Fri 30 Jul 2010 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Chris Carter The Chris Carter saga continues, with the MP accusing his party leader Phil Goff of 'spinning a story' over revelations about a trip to China. A day after he was thrown out of Labour's caucus for a letter he circulated among journalists warning of a Labour leadership coup, claims emerged that Carter travelled to China and Tibet without his party's knowledge earlier this month. It prompted Goff to claim that Carter's actions to 'destroy the Labour Party' resulted from him being caught out for more overseas travel. Carter has hit back, saying; "I see the latest attempt to deflect my message that Phil has to go involves spinning a story that my alleged concerns were raised to mask details of a recent trip to China. I have no concerns over that trip and I doubt the New Zealander taxpayer would as well." He says the trip for a four-day conference in Kunming and two day trips to Shanghai and Lhasa were fully funded by the Chinese Government. "Why would I fear a public backlash on a trip, taken during a Parliamentary recess that involved no tax payer funds?" Carter questions. The Te Atatu MP is expected to the attend the Gay Auckland Business Association's (Gaba)Jubilee and Charity Auction in Auckland tonight, as he is a Gaba patron. A dinner with Carter and his partner Peter Kaiser will go under the hammer. Carter's future with the party will be decided next Saturday when the national council meets. While party president Andrew Little says the issue is being taken one step at a time, commentators are picking Carter will be sent packing. If Carter resigns from Parliament it will force a by-election in Te Atatu electorate. If he is expelled from the party he could remain as an independent until the next election. Carter's partner Peter Kaiser is chairman of the Te Atatu electorate committee and would have a say about his replacement if he resigns. What the commentators say Christchurch Press political editor Colin Espiner has written that Carter's four words "it's because I'm gay," haunted the MP's career in politics, describing it as "the catch-all excuse for the sometimes extraordinarily vain and arrogant behaviour of the MP for Te Atatu". "Carter seemed to think the media's supposed obsession with his sexuality was the reason journalists pursued him down corridors," he writes. "In reality, reporters didn't give a hoot about which team Carter batted for. The story was always the Labour MP's erratic behaviour and often cavalier attitude to public money." Espiner describes the letter circulated to journalists as one of the most outlandish and stupidest acts he has seen in politics. The New Zealand Herald's chief political commentator John Armstrong describes it as "one of the most ineptly executed political plots since Guy Fawkes tried to blow up England's Parliament".
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 30th July 2010 - 11:08am