Academic sees dark side to MP's attack

University of Otago political scientist Bryce Edwards has brushed aside an attack on his personal credibility by senior Labour Party MP Trevor Mallard but said there was perhaps a darker side to Mr Mallard's intentions.

''I'm not too worried about Trevor Mallard and I am not taking it seriously. He seems to lash out at everyone. Another week, another aggressive outburst from Trevor.''

It was probably a sign that Mr Mallard, Labour's campaign co-ordinator, was under pressure to lift a party with 29% poll rating into a position of becoming the next government, he said.

However, Dr Edwards said other academics could be concerned about Mr Mallard given he was a former education minister and an MP who aspired to become a minister in a future Labour-led government.

While Mr Mallard was not suggesting that academic freedom be curtailed, the lashing out at him might be intimidating to others, Dr Edwards said.

On the Labour Party Blog ''Red Alert'', Mr Mallard wrote: It was an interesting disclosure from blogger David Farrar that he, along with Matthew Hooton, and (waste of members money) PSA were bankrolling Dr Edwards, one of the few remaining supporters of the Alliance, to provide the political commentary which mainly attacks Labour and the Greens from the ''looney left''.

''This guy makes Margaret Mutu look like a well-balanced academic.

''We all know the majority of Farrar's income comes from the taxpayer via a 'research' arrangement. I wonder if [Finance Minister] Bill English signed the deal off or whether it was just a nod and a wink,'' Mr Mallard wrote.

In a Fairfax Media newspaper, Prof Mutu recently said the number of people coming from South Africa, England and the United States should be restricted, as they bring attitudes of white supremacy and are destructive to Maori.

Dr Edwards is the editor of the NZ Politics Daily, an emailed compilation of New Zealand's political writings and broadcasts from journalists, bloggers and columnists.

Exceltium, Curia and the PSA pay $100 each a week to graduate students to compile all of the news clippings, audio and video tapes and blog posts relevant to this year's general election.

A disclosure of the funding is carried on each NZ Politics Daily.

Mr Hooton said the idea was that the resource would all be in one place, on the internet, and at the university library, to make it easier for future political science students and projects like the New Zealand Election Study to write their books and academic papers on what happened and why.

''In my case, my motive was mainly philanthropic and I also get to put my company's logo on the PDF version of the daily update for name recognition among the several hundred comms managers, bureaucrats, journalists academics, students etc.''