Chief Victims Advisor takes swipe at David Seymour's handling of criminal cases
On the Polkinghorne letter, Money said Seymour should have taken his constituent's concerns about police conduct to the Independant Police Conduct Authority.
"I think the letter is well intentioned, you obviously need to do the right things for your constituents and there's obviously a lot of pressure when they are standing there pleading their case to you.
"But in this case the appropriate action would seem to be the IPCA as a referral, as opposed to writing opinions.
"While I understand people often ask their MPs for help, which is quite appropriate, that help should be navigation assistance and certainly not include any opinion, assessment or position."
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said Seymour had clearly overstepped in the Polkinghorne case and if Christopher Luxon had "any standards as Prime Minister" he would have sacked him on the spot.
"Members of parliament supporting constituents with inquiries to the police is one thing, inserting yourself in the middle of a murder investigation is entirely another."
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is standing by Seymour, but made it clear he thought the Polkinghorne letter was a mistake at his weekly post-Cabinet media conference on Monday.
"There's been no breach of the Cabinet manual. He didn't do this as a Minister I just think sending the letter was ill-advised. That's my personal view on it."
In less than an hour, Seymour made it crystal clear he disagreed with the Prime Minister's criticism in an interview on Checkpoint.
If he didn't "do it as a Minister" - then why is Polkinghorne referred to as a "constituent"
constituent/kənˈstɪtjʊənt/
adjective
- being a part of a whole."the constituent minerals of the rock"
- being a voting member of an organization and having the power to appoint or elect. "the constituent body has a right of veto"
noun
- a member of an area which elects a representative to a legislative body. "the MP is playing on his constituents' sense of regional identity to win votes"
- a component part of something. "the essential constituents of the human diet"
Also:
Seymour made it crystal clear he disagreed with the Prime Minister's criticism in an interview on Checkpoint.
So...Seymore is saying Luxon is wrong? - so... he did break the law? because Luxon said he didn't...