National Party leader Judith Collins has demoted Simon Bridges over alleged misconduct in relation to comments he made to a female colleague at a function a number of years ago.
Bridges had been rumoured to be rallying support to overthrow Collins as leader. Speculation had escalated to the point the discussion in the media had centred around which side of Christmas the coup might occur.
Collins made the shock announcement on Wednesday night, saying the party wouldn't tolerate harassment and intimidation under her leadership.
Collins released the following statement:
"This evening, with unanimous support of the board of the National Party, Simon Bridges, Member for Tauranga, has been demoted and relieved of his portfolio responsibilities.
"The decision follows an allegation of serious misconduct relating to Simon Bridges’ interaction with a caucus colleague.
"The case relates to comments made by Mr Bridges to a female caucus colleague at a function a number of years ago.
"Having been made aware of the seriousness of the complaint for the first time and the ongoing distress this has caused the complainant, I was left with no option but to immediately demote Simon Bridges and relieve him of his portfolio responsibilities.
"This decision has not been made lightly. However, the seriousness of the situation demands a swift and decisive response.
"Under my leadership, the National Party will not tolerate harassment and intimidation of any person.
"Members of Parliament and staff should be able to conduct their duties at all times without feeling unsafe or intimidated, and all deserve to be treated with absolute respect by their colleagues in all situations."
93 Comments
I think Labour were fairly united under Andrew Little, the problem was he didn't appeal to the electorate. He then did the decent thing and put his party first by handing the baton to Jacinda. Either Collins lacks self awareness or she feels her political ambitions are more important than the National Party. Hardly the qualities desirable in a potential Prime Minister. I hope National can find someone who puts the Countries' needs before their own blind ambition.
united yes -- rubbish and unappealign yes - capable no ---- have they delivered hell no --- but at least they were united !!
National is a disgrace --- so many easy areas to attack the government -- urgency , MIQ, Maoir vac rates -- mandates --- so easy -- but no its gogint o be all about their infighting -- letting the country down -- Seymour to be at 20%+ in the next poll!
I DO NOT want New Zealand to FAIL !! -- if that's even our countries real name !?
Wouldn't it be NICE to have an opposition that actually opposed some of the nuttiness going on?
Here's an idea; Less Coup, More Do !! How about working as a team to do right by New Zealand(ers) - don't National MPs get that !?
Maori generally adopted the name Niu Tireni, a transliteration of New Zealand for the name of the country. Various sources cite Te Ika a Maui (the fish of Maui) as a widely used name for the North Island.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/blogs/opinion/205670/i-Aotearoa-a-European-hoax…
Reti is interesting. He seems competent and popular with the public, but not ambitious for leadership. Very sensible given that the National caucus is a bag of snakes, making yourself a target is a bad idea. It wouldn't be that surprising if he fell into the leadership by virtue of not being a factionalist.
Damned if you do and damned if you don't here. If she had not done anything then she risked the perception of condoning inappropriate behaviour but by acting so quickly she has incurred the wrath of both the media and vested interests on the basis of personal political expediency or alternatively not providing Bridges fair access to natural justice. The end for both I would say.
Luxton would be Collins pt2. It's a type that the National party faithful adore but that repels the rest of the population: smug, smarmy, good at 'banter'. Very poor at empathising with or appealing to those who have never driven an Audi to an America's Cup party. Scott Morrison-esque, yes; essentially pointless.
Luxon insisted on being addressed as 'Christopher' when running Air NZ,since entering politics,he know calls himself "Chris",man of the people.He is a member of the Upper Room church which started in Tennessee in the 1930's.Take it from me,comments attributed to him during his time there left people in no doubt they were being led by a fundamentalist christian.Even his vaunted business acumen is over blown.He took over Air NZ during a sweet spot after Rob Fyfe & Ralph Norris did the hard yards turning the company around and developing the business and culture.Luxon took over just as the new fuel efficient 787's arrived,fuel prices at historical lows and at a time when Air NZ had NO competition on the NZ-USA route enabling them to monopolise the route and price airfares accordingly.He came from a FMCG (grocer) background so it was all about dollars and cent margins and as any high value Air NZ customer will tell you,he slowly unwound the product and service to save a buck,maixmise short term profits and in doing so,maximising his bonus payments.Then when headwinds appeared and it was obvious the 'easy' times were over,he bailed to ensure he wasn't at the helm during a downturn...so in short,a clever man,but most of it in self centered ego driven way...God save us as he would say...
Given it was so serious the first the leader of the opposition heard of it caused an immediate action and demotion, then what on earth was going on with the standard processes before it got to her in the last few years? Either a huge failing on whoever was confided in by the complainant prior, or a suring up of Judith against any leadership challenges.
I'm guessing a convenient mix of the two for talofa Judith.
Did they what. And what a trail of malcontent & venality emerged. Gilmour, Barclay, Ross (Dowie,) Walker (Boag,) Falloon, Adams & Kaye followed their toys out the window, and of late even veterans Smith & Muller misbehaving for good measure. Sorry state of affairs. The party appears disinclined to summon up an iota of credibility or respectability. Collins is unelectable, full stop. Now the rats are really out of the haystack and running, someone in National has to play the piper & lead all the children, don’t they.
It's too easy to win National seats in the provinces, they end up with some absolute liabilities in their caucus. But what sane person with other options in life would want to be a National MP right now? This is why they *need* someone new in charge to set the tone; forget about elections for a minute, they need to create an environment where marginally competent individuals will be willing to work in and for their party. It's not happening til there have been a lot of resignations; very stubborn people are managing the party. ACT is eating their lunch for no reason other than National's managerial incompetence.
maybe not --- but louise upston - chris penk - nicola willis --- time to completely wipe out hte old gaurd and rebuild with a younger lot --- doesnt matter about experience and leader material --- serving fish and chups was enough - they only need to be united at this stage and attack teh governments failings --- which is not exactly hard to do !
Are meant to understand this as the board (other shadow identity) covered up the misconduct and sat on it until Simon refused to play ball and then got rid of him? They let him become the leader first too (the risk of the allegation was sitting there the whole time so the board must have been in control of it).
This along with the history of poor behavior of junior MPs might lead some to believe that there is a dossier of bad behavior to get rid of anyone who challenges the board.
What scummy party. No wonder they are struggling, they wont let anyone run for election they can't control.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/simon-bridges-demoted-following-serious-m…
“The MP who laid the complaint against Simon Bridges is understood to be Jacqui Dean. It is understood to relate to crude comments Bridges made in front of several people, about five years ago.Dean complained about it at the time and Bridges was spoken to. Bill English was the leader of the party at the time.”
About five years ago - really!?!
Jacqui Dean once supported the banning of dihydrogen monoxide (water) as she thought it was a dangerous drug. She is clearly a person of sound judgement, not at all likely to make a knee jerk reaction to a situation.
Custard, it seems that Dean OVERHEARD a conversation between Bridges and two other men that included a crude conversation regarding how to conceive a girl. Firstly, Dean should have turned, walked away and left it at that. Secondly, when she complained to Collins, Collins should have said "you have to be kidding me. Get lost". If Dean had leaked anything, then sack her, and don't allow her to put her name forward as a National candidate. Job done.
Lastly, you do not sack someone for making crude comments in a private conversation. Collins has jumped the shark.
I just followed your advice. It’s on the Healthline website and is called the Shettles method. What century are they living in if they find baby making offensive? Was Bridges effectively sacked for discussing sleeping with his own wife? I suppose it is surprising behaviour given the recent track record of National MPs.
National can now be seen as a party of Lame Ducks: 'The National Party of Lame Ducks', or the NPLD Party
IncidentalIy, I must commend the NZ Herald for 'taking in' some of these unfortunates, both past and present MPs, by allowing them to write ineffectual spiteful columns criticising the current government. In this regard, the Herald is like those nice old ladies who take care of injured birds or orphaned cats.
I could understand repeated harrasment been looked into after 5 years , but one remark at a function , for which he apologised later ???
Plus the timing, same day as the Kiwirail CEO resigning, for what appears to be more widespread and serious bad conduct , jumping on the bandwagon to make it look legitimate??
Seriously what is happening in the beehive?
Labour's got power drunk, locking up aucklanders for 3 months for you know... living... and trampling the bill of rights right now - with open criticism from professors in law and the house speaker himself!, it's unbelievable that there aren't riots
The fact credible experts are critiquing the bill says something is very very wrong
People have the right to freedom and also the right to refuse medical treatment it spells this out clearly in the bill of rights.. ostracising them for it and then making it law is a direct contradiction
Jacindas trained the media to be good puppies and not ask difficult question or hold them accountable which is a disgrace
What a circus...
No I'm vaccinated and get it, but there is risk in everything in life - prior to covid we accepted 550 people dying every year from the normal flu with no issues
The people who want protection are getting vaccinated, the ones who don't - won't....
My issue is more around ostracising people who exercise their basic rights, you can still mitigate risks without taking their freedoms away
We need Judith out, she is ineffective and will not win an election, she has minority parties taking her votes.. clearly she's threatened, but she needs to step back and open it up to someone willing to make a positive mark
We also need labour out as they are destroying businesses and also taking away basic human rights as well as ostracising people who exercise their basic rights
There may be reasons we cannot extrapolate from your experience to the rest of the human race - perhaps talk to a few women and see if they feel similarly. Some might, of course, but I know some would not. I'm not saying you should have felt victimised, but it's not up to you to tell others how to react to sexist comments.
Scary...imagine if ACT gets in with the current numbers...the criticism of Labour not having experienced politicians to run the country would be amplified with ACT...who could really name anyone in their party after Seymour & the gun lobby...they are like NZ First...just swap Seymour for Peters...they are a one trick pony.
This is beautifully done. Collins discredits herself even further - opens the way for a loss of confidence vote which she'll lose . Chris Luxon doing great work on three waters, and less pc oriented will be grabbed with both arms to restore party mojo. The world is suddenly looking more positive.
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