A parliamentary committee has decided that National's video poking fun at new Labour MP Anna Lorck can be re-published after it was ordered to be taken down - but some tweaks must be made.
Lorck gave an impassioned speech last Wednesday night on the benefits of supplements, drawing ridicule online. It led National to publish a video poking fun at her, which was signed off by National MP Chris Bishop.
Last week House Speaker Trevor Mallard ordered Bishop to remove the video from social media as it could be misleading. The video showed Lorck arguing the benefits of Berocca in Parliament and National edited it to look like a Berocca ad.
Mallard referred Bishop to the Privileges Committee, which is basically Parliament's court, for signing off on the video. It turns out Mallard issued the complaint about the video.
The Privileges Committee released its ruling on Friday, saying the video may be re-published subject to it being amended to remove parts of the video that may be misleading.
In particular, in the original speech Lorck told a story in which she quoted her grandfather, saying: "... he says to me, 'Well, I take three supplements. I take deer velvet, I take bee pollen, and I take garlic'. "
The committee said, "Although the grandfather was referenced at the start of the edited video, the words 'he says to me,' were removed. The majority of us believe that the edited video suggested that the member said that she herself took these supplements.
"If the video was amended to clearly attribute the quote above to the member's grandfather, it would no longer be misleading. This could be achieved by including the five words the member said before the above quote: 'And he says to me'."
"The privileges committee determined the video of Anna was edited in such a way by National that it was misleading," Labour's Chief Whip Kieran McAnulty said on Friday.
"It's important the rules around accurately representing MPs is upheld, so National have had to change the video in order for it to be re-posted.
"We are pleased that the Privileges Committee worked effectively to balance the right of political speech with the need for accuracy."
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said last week she hadn't seen the video, but knew National had been ordered to take it down.
"There's been editing that's been undertaken here that's led to a misleading outcome," Ardern told reporters on Friday.
Bishop says he didn't think National has done anything wrong.
"The video is literally just excerpts from a speech given in Parliament," he told Newshub. "If people had turned on the TV they would have seen basically the exact same thing, so we don't think it's misleading."
Bishop said he didn't see what National had done wrong.
"The video is literally just excerpts from a speech given in Parliament," he told Newshub. "If people had turned on the TV they would have seen basically the exact same thing, so we don't think it's misleading."
Lorck isn't the first Labour MP to be targeted by National.
In 2019, National published a satirical video of Labour MP Deborah Russell focussing on her discussing Greek mythology in Parliament and concluding with Assistant Speaker Ruth Dyson asking her to get back on topic.
It led to a showdown between Mallard and former National leader Simon Bridges, who resisted taking the video down.
At the time, the rules banned the use of Parliament TV footage for "political advertising or election campaigning" unless all members shown have given their permission.
MPs eventually agreed to suspend the rule and allowed the use of Parliament TV footage for political advertising, unless it was misleading.
