Carter back, yet to face up to Labour

Dissident MP Chris Carter kept his head down when he returned to Parliament yesterday but he will have to front up to the Labour Party in the next couple of weeks.

Mr Carter was expelled from the Labour caucus in June following an amateur attempt to discredit leader Phil Goff by sending media an anonymous letter saying a coup was imminent, as some MPs had no confidence in Mr Goff.

He had previously been in trouble after ministerial credit card details were released exposing some extravagant travel expenditure on his part.

Mr Carter, who won the Te Atatu electorate for Labour at the last election, took two months of stress leave after being sprung over the letter, but that leave ran out today.

He did not appear in the debating chamber yesterday, nor answer calls to his office or cellphone, but was presumed to be about in his capacity as an independent MP.

Mr Carter had not requested extra leave from Speaker Lockwood Smith and was believed to have returned, a spokesman for Dr Smith told NZPA.

While no longer a member of Labour's parliamentary party he remained a member of the wider party which could not decide on his future until he appeared before a disciplinary meeting of the national council.

Mr Little told Radio New Zealand that was likely to take place within a couple of weeks now Mr Carter was back at work.

Mr Goff said now that Mr Carter appeared to have recovered, he needed to front the New Zealand Council of the Labour Party and defend his case if he wanted to try to stay in the party.

If successful, he can put his name forward as a Labour nominee for the Te Atatu electorate to contest next year's election.

"My understanding is that he would be standing down at the next election, but that is for him to say," Mr Goff said. "He is not a member of my caucus and I don't have responsibility for him."

Mr Goff said if Mr Carter wanted his proxy vote to be cast with by Labour Party on any issue in Parliament he needed to arrange with party whips to do that.