The Sunday Roast

It is duck shooting season, so naturally the Sunday roast this week is a mallard, beautifully stuffed with judge, jury and executioner herbs and smothered in a lovely bully-boy sauce.

It was a stoush between Stuart Nash and Nick Smith that ruffled the mallard’s feathers.  Nash steadfastly refused to own and apologise for a statement he made on national TV and that was when Smith’s goose was cooked.

The action played out in a number of posts on Whaleoil and as the bones of the bird were picked clean, pieces of buckshot delicately spat out and the sauce mopped up with the last of the garlic bread, the diners did not hold back.

https://www.thebfd.co.nz/2019/05/face-of-the-day-1947/

Sally set the scene:

Smith sought leave to present a bill. All Mallard had to do was to put the leave to the house for a vote.
Instead, Mallard became judge, jury and executioner.
By him doing that he forgot he is supposed to be impartial and run the proceedings fairly, he stepped over the line.

Carlo Retucci was not impressed with the outcome.

[If] Mallard was lost on the purpose behind that he is either stupid, ignorant, arrogant, a combination of that or all of it. Mallard has completely forgotten that the House determines its course and destiny, not the Speaker. This will not go down well with the public who see that there is good purpose behind the motion Smith attempted by leave and which Mallard, not the House, denied him. Mallard should have put the leave, but didn’t.  […]

Macca told us what he really thought:

I have often said that if the fake news, government employed media dared to show the ineptitude of the CoL everytime they stepped up to bat in Parliament so the public could actually see how utterly useless they really are, their support would plumet and National would win in a landslide! Instead this will be spun by the media as some sort of failing of Smith rather than telling the truth, hence keeping the public in the dark to the true failings of this bunch of clowns, and lets face it, Parliament really has become a circus with Labour and Peters incapable of giving a straight and honest answer and Mallard closing off questioning as soon as he can. Peters wizzened brain somehow thinks he is clever acting like the court jester but I reckon even his colleagues must secretly think he’s become the joke and is a sandwich short of the old picinic basket Booboo! […]

deja vu had some career advice for the Speaker:

I’ve always imagined the role of Speaker was to be non partisan, a cool head, someone highly respected for his patience and wisdom. Trevor Mallard is none of these things. He is as fit to be Speaker of the House as Jacinda is fit to be Prime Minister – and the Coalition is fit to govern. I suggest he gets an honest job – maybe as a bouncer.

Lindis dolloped on an extra serving of irony:

The concept of Arderns Govt being based on kindness and compassion and transparency is shown up to be the joke that it is . The behaviour in the house is one of deflecting , ridicule and bullying , on the part of Ardern , Peters and Mallard towards any opposition member who dares to question them or hold them to account . First they refuse to answer the question directly , then they ridicule the questioner , and if that doesn’t work , the Speaker bullies them . I know what kindness and compassion and transparency looks like and it sure ain’t that .

Guest poster, John picked up the ‘tail’.

https://www.thebfd.co.nz/2019/05/mallard-acting-like-a-bad-tempered-goose/

Neatly summarised by Boondecker:

Mallard arguably appears to be one of the most defensive of Speakers in New Zealand’s Parliamentary history. Definitely not a desirable talent for the Speaker’s position. That being stated, he does have one very obvious capability; his performance epitomises and reflects the COL government perfectly.

and Sunshine:

Mallard needs some anger management. Look at his face when things are going in the wrong direction for the COL at question time.

The third post for the day was:

https://www.thebfd.co.nz/2019/05/grossly-disorderly-conduct/

We will let Taser and Monty round out the feelings around the table.  Taser:

I thought the role of the speaker was to be an ” Unbiased ” one with a little lean towards your party, not the “Dictatorship” that Mallards running. If he isn’t running interference for the PM when she doesn’t know what she’s doing then he is putting up roadblocks against the opposition if he thinks the Govt are getting hammered. He would be one of the worse speakers I have seen over the decades for biasness. He should be the one named and kicked out of the house.

Monty:

Nick Smith went up in my estimation yesterday with that little exchange. Mallard is a thug and a bully and like the other awful speaker in recent memory – (Margaret Wilson) way to tribal to be the speaker.