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NZ Labour renegade labels Jacinda Ardern a liar

Ben McKayAAP
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been branded a liar by renegade NZ Labour MP Gaurav Sharma. (Steven Saphore/AAP PHOTOS)
Camera IconPrime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been branded a liar by renegade NZ Labour MP Gaurav Sharma. (Steven Saphore/AAP PHOTOS) Credit: AAP

The New Zealand Labour Party is in full damage control after a new series of interviews and allegations of impropriety from mutineer MP Gaurav Sharma.

Dr Sharma, already suspended from Jacinda Ardern’s party room, faces expulsion at the next caucus meeting when parliament resumes next Tuesday.

The Hamilton West MP, elected in Labour’s 2020 landslide election victory, is going down swinging - calling Ms Ardern a liar who is overseeing a cover-up of the party’s bullying culture.

“This is about the credibility of a nation’s prime minister, who every step of the way has been lying,” he told Radio NZ.

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The 38-year-old fell out with his party when he was barred from hiring staff due to multiple employee complaints.

Dr Sharma feels he has been denied justice, and has labelled former whip Kieran McAnulty a bully who degraded him in front of colleagues.

On Thursday night and Friday morning, Dr Sharma did a round of radio and television interviews, calling for an independent investigation into his case.

“I want a public inquiry which will hold people to account because as we’ve seen up until now ... it’s a kangaroo court in a banana republic,” he said.

“Why is it that the prime minister is more interested in removing me than even giving me a fair public chance?

“There’s a lot more going on that the prime minister doesn’t want investigated.”

Of graver concern, Dr Sharma has expanded attacks beyond his own staffing grievance to lash out at other party processes.

He told radio station Newstalk ZB and the AM television show that senior staffers and ministers ran workshops for MPs to dodge New Zealand’s freedom of information laws, the official information act (OIA).

“They’ve had these right from day one,” he said.

“Last Monday we had a workshop ... there were multiple sessions, how to talk to media and things like that.

“A whole conversation was how not to do things so that they get OIA-ed.

“Don’t send anything in text. Don’t send anything in email. Pick up the phone or go and talk to somebody face to face, because what we don’t want is a paper trail.”

OIA laws in New Zealand are expansive and allow anyone to request relevant communications and documents on policy issues.

However, they do not cover parliament or party business, which means they do not apply to Dr Sharma’s grievances.

A Labour source said Monday’s event was a “KFC and beer night” that formed part of ongoing training for the recent cohort of new MPs.

Rather than advising MPs on how to dodge OIA scrutiny, the source said, it was about ensuring communications were triaged appropriately to get answers for MPs and their constituents.

Ms Ardern, who is spending Friday and Saturday in the Waikato and has not responded to the latest claims, views Dr Sharma’s outbursts as a childish response to his employment dispute.

Mr McAnulty denies claims of bullying, and Ms Ardern says she has seen no evidence of improper behaviour from her emergency management minister.

“I’m not one for raising my voice ... I’m quite happy to stand on my record,” Mr McAnulty said on Friday.

While Dr Sharma is yet to provide damning evidence in support of bullying allegations, he also claims to have support from within the Labour ranks.

In an interview with Newshub, he says another MP backs his views on a bullying culture, and he has a recording to prove it.

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