2 August 2006

Public confidence must be regained after Field affair - Greens

The Green Party is pleased that it has forced Taito Phillip Field to apologise for his actions and induced Labour to take its head out of the sand on this issue.

"Unfortunately MPs were denied the opportunity to restore the integrity of the House when the National Party blocked our motion. However, we think this issue is too important to let lie and are putting it on tomorrow's order paper in the hope that National will see sense," Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says.

"The integrity of the House has been damaged by both Labour's unwillingness to accept the implications of the Ingram Report and by the National Party's continued campaign of slurs and innuendo.

"If we want to restore the public's confidence, Parliament must be allowed to express its concern now and lay a platform for setting the standards expected of MPs in future.

"A select committee inquiry cannot achieve this when all Brownlee and Brash are doing is attempting to conduct a prolonged witch hunt in order to maximise the political points they can score from this affair.

"It was clear that Labour were hoping that by doing nothing this issue would just go away. If it had not been for the pressure put on them by the Greens there would never have been an apology of any form and this issue would have continued to be a damaging game of political tennis," Ms Fitzsimons says.

ENDS

© Scoop Media