National MP Tim van de Molen’s behaviour will see him officially censured by the House next week. Labour critics are asking why his party leader didn’t act sooner, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.

A rare parliamentary censure for ‘objectively threatening’ behaviour

The privileges committee used many times more words to make the point but, boiled down, its verdict on Tim van de Molen’s conduct is succinct: his behaviour towards Labour MP Shannon Halbert was “aggressive”, “hostile”, “unprofessional” and “objectively threatening”. The Waikato MP confronted Halbert during a June 29 transport committee meeting also attended by Labour’s Rachel Boyack, who made the initial complaint. When van de Molen instructed Halbert to “stand up”, she worried an assault was about to take place, she says. But van de Molen says his comment was actually a plea to Halbert to stand up for “the integrity of the committee & fair process” and he “absolutely rejects” that he wanted a fight. Still, the privileges committee has made a rare finding of contempt of parliament and National leader Christopher Luxon has stripped him of his portfolios. “He is not going to be a minister in the next government,” Luxon said. Van de Molen, who has apologised to the House, will be officially censured by parliament next week.

Luxon criticised for slow response

While Luxon has punished van de Molen now, he should have done so sooner, say critics. Labour MPs initially wrote to National’s whips raising their concerns over the incident, but Luxon says the first he heard of it was when it went to the privileges committee. Even so, Luxon appeared reluctant to take action until the committee returned with its findings. Labour minister Carmel Sepuloni says Luxon has been “very quick to criticise other politicians’ behaviour [but] he needs to look at his own”. Newshub’s Jenna Lynch points out that on Michael Wood and his airport shares, Luxon had said Wood should have been sacked “on day one” before any investigation took place, and had called the prime minister “weak” for waiting for the committee’s report. “Luxon now faces a major problem beginning with a capital H,” says Lynch – “Hypocrisy.”

The privileges committee gets a workout, again

The van de Molen case caps what has been a remarkable few months for the parliamentary privileges committee. Prior to this year it had been five years since the committee had been called into action, when NZ First leader Winston Peters was referred over an undeclared donation from businessman Owen Glenn. But in 2023 there have already been four referrals: those of van de Molen; Wood; Labour minister Jan Tinetti, for her obfuscations regarding education data; and Act MP Simon Court for publicly sharing select committee information. “Perhaps the Speaker is handling complaints differently to his predecessors,” comments an NZ Herald editorial, “but the onslaught of referrals should be enough for party leaders and MPs to take stock.”

In the UK, an uproar over an MP who reneged on resigning

While four cases in a single year is a lot, the NZ committee’s workload is dwarfed by that of its Westminster counterpart. Earlier this year the UK privileges committee released its mammoth report into “partygate”, leading to the resignation of Boris Johnson as an MP and setting in motion a story that has captivated the British press in recent days. Nadine Dorries, an ardent Johnson supporter, announced she was quitting parliament in the aftermath of the report, and apparently stopped carrying out her duties as an MP – but never actually quit. Two months on, the calls for her to make good on her promise have reached fever pitch and even her boss, PM Rishi Sunak, says Dorries is “an absentee MP who is not properly representing her constituents”, reports the Guardian. Labour leader Keir Starmer says Sunak should “get a grip” on the situation and force Dorries out of parliament, but since she hasn’t committed a sackable offence that’s easier said than done.