Dear Prime Minister, As a long-time National Party supporter, I'm incensed that a member of your Cabinet would refer to me as a ‘clown' and ‘paranoid'.
This is how Christopher Finlayson has referred to myself and other opponents to his Marine and Coastal Area Bill - which include many National Party supporters - claiming that our views are 'profoundly sickening” and that he was considering giving up his summer holiday because 'I'm not going to be beaten by these clowns”.
For a Minister of the Crown to attempt to intimidate and silence opponents to his Bill, at a time when a submission process that invites comment from members of the public is underway, is extraordinary and totally unacceptable. This latest attack on the tens of thousands of good New Zealanders to retain the foreshore and seabed in Crown ownership shows he has lost all semblance of the objectivity that a Minister in charge of a Bill must display.
As a member of the House of Representatives, he should welcome public participation in the democratic process; he should not insult those who challenge his opinions as by doing so, he is undermining the integrity of the process.
I therefore urge you to appoint a replacement Minister to take charge of the Marine and Coastal Area Bill, for as PM you simply cannot allow him to stay in that position when he is in clear breach of the high standards of behaviour expected of him as a Minister of the Crown. Tony Fellingham.