a conflict of interest when Seymour wrote to the police on Polkinghorne's behalf.
A flurry of points of order between leader of the House Chris Bishop, Hipkins, and Minister Judith Collins ensued with the speaker caught in the middle considering the implications of the question.
Brownlee said he would go away and consider whether it met standing orders, and report back to the House.
Seymour then weighed in saying he could stand up and say "there's been no such donation to me, but I'm not going to do that, and I'd urge all members of the House to think very carefully about what the implications of every member declaring every possible donation, or not, at every point of questioning.
"If you really want to go there then we could have a very different type of politics."
The Greens were quick to react with co-leader Chloe Swarbrick shouting "let's go there, let's do it" while other MPs asked "can we do it now?".
Any hope Luxon might have shifted to talking about his upcoming investor summit or economic growth this week is yet to eventuate and might be some time away if Tuesday's Question Time was anything to go by.
Seymour has made it clear he's very comfortable publicly disagreeing with the prime minister.
While he was careful to tell media on Tuesday afternoon that he didn't plan for more disagreements to be aired so publicly, he does believe the country and MMP has evolved enough to handle coalition partners doing so, without it meaning the government is falling apart.
It's already a week the prime minister would rather forget but can not rule out having to repeat.
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