Dowie fails to net her opposite

Invercargill MP Sarah Dowie speaks during the general debate in Parliament this week.PHOTO: NZ...
Invercargill MP Sarah Dowie speaks during the general debate in Parliament this week.PHOTO: NZ PARLIAMENT
In Yes Minister, Jim Hacker famously rose to the premiership on the strength of his defence of the humble British banger over the threat posed by the "Euro Sausage."

Invercargill MP Sarah Dowie may not aspire to such heights (not that Mr Hacker did either), but she has also hitched her political wagon to a food issue, in this case the noble whitebait pattie.

Wednesday saw a rare burst of activity from an MP who, quite understandably, has kept a low profile after the horrendous start to her year.

For a start she asked just her third Parliamentary Question of 2019, and for good measure she followed up with her first foray this year into the tumult of the general debate.

Ms Dowie, National's conservation spokeswoman, had decided to launch an attack on her ministerial opponent, Eugenie Sage, on the issue of whitebait management - an issue close to the tastebuds and tummies of many New Zealanders.

She did not get off to a flying, or even a frying, start.

In Question 12 she asked Ms Sage when the full findings of the Department of Conservation's consultation on whitebait management would be released publicly ... awkward given it turned out they had been released on May 16 and on the internet for all to see.

Things did not improve, with the construction of Ms Dowie's questions allowing Ms Sage to counter that Ms Dowie had appeared not to be listening to the answers and that she had misconstrued the purpose of the Conservation (Indigenous Freshwater Fish) Amendment Bill.

The Bill is intended to address falling numbers of indigenous freshwater fish, including whitebait, and allow review and reform of regulations governing threats to fish life - such as being delicious.

Ms Dowie's final question - "Will Edmonds need to remove whitebait fritters from their cookbook under a Eugenie Sage whitebait regime?" - gave an inkling of where her general debate speech would be going.

Despite being told "no", 45 minutes later Ms Dowie was back on the attack, claiming that the days of eating a whitebait fritter (or whitebait pattie if you preferred) were numbered.

Held most Wednesdays, the general debate is a 12-speech free-for-all in which the Speaker lessens his grip on standing orders and allows a more robust level of content in speeches than usual.

Hence Ms Dowie was able to claim that Ms Sage seemed "to absolutely ignore and be quite obtuse when it comes to engaging a community in conservation", among other things.

Ms Dowie said Ms Sage intended to close the whitebait fishery - and in the process she was "ripping out the heart of certain Kiwi pastimes that have been in Kiwi tradition for generations".

In a suitably doleful closing, Ms Dowie lamented that "the days of enjoying a whitebait fritter with lemon and salt and white bread are over".

Given that method of enjoying the delicacy, the Ministry of Health may prove a more insurmountable problem than the Department of Conservation.

David Clark
David Clark
As an attack on the Government goes this was hardly a mauling, but the essence of a good idea was somewhere in there.

Protection of New Zealand's flora and fauna is always an important issue and, arguably, a Green steward of the conservation estate is liable to be held to a higher standard.

Ms Dowie is back on the stand, but it remains to be seen if she can now net Ms Sage.

Making words work

It was a busy week for Health Minister and Dunedin North MP David Clark as he stewarded a range of Bills through the House.

In fact, he and other Government MPs almost talked themselves hoarse as they dragged out debate on non-contentious legislation so as not to get too far through Parliament's rather slender order paper.

For example, the Government's contribution to the Health (Drinking Water) Amendment Bill, Committee Stage, Part 1 came to 12 speeches totalling just over an hour, while National's 4-minute, 45-second contribution was mainly to ask why the whole thing was taking so long given they were going to vote for it.

I see your half a billion and raise you

Michael Woodhouse
Michael Woodhouse
Previous columns have noted Dunedin National list MP Michael Woodhouse's contention that health board deficits nationwide are half a billion dollars.

Debating the replacement of Waikato DHB by a commissioner, Mr Woodhouse doubled down: "my prediction of $500million is probably now going to be conservative".

Watch this space.

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