Lockwood Smith is sending out a message. No-one disrespects the rules of his crib.
The Speaker has had enough. The television media's behaviour in chasing Chris Carter through Parliament's hallways, down its stairs, and even pushing into his office, has so contravened the rules of the House that he is left with no option but to dish out some payback.
Fair enough. If left to their own devices, the news media would turn the parliamentary precincts into a veritable school-yard jungle in their desire to be the first to root out a good story (all in "the public interest" and the people's "right to know", of course). To preserve a measure of decorum, not to say some space for MPs to exist without harassment, there need to be rules on access and behaviour - which in turn require punishment to be meted out when these are broken.
And so the NZ Herald informs us of Lockwood Smith's chilling response: "The [television] networks have been stripped of their 22 access passes to Parliament's basement carpark."
That will learn them - break the rules and you suffer real consequences. You'll have to drag your cameras and mikes in on the buses or trains (and experience all the vagaries of public transport timetables and disruptions) like every other working schmo on Lambton Quay. Alternatively, the networks can shell out a few hundred dollars a month on private parking charges, rather than continue to enjoy a free-ride on the taxpayer's back - a "perk" that we don't seem to hear all that much about, strangely enough!
But what's that? Such consequences would be disproportionate to the offence, and we can't have our precious media severely inconvenienced in this way? Apparently not!
"'Alternative arrangements in an external car park at the rear of Parliament have been offered to both channels,' Dr Smith said."
Yep - there's the lesson right there. Mess around with the rules of the House, and you ... have to walk a few hundred more meters in the open air to get to work.
In terms of sending a message, it isn't exactly in this league. But then, I guess the rules of the game are a bit different when some of the players have the power to spin the news to the nation seven nights a week, 365 days a year.
[Update: So if chasing an MP through the corridors/down stairs/straying into his office gets your car parks removed, what exactly happens to you if you assault an MP on Parliament's steps? Discuss ...]