Chris Carter has been expelled from the Labour Party after a lengthy hearing. "After hearing from Mr Carter and deliberating for several hours, the New Zealand Council resolved to expel Mr Carter from the New Zealand Labour Party, effective immediately," a statement from Labour reads. "The Council held that Mr Carter had brought the Party into disrepute, in breach of its rules, by acting in a misleading manner that was likely to foment internal discontent and encourage external ridicule, including by: a) Preparing the written statement in the terms that he did, and circulating it to the Press Gallery; b) Initially denying, including to colleagues, that he was responsible for the anonymous circulation of the document to the Press Gallery, and suggesting that named others were likely responsible for its circulation; c) Eventually admitting (after being confronted with the evidence) publicly that he prepared the written statement and circulated it to the Press Gallery; d) Purporting to disclose in the written statement that the Party is broke, by which it is understood that the Party is unable to meet its financial obligations, and further implying that the Party is incapable of withstanding the costs of a by-election; e) In television interviews first broadcast on Thursday 29 July, calling for the resignation of the Leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party without having sought at any stage to invoke the Party's internal processes to advance that view; and f) Giving an overall public impression through his actions and comments that the Party is divided, unprepared for and unlikely to win the next General Election."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 12th October 2010 - 11:29am