Efeso Collins deserved better than what parliament offered yesterday
The Spinoff Daily, Wednesday May 1
Ahiahi mārie, welcome to The Spinoff Daily.
Today on The Spinoff: The highs and lows of James Shaw’s 10 years in parliament, what you need to know about the world’s biggest election happening right now, and workers share their horror stories for May Day.
“The day Fa’anānā Efeso Collins died, parliament felt different. In a building that operates at a breakneck pace, everyone stopped and took a moment. It broke the facade. MPs remembered they were people before they were politicians. Leader of the house Chris Bishop adjourned the house for a week out of respect for Collins, his colleagues and his family. It was supposed to give time for parliamentary staff to organise a proper commemoration, a sendoff fit for a member of the noble and august institution that is the New Zealand House of Representatives.
That formal commemoration took place yesterday afternoon, nine weeks after Collins collapsed at a Childfund charity event. Unlike the hastily arranged tributes that flowed in the house on that day, the formal commemoration on Tuesday afternoon was a sad reminder that politics never stops.”
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