Kate Hawkesby: Labour caucus meeting behind Sharma's back is downright mean

I can’t work out if this Sharma stuff is something voters care about or not. It’s a lot of he said / she said. It’s a lot of claim and counter claim – it’s something we may never really get to the bottom of given Labour ruled out an independent investigation. That in and of itself may tell us something actually. The way it’s been handled by the party – a clearly furious Ardern and Robertson, shows that for all the talk of kindness and kumbaya, they couldn’t have been less kind in the way they’ve dealt with all this. So Sharma’s been suspended, which really solves nothing. On top of that, and even worse in my view, is that we learn yesterday that prior to yesterday’s Zoom caucus meeting, they’d already had another secret meeting the night before. Worse yet, when Sharma leaked that info to the media, the Prime Minister’s office disputed it. Didn’t outright deny it, but disputed it. The PM was eventually forced to confirm it after Sharma provided proof of it, with a shot someone inside the caucus had sent him, of a photo of Kelvin Davidson at the Zoom meeting with his hand up looking like he was voting. So they have more trouble brewing inside the party than just Sharma by the sounds of it, if others are seeming to side with him and leak to him. But also, it surely gives Sharma’s claims credibility doesn’t it? It looks like when you weigh up his word against the party’s, he seems correct here, and they look dodgy. A meeting secretly behind his back. That’s just so Machiavellian, so under handed, and frankly just downright mean.  It’s like the NZRU is advising the Labour party on how to handle things at the moment. I mean it’s shambolic. And in suspending him, what does that achieve? He’s frozen out of caucus but it’s almost like a good behaviour bond with the decision being reviewed in December so he’s on notice until then. It doesn’t matter because he won’t be re-selected for that Hamilton West seat, especially given the way the Labour party has treated him thus far. So how damaging has this whole thing been for Labour? How much of a PR cock up is this? And why didn’t they just follow due process, be fair, be KIND and give the green light to an independent investigation. I mean look how National has handled their Sam Uffindell woes by comparison. It’s kept it all above board, immediately stood him down, sent it to an independent investigation, kept it looking fair and balanced, and dare I suggest, far kinder than the Labour party who seemed to be baying for Sharma’s blood from the moment he first spoke. Sharma was a no show at yesterday’s meeting, he says because there was no point in him being there, why would he given they’d already all met in secret without him, seemingly deciding his fate behind his back regardless. So this has been a shabby, uncool, unkind, shifty little debacle, which shows the party up for the Machiavellian operators they are. It’s done them no favours. And I don’t know that it’s solved anything either.  There's no guarantee this shuts Sharma up, but the underhanded way the party’s dealt with him I think, looks not only shabby, but just plain cruel.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.