An altercation, an apology, and a finding of contempt of parliament

National MP Tim van de Molen's behaviour will see him officially censured by the House. Labour critics are asking why his party leader didn't act sooner.

Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Friday, August 25, by Catherine McGregor. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.

In today’s edition: TVNZ defends its use of on-air sponsored content; claims that supermarket margins twice as high as in the 1990s; and why is NZ’s solar industry so far behind other countries? But first, the investigation into Tim van de Molen marks the fourth outing for the privileges committee this year, and its most serious verdict yet.

National MP Tim van de Molen and his party leader, Christopher Luxon (Photos: Getty Images)

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 tardy 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.

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TVNZ defends its use of on-air sponsored content 

TVNZ will tighten its guidelines on declaring commercial relationships on air after revelations that the government paid for a wide-ranging series of reports on climate change, some of which were not identified as sponsored content. First reported by the pseudonymous “Thomas Cramner” on Twitter, the $300,000 deal was for a series of programmes, articles and social media posts that Cranmer and right-wing commentators such as Chris Lynch have labelled “political propaganda”. TVNZ says it’s happy with how it handled the arrangement, and that most pieces of content featured a sponsored label. However “it appears there was no acknowledgment of the commercial arrangement during the five Breakfast interviews,” reports Shayne Currie in his (paywalled) Media Insider column. The parliamentary questions uncovered by ‘Cranmer’ also revealed that Stuff had been paid $200,000 by government agency EECA “for a series of news articles, feature stories and advertising between March and November last year”, Currie writes. 

Supermarket margins twice as high as in the 1990s, say suppliers

Two grocery suppliers claim the cut taken by supermarkets on shelf prices has more than doubled since the 1990s, Newshub’s Janika ter Ellen reports. What was a 12 to 15% cut three decades ago has grown to between 35 and 41%, they say – a stark illustration of what’s known in the trade as “margin creep”. Other suppliers agree that margins are out of control, and that retailers hold all the cards. Their quotes say it all: "It is not even a negotiation. You're either coming in at their terms, or you're not coming in," one supplier said. "It's limitless, their power is limitless," another said. "It's disappointing, it's degrading, you know. It makes you wonder why you even bother," a third said. Since shelf prices need to remain within a certain band, both suppliers and consumers are harmed by huge retailer mark-ups. Approached for comment, both Woolworths and Foodstuffs said they were not able to respond to the limited information provided. 

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Shining a light on our solar industry

Why is Aotearoa's solar panel industry lagging so far behind the rest of the world? SolarZero CEO Matt Ward joins When the Facts Change host Bernard Hickey to talk about how using batteries to complement rooftop solar is changing the game and how he believes that the number of solar panels in Aotearoa are about to go through the roof.

Click and Collect

• It may not currently be part of Labour’s manifesto, but funding for free school lunches will continue beyond 2024 if the education minister has her way. 

• Wayne Brown is off to India

• Japan's release of one million tonnes of treated nuclear wastewater into the Pacific has begun.

• You can now fly Auckland-Perth with Malaysian airline Batik Air.

• Justice for the Crooked House: two men have been arrested for torching “Britain’s wonkiest pub”.

Right now on The Spinoff

Tara Ward ranks New Zealand's most terrifying drink driving public service announcements. Iris Hehir wonders if Dunedin's notorious raucous Castle Street is now officially dead. Alex Casey talks to the author of a new book on porn about how to start conversations about explicit entertainment. Wheelchair user EJ Barrett offers a counterpoint to the claims that bike lanes are bad for disabled people's accessibility and explains why she supports them. And Duncan Greive remembers the Blackheart campaign – the moment when NZ’s America's Cup fandom became toxic.

Sporting snippets

• Fifa has opened a disciplinary case against Spanish football boss Luis Rubiales over his forceable kiss of a player at the World Cup final.

• Mea Motu’s trainer Isaac Peach has called for a change of referee ahead of Motu’s IBO world title fight, saying they “question the competence” of ref Ignatius Missilaidu.

It’s Friday, so…

In a few hours Donald Trump’s mugshot from his Georgia case is set to be released, and it’s certain to immediately break the internet. Rudy Giuliani’s own mugshot, released yesterday, doesn’t have quite the same global star power, but it’s already showing up on t-shirts and being memed into oblivion. A mugshot curtain-raiser to today’s main mugshot attraction, if you will.

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