Carter a damn good MP, says Northland boatie

The Northland man at the centre of a spat over alleged political favours says Associate Local Government Minister John Carter is "a damn good MP".

Doug Schmuck benefited from three clauses added to the Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Bill, allowing him to use a public reserve in Opua for a private boat ramp. The clauses were added by the primary production select committee and critics of the plan were not told.

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman has complained to the Speaker over the clauses, saying they bring Parliament into disrepute.

Mr Schmuck dismissed criticism yesterday. "The Greens can gripe all they like about John, but the reality is there was a whole committee of people who went `Whoa, we need to do something about this'."

Mr Carter, who is also MP for Northland and sits on the select committee, advocated for Mr Schmuck but was not present when he made his submission to the committee.

Mr Schmuck had "gone down to Parliament" and said: "Hey, what's the guts, how are we going to deal with this? And they dealt with it. That's the bottom line."

Mr Carter was "a damn good MP" because he was in touch with his electorate and constituency. "That's one of his great fortes."

The 15-year fight for the Opua boat ramp had taken "a hell of a lot of time" and cost Mr Schmuck close to $200,000. "A few objectors can run the costs up so high that it makes things like the Resource Management Act untenable," he said.

Labour leader Phil Goff said he could not comment on the merits of Mr Schmuck's case but he did feel it was "a very bad process".

"It might be the right thing to do, but without the right of other people in the community to make submissions, it's a very one-sided process."

Parliament's Speaker Lockwood Smith said he was considering the best way to deal with Dr Norman's complaint. "Any ruling that the Speaker might give would be delivered in the House when the bill is next considered," his statement said.

It was up to the Government when the bill re-entered Parliament for its second reading.

- © Fairfax NZ News