niggly you haven’t made any points, just taken personal potshots at Norman and the Greens. Well done.

For the record, I have a lot of respect for Jeanette Fitzsimons and Rod Donald but the Greens are no longer relevant and I have no problem with them missing out at the next election.

Allowing Gillard to speak during a formal session of Parliament is ridiculous – Parliament is a place for elected representatives to make law and has huge significance as an institution. Why compromise that institution when Gillard can just as easily make her speech prior to the session?

Toad also makes a good point about the constant and arguably unconstitutional use of urgency by National under the pretext of a lack of time in the regular schedule – perhaps taking more time out for a meaningless speech isn’t the best way of alleviating that problem.

The issue that counts, and what makes the Greens right, is that interupting the sitting parliament to flatter a representative from a foreign government is not something that real, independent, parliamentary democracies do.

There’s no problem about Gillard giving a speech to our parliamentarians — as banal as a speech by a “very close” friend will be. She just can’t give it during the time allocated to normal parliamentary business.

BTW, here’s what John Armstrong wrote in Granny this morning:

…
The second reason is that giving Gillard the full honours would have set a worrying and dangerous precedent. As Green Party co-leader Russel Norman says, no Government could avoid the Chinese President officially addressing Parliament if there was such a precedent.

The Chinese would take refusal as a massive diplomatic snub. But going ahead would provoke a huge uproar if, in Norman’s words, “the No 1 enemy of democracy” was allowed to lecture a chamber filled with democratically elected MPs.

Not at all. The NZ Govt doesn’t offer an invite, so what’s the big deal and BS from Wussel?

Plus they aren’t here to lecture are they, they come to speak nice things eg talking up the ties between the two countries and shared development and investment etc.

Why all these red herrings from the Greens (and it seems John Armstrong of all people), has anyone counted up how many red herrings the Ginga Git is using – must be a record for one issue.

Plus the deceptiveness of the Ginga Git, when it is up to the NZ Govt to invite whom they want to address Parliament, not the other way around as implied.

Anyway, should we really be concerned if one day a future NZ Govt invites the Chinese Premier to speak? (And that could easily be a Labour Govt, let alone a National one that offers an invite). Why is it ok for China or the USA to address the United Nations (an organisation that the Greens favour to set NZ’s foreign agenda), when the Ginga Git decries these same people from hypothetically addressing NZ Parilamentarians? Why the double standard and hypocrisy? Ohhh of course, how silly to think the Ginga Git really has ethics!

The Greens are correct that she shouldn’t address a sitting of Parliament. Julia is addressing mps in a different forum.

The problem is?

where would we be without him..?

and the funny thing is…

…he dosen’t realise it…

..and just delivers…and delivers…

(heh..!..)

phil(whoar.co.nz)

phil(whoar.co.nz)

Actually, it is all looking good bruv. My pick is for 12 Green MPs come November 26, or maybe more if Goff continues to goof.

I hear that internal polling is not looking that good for the Greens, better get your unelected MP’s to start polishing up their CV’s.

I wasn’t saying it was the same thing. I was saying that sitting sessions of the New Zealand Parliament is for New Zealand representatives to debate policy and make laws – not for foreign leaders to give lectures.

And I’ve just sen another point somewhere else. Gerry Brownlee is often putting Parliament into urgency becasue (supposedly) there isn’t enough time in the regular schedule to get through the Government’s legislative programme.

So why chew up another hour or so by having a foreign politician make an address when they could be getting on with their legislative programme.

Oops, potential own goal here – most of their legislative programme is crap.

And why would New Zealand not want to give the Premier of China the rarely-bestowed honour of addressing a session of Parliament? In the near future, China will become the most important trade partner this country has. If the Green vision for New Zealand is that we remain a primary producer, who do they think will be buying the produce?

If its a session of Parliament then a Member would be entitled to respond to any speech by a visitor; which would surely temper the original speaker and quite possibly see them decline the honour in the first place.

And John Armstrong and the NBR too! Shit, their deep cover has been blown.

Guess Bernard Hickey must be a commie too, now that he has abandoned the neo-lib dream.

..he first had that knee-jerk reaction to this…then he thought for a few minutes…

..and realised the greens were correct in their precedent-setting concerns….

but i mean…he’s almost a commie..eh..?..that oram..?

phil(whoar.co.nz)

will the greens do a walk out when she speaks?

Why would they? She’s not speaking to a sitting session, which is the only thing they objected to.