Labour Leader Helen Clark said today that the Prime Minister should have dealt firmly with Tau Henare for his repeated attacks on the Race Relations Conciliator's work.

"Mr Henare's criticisms are not only unfounded; they are also at odds with the policies of the rag-tag government which he happily chooses to prop up.

"Mrs Shipley today confirmed that Mr Henare's attacks on the Race Relations Conciliator and his office do not reflect either her views or the policy of her government. Yet she has done nothing to prevent the Maori Affairs Minister from continuing with his unwarranted criticisms.

"It seems the Prime Minister will tolerate appalling behaviour from Mr Henare, so long as he continues to provide the votes to allow her desperate government to cling to power.

"What this episode shows is that the Prime Minister's standards of ministerial behaviour are directly related to the tenuous nature of the government's parliamentary majority. Mr Henare's support is Mrs Shipley's meal ticket. Therefore he can get away with anything," Helen Clark said.

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