Just asking...

In my May 17 column, I took a crack at Te Pāti Māori for being big on theatre but not backing it up with being an effective opposition party.

- Aaron Smale

In my May 17 column, I took a crack at Te Pāti Māori for being big on theatre but not backing it up with being an effective opposition party. The obvious example was their haka in the House in protest at the Treaty Principles Bill. But I didn't think the haka was the problem.

Since then, the government has focused on dishing out utu for Te Pāti Māori daring to bring its brand of political theatre into the House. A privileges committee headed by Judith Collins - who inaccurately claimed the haka prevented Act from voting at the bill's first reading recommended a punishment of 21 days' suspension from Parliament for Te Pāti Māori's co-leaders and a week for Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke.

Even that delicate flower Gerry Brownlee, Speaker of the House, seemed uneasy about the harshness of the proposed penalty. But not Act MP Parmjeet Parmar. She wanted to know if prison was an option. When questioned about this, she rolled out the "just asking questions" line, supposedly wanting to know what the whole spectrum of options were to punish the unruly natives.

So, in the spirit of just asking questions, here's a few Parmar might like to consider.