Norm under attack from Government

The standing of Norman George as an MP is now hanging in the balance of a legal opinion as government went on the attack soon after the session started this morning. The attack came when Teina Bishop succeeded in having the Standing Orders suspended while he delivered a Ministerial Statement. The statement he said was of national importance because it involved the integrity of the Electoral Law. In addition, the Constitutional requirement for MPs to take the Oath of Allegiance at the earliest opportunity was paramount to the political system and its stability.
Bishop then singled out Atiu MP Norman George for having failed to show up to the previous session of Parliament in February. That failure Bishop said was deserving of the deliberations of a Parliamentary Privileges Committee and that George should be prevented from taking the Oath. As a consequence, the seat held by George should be declared vacant. But while the Speaker of the House Sir Geoffrey Henry agreed for the Privileges Committee process to be set up and proceed, he could not allow that process to stop the taking of the Oath.
The Speaker then raised a legal argument over the standing of the Atiu MP, in not having taken the Oath back in February. A reference to MPs not having taken the Oath may open the question of their seat being declared vacant and Sir Geoffrey said he would seek an opinion from Crown Law to determine whether this applied to Norman George. The answer, he said, would be delivered on Monday – thereby pushing George into limbo over where his future will go.

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