National is accusing Labour of hypocrisy in the battle for the Mt Albert by-election. Labour is likely to choose international humanitarian worker David Shearer as its candidate, but 3 News has obtained articles written by Mr Shearer where he is arguing for private military companies and mercenaries to be hired by the United Nations to go to war.
National and the Greens say the position is hypocritical and a disaster.
Private military security company Blackwater been labelled gung ho, reckless dogs of war, mercenaries and Rambos. They post their Iraq missions on the internet, and are under contract to the US government.
They are also very unpopular - in 2007 they shot dead an Iraqi man, his wife and baby.
But Mr Shearer has argued these private companies should become the norm, and should be hired by the UN to go into some war zones.
Mr Shearer has worked for the UN in many hot spots. His support of private military companies in war is not lost on National.
Mr Shearer is likely to be selected as Labour's candidate for the June by-election, but arguing for private companies, he wrote: "As the economic and political costs of peacekeeping escalate, it may increasingly make sense for multilateral organisations and Western governments to consider outsourcing some aspects of these interventions to the private sector.
"Where civilians are preyed upon by rebel groups or their own governments, other options deserve to be put into the mix. If nothing else, military companies offer another arrow in the quiver of international response."
But Phil Goff, who even opposes private prisons in New Zealand, is defending Mr Shearer's views.
The Greens say Mr Shearer and Mr Goff need to rethink.
None of this is likely to end Mr Shearer's hopes of winning the Labour nomination, but perhaps it is a warning that this by-election might get a little dirty. Labour is desperate to hold onto Helen Clark's old seat, and National has nothing to lose.
3 News