Dr Liz Gordon – Ructions in the national caucus

I bet Simon Bridges wishes he had been born a Smith, Jones or almost anything rather than bridges.  After Winston’s little musical stunt “Burning Bridges”, and extremely punny headlines in the Press two days running, he will be sick of his own name.

But it is not Bridges that I want to comment on here.  I want to talk about Jami-Lee Ross from a gender perspective.  The first point I want to make is that political men and women do things very differently from one another. Women are rarely the protagonists in political palaver, and tend instead towards the peace-making role.

I think of Mr Ross as a sort of Peter Pan.  Experiencing political success at the age of 18, he appears to have a sort of sense of entitlement, and the huge confidence that goes with it, that is massively overblown.  He was the young gun that teamed up with Dick Quax to excoriate poor old Len Brown over his expenses.  While he did not win the battle, he was given huge kudos for the tactic.

Then he was the young gun (not quite so young) who was admitted into the inner circle of the National Party caucus and given positions of power and responsibility.  He had obviously, along the way, developed a very strong sense of his own worth and abilities. He was Simon Bridges greatest supporter and rock.

And then, something happened. There are three potential explanations: 1. He really did develop a mental health problem, such as depression (or, might one say narcissism?), and his judgement went right out of the window.  2.  His account is true, that a number of things happened that turned him off the leadership. 3. That somehow his own ambition had, as he perceived it, been thwarted, and he decided to sink the ship rather than walk the plank.

The media has focussed on the financial issues raised by Ross.  This is correct – always follow the money. But, apart from a denial by Paula Bennett that any such matters had been raised with him, and her slightly sniffy and revealing comment about the behaviour of a married Member of Parliament, no further information has been revealed.  If there are a group of women out there who have been harassed by Ross, they should certainly let it be known.

The result of all this is an out-of-control ex-MP who is about to embark on a dirty constituency seat campaign, and Bridges and co being forced to defend themselves against dirty politics claims (once again).  It is the 2005 election (complete with Exclusive Brethren and shady Chinese transactions) all over again.

Ross has chosen a lonely road and I am not convinced that his judgement is in good health.  I think he probably is having some kind of mental breakdown.  As so often in such cases, the outcome for him, and those around him, is likely to be poor.

Dr Liz Gordon began her working life as a university lecturer at Massey and the Canterbury universities. She spent six years as an Alliance MP, before starting her own research company, Pukeko Research.  Her work is in the fields of justice, law, education and sociology (poverty and inequality). She is the president of Pillars, a charity that works for the children of prisoners, a prison volunteer, and is on the board of several other organisations. Her mission is to see New Zealand freed from the shackles of neo-liberalism before she dies (hopefully well before!).