Key, Hide unruffled by backbench jibe

Tension between National and its support parties is high after it decided not to allow Maori seats on the new Auckland super-city council.

Anger over the move and ACT leader Rodney Hide's threat to resign as Local Government Minister if the seats went ahead spilt over into name-calling yesterday, with National's Tau Henare saying Hide was "a buffoon and a jerk-off".

Henare refused to apologise for the insults, which firebrand Maori Party MP Hone Harawira said were "about perfect".

Hide played down the comments, saying he had not taken offence and would not demand an apology.

"I've got a good working relationship with the Prime Minister [John Key] and National," he said. "Tau's a lot of fun. He's a guy who you don't die wondering what he thinks."

Henare did not return the compliment, saying: "Oh, poor Rodney. Tell him to get over it."

The bickering follows the Cabinet decision not to allow Maori seats on the super-city council and the leaking of a Henare email criticising Hide's stance.

Key said that while Henare's comments were "unhelpful", he would not ask him to apologise.

"We all know Tau," he said. "From time to time he uses some colourful language, but the relationship between the two leaders - myself and Rodney Hide  is very strong, and we'll just park it as a minor backbench issue."

Labour leader Phil Goff said it was clear that tensions were running high within the Government over the decision. "I think it shows not only a split between the coalition partners, but also a split within the National Party itself," he said.

"To get that sort of extravagant language from a member of the National caucus shows the divisions are deep within that caucus as well."

Goff said the big question was whether National would allow its MPs a free vote on the Maori seats.

Key said he had no concerns about the security of the Government. "We are a minority government and we rely on the support of our confidence and supply partners," he said.

"From time to time there will always be emotions over the decisions we make. That's the nature of government.

"We have people who come from the Right of politics and people who come from the Left, and inevitably from time to time that will create some tensions. I'm totally confident of our ability to work through those difficult situations."

Key said he would not allow a conscience vote on the seats issue. "This is not a conscience issue."

Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples called for a conscience vote and said he was "brassed off" with the Cabinet decision.

Harawira called the decision "dumb". He said the Maori seats "may not happen overnight, but it is going to happen".

Asked how the decision had affected relations with National, Harawira said he did not have a relationship with National. "I don't get caught up in that sort of thing. I have a job to do and I do it."

Asked what he thought about Henare's comments, Harawira said: "I think Tau's got it about perfect."

TAU HENARE FILE

* August 2009: ACT leader Rodney Hide "a buffoon and a jerk-off" over his stand on Maori seats in the Auckland super-city plan.

* October 2007: Gets into a punch-up with Labour MP Trevor Mallard outside the parliamentary Debating Chamber after he called Mallard a hypocrite.

* March 2006: Calls British prime minister Tony Blair "an absolute liar" during a radio debate with Paul Holmes. He later apologised for his comments.

* July 1998: for flying first class to Britain to repatriate tattooed heads, Henare compares his plight to that of Rosa Parks, the black American who refused to give up her bus seat to a white man. "They just don't like it because there was a hori up front," he says.

* July 1998: tells the British that "we navigated and peopled the length and breadth of the Pacific while Europeans were still creeping around the coast in row boats".

* October 1997: Describes Labour MP Mike Moore as "the big white brother who knows better than the niggers".

* July 1997: officials who, in a leaked report, described former deputy prime minister Winston Peters as a loose cannon are branded "a pack of mongrels" by Henare.

* March 1997: Manhandles reporter Stephen Parker down a parliamentary corridor, calls press gallery chairman Barry Soper "an old hack who makes things up" and tells reporter Guyon Espiner that he is "a little boy doing a man's job".

- © Fairfax NZ News