China paid for Chris Carter's Tibet trip

Friday, July 30, 2010

The Dominion Post
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OUT IN THE COLD: Chris Carter (Photo: JOHN SELKIRK)

Labour's errant MP Chris Carter says the Chinese government paid for his controversial trip to China and Tibet which he didn't tell party leaders about.

His unauthorised absence annoyed party leader Phil Goff and is one of the issues which led to yesterday's meltdown and Mr Carter's expulsion from caucus.

"It was in the second week of a recess and the Chinese government picked up the whole tab," he told NZPA today.

"There was no cost to the New Zealand taxpayer at all."

Mr Carter said he didn't tell party whips, or seek permission, because no taxpayer funding was involved.

"It was offered to me about four months ago because they were having a conference on poverty alleviation...I was in China for six days and I only spent one day in Tibet," he said.

Mr Carter said he thought that if he had spoken to anyone about the trip, there would have been "another media beat up" about it.

The Te Atatu MP was thrown out of caucus on a unanimous vote yesterday after an abortive attempt to undermine Mr Goff, and on August 7 the party council will almost certainly expel him.

This afternoon Mr Goff said he hoped Mr Carter was getting personal support and denied he was a raising mental health issues to discredit him.

"I am not a physiatrist, I cannot address that issue," Mr Goff told media in Mt Roskill this afternoon.

"Chris' behaviour has not been rational over this, it has been anything but rational and it is unacceptable.

"On a personal level we would like to see support given to him, but clearly his behaviour is such he not fit to be a member of parliament."

He hoped Mr Carter and his partner were getting support.

"If he is having difficulties then on a human side we would want to be supportive, on a political side there is no room for somebody who behaved the way he behaved."

He denied the mental health questions were an attempt to discredit Mr Carter.

"I don't know if there is a mental health aspect to it, but what I do know is that the behaviour is very hard to comprehend or rationalise....

"I cannot tell you what state of mind I just know the behaviour is unusual behaviour and it defies a rational explanation.

"I think Chris' problem is that he developed a sense of entitlement, over his travel over his right to do anything he liked."

Mr Carter has said he will remain an independent MP until the next election as Te Atatu's representative. He said he would not stand in the next election.

An unsigned letter Mr Carter sent to media representatives yesterday, seeking to undermine Mr Goff and foment a coup against him, backfired spectacularly.

Mr Goff said Mr Carter did not follow the rules when he took the trip because he didn't tell the party whips he was going away.

"That's two weeks we would have relied on him being here," Mr Goff said.

Mr Goff found out Mr Carter had left the country only after the fact.

Senior Labour MP Trevor Mallard said Mr Carter went without permission from the Labour Party or Mr Goff and had exhibited some "pretty unusual" and "pretty irrational" behaviour lately.

The latest quarterly release yesterday of MPs' travel details was probably a trigger for his behaviour, Mr Mallard said, and he was worried about Mr Carter's behaviour.

Party president Andrew Little also suggested people were concerned about Mr Carter, who had been under a great deal of stress.

Mr Mallard said the rest of the Labour caucus was behind Mr Goff.

Mr Goff told NewstalkZB stress over Mr Carter's expenditure was behind his outbreak, after he mishandled apologising to the public in June for using his ministerial credit card for items such as massages.

Ordered to apologise by Mr Goff, he led reporters on a chase through the corridors of Parliament and called a press conference the next day to say he was sorry about the way he had spent taxpayer money.

"I gave him a second chance, but nobody gets a third chance. He has not been up to doing the job that I've required of him, I don't have confidence in his judgment," Mr Goff said today.