Parliament V2.0 - Now with added violence.

New Zealand's Senior Cabinet Minister Trevor Mallard may have just unwittingly changed the future of politics in this country.
National party member Tau Henare said Mr. Mallard "lost his rag" after he directed a "very short, three-word, comment" at him in the House about his personal life. How did he do this?
He punched him.
He punched him right in the face.

This is the latest event in a series of odd displays by the House of Representatives, but it is certainly the most interesting. Trevor Mallard has finally taken this ministerial trash-talking to another level, and has now incorporated what the vast majority of us want to see: high-ranking public figures engaged in embarrassingly ineffective combat.

For the first time in the history of New Zealand, representatives of the two main political parties in the country have joined together in order to make politics more interesting to an otherwise disaffected audience.
The entire nation has suddenly woken up to the fact that politics isn't all about legislation, debates, and endless campaigning -- it's also about petty name-calling, childish taunts, and blind rage.

It may not have been the most intelligent thing to do on Trevor Mallard's behalf, but somewhere inbetween angrily pouncing on Tau Henare and being dragged away by several bystanders he did something that most politicians can only dream of: He made a large amount of people smile.
He did not achieve this by making forced jokes, he didn't comment on Australia, and he certainly didn't mention the policies of other political parties, and I believe that is a very rare thing in politics. Personally, I don't think Mr. Mallard should face any serious punishment for what he did.
Many other people do, however.
As a working compromise, my suggestion is that we outsource his current duties to someone else, and make him our representative at all future international meetings. Why?

New Zealand is a very small country with a minimal influence on global politics. I think we should change that.
If our representative had a reputation for being 'that guy' -- the one who can snap at any minute and launch himself at you -- we may be able to play a more important role at summits.
I'm not advocating the use of bullying in order to have sanctions imposed on countries that finished ahead of New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup, I'm just saying that it's a possibility we shouldn't be ruling out without serious consideration.