Bullying claims are at the front and centre of New Zealand politics at the moment.
Within a time-frame of barely a week, the political establishment is unravelling around that vexed issue, with neither Labour nor National coming up with a coherent strategy to weather the unfolding crisis of credibility around bullying.
An op-ed piece in a local paper by Labour MP for Hamilton West, Gaurav Sharma, alleging bullying within his own party has provided an unexpected reprieve for opposition National Party leader Christopher Luxon, whose ill-conceived support of rookie MP for Tauranga, Sam Uffindell, has subsequently forced him on to the back foot.
Uffindell admitted to attacking a fellow student at King’s College boarding school 22 years ago, for which he was expelled. That black mark on his personal record did not prevent the party from putting him up as a candidate for the by-election from Tauranga in June, which he won.
Luxon claimed Uffindell was “genuinely regretful” and “contrite”, but later backpedalled and submitted the matter to an internal inquiry instead.
Labour’s Sharma lobbed a political grenade at the Parliamentary Service, his own party whips and the prime minister’s office. Sharma claimed bullying was rampant across Parliament.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern hinted that Sharma might be at the core of workplace charges of bullying laid against him by his office staff.
Sharma countered by alleging misuse of tax-payer money by a fellow party MP and claimed he was subjected to systematic degradation by the leadership for speaking out.
But going beyond the nitty gritty of the bullying claims bandied about on either side of the political divide, the big takeaway from the incidents currently under nationwide scrutiny is that they conceal more than what they reveal and shine a harsh light on the inner workings of the two major political parties, including their apparent indifference to due diligence in the selection process of party candidates or, as in Labour’s case, attempts to corral a “rogue” MP.
But the elephant in the room where the debate around bullying is taking place is the ethnic identity of the embattled Labour MP.
Sharma’s ethnic Indian identity brings the weight of cultural baggage into the controversy. This puts Ardern in an uncomfortable position while managing the controversy in the days ahead.
The facts surrounding Uffindell are marked by an obvious cultural homogeneity. A display of thuggish behaviour while at boarding school carries, at worst, the whiff of white elitism that may provoke class antagonism across a section of the Pakeha electorate.
But Sharma, as a sitting MP from an ethnic minority group, symbolises the diversity and inclusiveness of multicultural New Zealand society.
Taking the hatchet to him risks hurting minority community sentiment, which would not be politically expedient if Labour is counting on Kiwi Indian votes to gain an edge over its rivals in the upcoming general election in 2023.
This calculation probably lies behind Ardern’s soft touch while fielding the curve ball hurled at her and the party by her Indian-origin MP from Hamilton West.
An ethnic Indian sitting MP, who also happens to be a medical doctor with self-confessed suicidal thoughts, presents a political problem for the party in governance, which is far trickier than opposition National’s challenge of managing the crisis created by a greenhorn MP with a history of teenage delinquency.
So, who’s breathing easier right now, Ardern or Luxon?