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Opinion – There are signs that National's civil war has forced a check of the reality for the party and Jami-Lee Ross writes Bryce Edwards.
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
Jami-Lee Ross took some action to materialize his plans Friday in view of an extended trench warfare. He clearly understood what was obvious to all the others from the first day – that he had no chance of winning a by-election and that he would be gone for Christmas, with his salary, his parliamentary privileges and much of his media profile.
Perhaps he is also beginning to understand that his revelations are at least as detrimental to his own reputation as they are to Simon Bridges and the National Party.
The only way for him to gain any public credibility from his current position is to claim a Road to Damascus conversion – I've been a sinner but now I'm saved. To this end, he now presents himself as a whistleblower who wants to draw attention to the "rottenness" of the national party.
It will be very difficult to say at least, especially since his behavior last week showed a flagrant lack of self-awareness about his own failures.
Staying in Parliament for two years and indulging in the acrimony we saw last week is actually not viable. Previous MPs, such as Jim Anderton, who acted alone in Parliament, said how extremely difficult it was. Anderton was someone who had a clear premise for his actions and substantial personal and political support outside Parliament. Jami-Lee Ross is sorely lacking in both of these things.
If these prospects are bleak, imagine the immediate future envisioned by Simon Bridges after hearing Ross confirm that he was not going to resign. More than a hundred more weeks. Ross refers to a cache of ammunition that critically threatens not only his initial target, Simon Bridges, but also the credibility of the National Party as a whole.
Simon Bridges addresses the media after Jami-Lee Ross has released a recording of their speech.
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
Although there is little chance of preventing Ross from disclosing information, leave it in Parliament, under parliamentary privilege, with a full-time salary and resources and close to the press gallery, will be intolerable.
Nationals are bleeding and must stop the flow as soon as possible. The resignation and the by-election offered a solution, at least before Christmas. In any other way, using the new Waka Jumping legislation could actually be faster.
Obviously, if they take this path, their hypocrisy will be exploited mercilessly by their opponents. Winston Peters was already thinking that Christmas had arrived early this week, but seeing National as the first to use his legislation would give the impression that all his Christmas came at once.
However, this is clearly the case of the lesser of two evils for National. Having to defend yourself for a spectacular political backflip would probably seem to be a comforting relief in the current environment, and that will not do more damage than what has already been done or is not yet to come.
Already nationally aligned commentators such as David Farrar are laying the groundwork for such an eventuality. However, Graeme Edgeler, an electoral law expert, pointed out that it was not as easy as writing to the National President asking the President to send Ross back to Parliament.
Given that this split is neither political nor ideological, Ross could commit to voting with National in Parliament and, therefore, proportionality would be maintained.
Ross could dramatically delay and even stop this process by asking the courts to make the final decision, as did MP Donna Awatere Huata when the latter tried to rid her of it. In practical terms, Ross's vote will not change anything day by day because the government has more than a majority of votes.
National needs Ross to leave, and they need him as quickly as possible. They will do everything in their power to make this happen and if it involves humiliating political backflips and Winston Peters' laugh ringing in their ears until Christmas, so be it.
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