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This space should have been filled with a Viewpoint column by Kaipara ki Mahurangi MP Chris Penk, whose downfall was splashed across national and international news outlets last week.
In his column, Penk applauded the Warkworth-Te Hana Expressway green light, and praised rule changes making it easier to build granny flats.
Perhaps most importantly, he said he had asked the Social Investment Agency to ‘strongly consider’ funding Homebuilders so the Warkworth-based family support charity could continue its ‘invaluable work’ after its Oranga Tamariki grant was axed.
And a news story on another page detailed his jump in the National Party July list rankings, from 18th to 14th, remarking also on his elevation to Cabinet in the April reshuffle and his appointment as Minister of Defence, adding to a swag of other ministerial responsibilities.
Penk, it seemed, was on a roll. But in light of last week’s dramatic events, which saw him lose his portfolios and resign as an MP, neither of those articles will be published. They have been overtaken by what on the face of it seems a gross misjudgement.
Luxon has many critics, but he’s still the country’s preferred PM, and most polls suggest a National-led coalition will keep power, albeit narrowly. So, hardly a crisis necessitating a revolution and the guillotine.
Of course, the blade did fall. But did it decapitate the real culprit, or was he a fall guy for more canny political operatives?
As of writing this editorial on Friday, nobody seems to have figured out exactly why a relatively newcomer to the National Party’s inner Cabinet circle would think he had the political clout and support to overthrow a Prime Minister.
Many commentators think he was the numbers man for someone else. We’re looking at you, Erica Stanford and Chris Bishop.
One much touted theory is that Stanford as PM would cream off some of the women’s vote from Labour.
However, she has now said Luxon ‘has her full support’. Tui moment?
Penk has an impressive CV. He has a law degree, served as a naval officer on HMNZS Te Kaha, and as a submarine officer in the Australian Defence Force, was aide de camp to Governor General Silvia Cartwright and then set up his own law firm.
His first foray into politics was at the 2014 election, when he ran a strong campaign in Kelston, a safe Labour seat, but was defeated by Carmel Sepuloni. He ranked 68th on the party list back then.
He had been noticed, though, and three years later was picked to replace John Key as National candidate in the true blue Helensville seat, which he won convincingly in 2017.
Redrawn boundaries saw that electorate revamped, and Penk then won Kaipara ki Mahurangi in 2020, repeating that in the 2023 election with an increased majority.
The Labour candidate that year was Guy Wishart, now chair of Rodney Local Board, and the member for the Kumeu, where Penk’s electorate office is situated.
He says he always found Penk to be a “pretty straight-up sort of person” both when they were political rivals and during Penk’s frequent interactions with the local board.
“I think he’s quite an honest person. I mean politics is not an honest game, in a sense that you have to say things that you may not believe yourself, because you have to follow the party line all the time.”
Wishart said he felt sorry that Penk’s career had come to such an abrupt end because he was taking the blame for some in National not being comfortable with Luxon.
“I don’t think that he was going for the top job. I think he was crunching the numbers for them. You would have thought that maybe a backbencher who didn’t have a lot of portfolios was willing to do that, but to have a senior minister who’s actually in Cabinet doing that role – I don’t know how that ever evolved.”
