Media statement
For immediate release
Thursday, 22 June 2006

David Carter - confused and wrong

United Future leader, Peter Dunne, has lashed out at National MP, David Carter, describing him as "maliciously confused and deliberately wrong" in his comments over United Future's stand on microchipping of dogs.

"Mr Carter is claiming victory over Parliament's 61-60 vote to exempt farm dogs from the microchipping regime, while attacking United Future as a poodle for consistently arguing for the same thing.

"Yet even he can count sufficiently to know that his amendment would have failed without United Future's 3 votes in favour of it, so why is he continuing these canards?

"For the record, the one party that has not shifted its position throughout the debate of the last few months is United Future.

"National has flopped all over the place from supporting microchipping, to then not supporting it, to now supporting exempting farm dogs, while the Greens have simply been duplicitous, and utterly untrustworthy.

"Mr Carter's reaction appears to be born either of stupidity or a wider unwillingness from National to work with United Future on matters on common concern.

"Given that relations overall between our two parties are improving, and we are working together constructively on a number of other issues, it saddens me to conclude that the problem here is Mr Carter, not his party.

"I sympathise with Dr Brash in having to deal with this problem, but deal with it he must," Mr Dunne says.

ENDS

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