Social Development Minister Louise Upston. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n
Upston collects $1000 a week to live in her own Wellington apartment which is within the current rules.<\/p>\n
Parliament Speaker Gerry Brownlee confirmed today that he had seen the photograph and believed it had breached press gallery rules.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are very clear rules about where gallery journalists and associates can film – on the tiles, and it makes it very clear in those rules that it is for the purposes of conducting an interview. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn this case they had a camera pointed through open doors right through the grand hall to a corridor between the grand hall and the legislative chamber.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a regular access way and egress way for members leaving the house. It\u2019s also an area where it\u2019s long been marked out as areas where interviews can only take place if agreed by the member.\u201d <\/p>\n
He confirmed he was considering a \u201cvery temporary\u201d suspension but also added that this would not be determined today.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m considering, but I\u2019m in discussions with them, so I have nothing further to say at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senior political editors and journalists have written to the Speaker over the possible move. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n
Political editors and senior journalists from a range of newsrooms including Thomas Coughlan and Audrey Young from the NZ Herald, Benedict Collins from TVNZ, Jo Moir from RNZ, Sam Sachdeva from Newsroom, Luke Malpass from The Post, Brent Edwards from NBR, Richard Harman from Politik and M\u0101ni Dunlop from Whakaata M\u0101ori are among those to have written to Brownlee.<\/p>\n
They say the photograph was taken from an area of Parliament – the Level 1 foyer of Parliament House, an area known as \u201cthe black and white tiles\u201d – where they believe journalists have long had explicit permission to interview, film and photograph MPs.<\/p>\n
The editors\u2019 letter expressed concerns about the impact of the Speaker\u2019s potential decision on media freedom.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo suggest that Press Gallery members now require the express consent of MPs to film, photograph and interview them from areas where we have always been permitted would amount to a dramatic reduction in access, and raises concerns about media freedom,\u201d the journalists said in the letter to Brownlee.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are naturally concerned by any attempt to reduce the Press Gallery\u2019s rights and access, as has happened incrementally over the years. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is just one more proposed change that in itself might not mean much, but cumulatively has led to a concerning erosion to our access over time. If any MP has concerns about the editorial content of a story, that should be dealt with through the usual channels for complaints, rather than by seeking to curtail our access to Parliament.\u201d<\/p>\n
The editors asked Brownlee to reconsider his possible move \u201cin the interests of \u2018supporting the transparency and openness of New Zealand\u2019s system of representative democracy\u2019 per the press gallery\u2019s rules\u201d.<\/p>\n
Brownlee told Media Insider that the gallery journalists were in a \u201cpretty advantaged position compared to where a lot of media comes from these days – and it\u2019s all at the expense of the taxpayer\u201d.<\/p>\n
There had to be some rules, he said, and it was his job to make sure that MPs\u2019 rights were also protected.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey [the journalists] can argue those rules if they want, but in the end, it\u2019s something that could be discussed by the executive directly with me. It\u2019s not for individual members of the gallery to start determining what the rules are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stuff Digital editor in chief Keith Lynch said the company did not believe any rules were broken, and had expressed this point to the Speaker.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have also conferred with other senior members of the Press Gallery who agreed with our interpretation of the rule. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe stand by the publication of the photograph which accompanied a story of significant public interest. We remain willing to engage directly with the Speaker to resolve the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maiki Sherman ban<\/p>\n