Labour trying to cover up leadership problems: Carter

Labour's ousted MP Chris Carter says his controversial trip to China is being used to cover up concerns about Phil Goff's leadership.

Mr Goff and senior MPs have cited the trip to China and Tibet - which Mr Carter didn't tell them about - as the latest incident of rule-breaking behaviour which put the Te Atatu MP under stress.

"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," Mr Carter said today.

"I have no concerns over that trip and I doubt the New Zealand taxpayer would have."

Mr Carter earlier told NZPA the Chinese government paid for his trip to China and Tibet.

His unauthorised absence annoyed Mr Goff and was apparently one of the issues which led to yesterday's meltdown and Mr Carter's expulsion from caucus.

"It was in the second week of a recess and the Chinese government picked up the whole tab," Mr Carter said.

"There was no cost to the New Zealand taxpayer at all."

Mr Carter said he didn't tell party whips, or seek permission, because no taxpayer funding was involved.

"It was offered to me about four months ago because they were having a conference on poverty alleviation...I was in China for six days and I only spent one day in Tibet," he said.

Mr Carter said he thought that if he had spoken to anyone about the trip, there would have been "another media beat up" about it.

He was thrown out of caucus on a unanimous vote yesterday after an abortive attempt to undermine Mr Goff, and on August 7 the party council will almost certainly expel him.

Mr Carter has said he will remain an independent MP until the next election as Te Atatu's representative. He said he would not stand in the next election.

An unsigned letter Mr Carter sent to media representatives yesterday, seeking to undermine Mr Goff and foment a coup against him, backfired spectacularly.

Mr Goff said Mr Carter did not follow the rules when he took the trip because he didn't tell the party whips he was going away.

"That's two weeks we would have relied on him being here," Mr Goff said.

Mr Goff found out Mr Carter had left the country only after the fact.

Senior Labour MP Trevor Mallard said Mr Carter went without permission from the Labour Party or Mr Goff and had exhibited some "pretty unusual" and "pretty irrational" behaviour lately.

The latest quarterly release yesterday of MPs' travel details was probably a trigger for his behaviour, Mr Mallard said, and he was worried about Mr Carter's behaviour.

Party president Andrew Little also suggested people were concerned about Mr Carter, who had been under a great deal of stress.

Mr Mallard said the rest of the Labour caucus was behind Mr Goff.

Mr Goff told NewstalkZB stress over Mr Carter's expenditure was behind his outbreak, after he mishandled apologising to the public in June for using his ministerial credit card for items such as massages.

Ordered to apologise by Mr Goff, he led reporters on a chase through the corridors of Parliament and called a press conference the next day to say he was sorry about the way he had spent taxpayer money.

"I gave him a second chance, but nobody gets a third chance. He has not been up to doing the job that I've required of him, I don't have confidence in his judgment," Mr Goff said today.