Hone to stay, a win for the Maori Party

Dr Sharples says the Maori Party “would not push out Mr Harawira if he refused to leave and continued to be backed by his electorate“.  This is the most sensible outcome for the future of the party and a defeat for the special interests that would have been better served by the removal of the strongest activist voice from within it.

The decision to keep Hone on is a win win for the party because he’s now been sufficiently chastised (as was suggested as being necessary here) which appeases the media who have had their fill of blood, but keeps in the whare a popular (in certain key constituencies) and high-profile MP.

Importantly, this stifles, for now at least, the potential of another Maori focused party being established by Hone, which would have had the potential to split the Maori vote between the pragmatists and the ideologs – to both movements’ disadvantage.

The losers from Hone’s return are Labour and National.  National lose because their coalition partner would have been oh-so-more amenable without Mr Harawira to deal with.  Labour lose because an imploding Maori Party would have increased the likelihood of them taking back the Maori Seats at future elections.

“Battle of the Babes”

OK, the Herald has sunk to a new low.

Not only will two 20-something females potentially be contesting Auckland Central at the next election, but Steve Crow will be moderating the Herald-sponsored electorate debate. The candidate’s policy platforms will play second fiddle to how they look in a bikini, but rest assured, the hard-hitting questions will still be allowed.

Excuse me while I vomit. Both Kaye and Ardern are very capable candidates, yet the Herald has trivialized the contest down to ‘babes’. If ever there was any doubt, this confirms that the Herald’s target demographic is the average 14 year-old Grammar boy.

The Labour selection in Auckland Central will have a list of potential candidates as long as my arm, but personally, I think the more interesting contest will be Waitakere. Former MP (now list MP) Lynne Pillay has announced that she will be retiring at the next election and Auckland Central-based Phil Twyford has announced he will be seeking selection. Another candidate has announced to the Labour Electorate Committee (which I attend as an interloper from Helensville) that he will be seeking selection as well, although I’m not sure this is public at the moment.

I have a real problem with carpet-baggers, and while I personally quite like Phil, I’m not sure the people of Waitakere will be quite so forgiving. Having said that, I understand Pillay was living in Central Auckland when she won, and, according to the Register of Financial Interests (pg 9), Paula Bennett doesn’t own any property in West Auckland, only a townhouse in Mt Eden (proud to be a Westie, eh?).

It’ll be fun to watch the positioning over the next few months before the selections early next year.

An actual Auckland Central strategy?

National's Nikki Kaye and Labour's Jacinda Ardern

With the news that Phil Twyford will be now be seeking Labour’s Waitakere nomination for 2011, Jacinda Ardern is now free to publicly state her intention to seek the Auckland Central nomination.

Jacinda, formerly of Morrinsville in the Waikato, raised eyebrows earlier in the year by taking up residence in Auckland Central.  After all, Twyford, who had just suffered the inconvenience of having been pushed aside for David Shearer in Mouth Albert, had already set up shop next to Nikki Kaye’s Auckland Central electorate office and was therefore assumed to be the front-runner for Labour’s candidacy.

Some serious discussions must have gone on as to what kind of candidate would be the most likely to actually beat Kaye, who is widely seen to be doing quite well locally and who, naturally, receives a constant trickle of positive press coverage from her mates at the Herald and the city’s various glamour and gossip pages.

I imagine Jacinda would have the leadership’s and probably even some members of the party hierarchy’s (the Labour Party Council’s) support for the move, and has no doubt spent the last few months cozying up to the various local electorate committee members who would provide the only other possible resistance to her move.

I’d say confirming Jacinda’s nomination is unlikely to be as controversial as some might suggest (although I’m sure many people will put their names forward).  Thus, talk of others providing stiff competition might be misguided.  In any case, I’d say Jacinda’s wide-ranging support would probably be enough to see her shake off the possible internal opponents.

In the same way that every other CBD seat goes to Labour, Auckland Central is a natural seat for the party.  Winning it back needs to be an absolute top priority for Labour and having Jacinda as their candidate is the best way to ensure that happens.

When the 2011 election rolls around, Auckland Central voters will be able to ask “hey, these two candidates are both hard-working, intelligent, bushy-tailed young up-and-comers, so what separates them?”

Well, that’s the thing, I’m sure they both like to think of themselves as ‘pro-environment urban-liberals’, but only one of them can really say it with a straight face – and that’s the difference.

What Kaye tirelessly presents to the electorate, or at least tries to, Ardern actually is.

No place for thugs in New Zealand cricket

Jess Ryder is a thug and will continue to behave like one until his actions are no longer tolerated.

Would you expect to keep a job if you told your boss “F*** off, you stupid old ****” ?

Ryder needs to be sent packing in order to preserve the integrity of professional cricket in New Zealand.

Who cares how good he is.  More is at stake than simply runs.

If people like Ryder think they can behave in this manner because they are talented they need a reality check.

Send him packing, tell him to wind his neck in and to get in shape, and then maybe, just maybe, he can think about coming back in a year’s time with a new attitude.

Conspiracies and race-cards

Chris Trotter conjures up an interesting conspiracy theory.  His character plays the role of a fictional journalist asking the curly ones about HoneHarawira’s email leaker, Mr Buddy Mikaere.  The central question being, what, if anything, does Mr Mikaere have to gain from Hone departing the Maori Party (and how this might be related to his leaking of said email)?

Totter’s character asks: “Who is this man? What does he do? Who does he rub noses with? Did he have anything to gain by becoming involved in the Harawira controversy? Who, if anyone, did he talk to before releasing the offending e-mails?”

Trotter’s theory, as I read it, goes a little like; Maori Party supports Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) legislation and in return gets Foreshore & Seabed Act repeal plus ETS sweeteners for Maori (exclusive tree planting rights on DOC land etc), and Mikaere benefits in some way because of his role representing Iwi in such dealings and Hone is the only man who could possibly stand in his way… or something like that.

It could be totally off the mark.  But who would know.

David Farrar then draws our attention to the reasonably legitimate accusation from Colin Espiner that Phil Goff has played the race-card not once, but twice, in the last week.

Espiner writes: “Twice in the past week, Goff has played the race card, albeit carefully, by suggesting first that there was one rule for Harawira over his comments about white mo-fos and another rule for other MPs, and then raising the prospect that National’s proposed settlement with iwi over the ETS was based on ethnicity.”

It most certainly doesn’t resemble Brash’s despicable ”birth-right to the upper hand” version of the tactic, but sounds like a mild dog whistle none the less. (That’s if it’s possible for a mild one to exist, I mean they either hear it or they don’t, right?)

Not many around here (based on this kind of logic), but plenty of folks are mightily peeved by Hone’s words, and his direct attack on Goff (saying he should be shot for his involvement in passing the Foreshore and Seabed Act) could be seen to have given the Labour leader legitimate cause to enter the fray. However, he should be very careful, as David suggests,with how he treads this line.  Going blue-collar on motorbikes is one thing, but let us not throw the baby out with the bath water.

Update: I just saw Patrick Gower’s bit in the Herald yesterday where he congratulates Goff for using Brash-like language (one law for all, bludged off the tax payer) and where he says Michael Law’s thinks Goff is “becoming relevant again”.

Sigh. Caucus next week should be interesting.

Oh, and the Standard likes it.  How odd (I’m not being sarcastic, I actually find it odd).

National on Student Loan Interest

Last week the University of Otago Vice Chancellor David Skegg suggested that 10% interest should be added to student loans in order to increase funding for Universities. Education Minister, Anne Tolley responded with:

The office of the Education Minister, Anne Tolley, says the Government is not considering reinstating interest on student loans.

Well, the prospect of (as Skegg puts it) “a little interest” on student loans obviously isn’t off the table, as Bill English’s website is polling on the issue:

 

(Click here to see a full version of the screenshot)

What could time-out time for Hone mean for the Maori Party?

Hone Harawira, according to the NZ Herald, will be pushed if he doesn’t jump.  This week really hasn’t been a good one for him.  When the story first broke of his leaked email calling white folk “white mother-f**kers” my initial reaction could best be summed up as “lol”.

You see, I am just not that easily offended and what’s more, I am simply willing to tolerate, to a point, more ‘racism’ from Maori towards non-Maori than vice-versa, in the same way that I tolerate, to a point, more sexism or violence from women towards men than vice-versa.  It’s about power relationships.

People have likened Hone’s outburst to that of Paul Holmes ‘cheeky darky’ comments about Kofi Annan.  The main difference here was that Hone was running his mouth in anger, but about something he truly feels passionate about (that is, how dastardly Pakeha have treated Maori throughout history), whereas Holmes was most likely being mischievous in his comments because Newstalk ZB was in a ratings period, and he knew his comments would cause a stir and increase his ratings above that of his main rival during the survey period.  The two outbursts thus cannot be compared.

Hone’s problem has been his handling of events since the outburst, such as calling for Goff and Labour to be lined up against a wall and shot, and probably worse for him, he clearly fell out with his party’s co-leaders by refusing to take their line of advice, which would have no doubt included a slightly more hyde-esk mea culpa.

Last night I conducted my weekly political focus group session (that is, Thursday night poker) and have concluded that 20 something Hamiltonian Pakeha males think Hone has done the Maori Party no favours at all, that he is racist and that there is a double standard if he gets away with it, and that for the Maori Party to succeed they need to sack him and let that nice Mr Sharples get on with working with that nice Mr Key. This sentiment is no doubt shared by many in the country.

So where does this leave Hone.  If he is removed from the Maori Party he could stand in and win his seat, returning as an independent.  But what would be the point?  Hone doesn’t want to be some rouge independent, off-side from his Maori Party constituency.  What’s more Hone leaving the party but maintaining a political presence could fracturing the activist and pragmatist Maori vote, and signal the beginning of the end of the Maori Party as we know it.

The Maori Party has some tough decisions to make over this stuff and none of it comes lightly. My advice? Chastise, chastise, chastise, but don’t kick him out as it could be the beginning of the end for your party.  Many Maori Party voters need a Hone in there to cling to.  They respect Sharples, hell everyone does (and that’s half the problem), but Hone brings X-factor to the table that his colleagues simple cant.

Update: Associate Professor Ann Sullivan, Head of Maori Studies at the University of Auckland, seems to agree; she says the Maori Party co-leaders have made a mistake and that Hone is more important to the Maori Party grassroots than the mainstream media acknowledge.  She also says that playing this saga out through the media, and so quickly, is a mistake (7 minutes 40 seconds in - on Afternoons with Jim Mora on RNZ today).

The Guardian on NZ’s carbon greenwashing

You used to hear politicians talking about what was at stake if New Zealand didn’t do anything significant about its carbon emissions. Some listened, while others tuned out thinking “yeah whatever, no one cares what NZ does”.

Labour eventually got a meaningful Emissions Trading Scheme through Parliament (albeit as its last act after 9 years in government) that would have provided incentives for big polluters and emitters to make real reductions.  But now, under National, we look to be getting an ETS that will subsidize the polluter and emitter sectors for so long it almost seems pointless.

The article below justifiably does a great deal to undermine New Zealand’s brand as clean and green, something which is not just important for tourism but for making our wine, lamb and dairy products ‘appear’ better than they really are.

In marketing people talk about the value of a product and the additional ‘appearance of value’ of it. If you can sell something, but through branding and advertising make people attach additional value to it (that don’t necessarily exist) then you’re on the way to success.

Articles like this one strip down New Zealand’s facade exposing our products as, not just the same other countries, but worse because they are served with a side of hypocrisy.

Full article is here, some snippets below:

…my prize for the most shameless two fingers to the global community goes to New Zealand, a country that sells itself round the world as “clean and green”.

New Zealand secured a generous Kyoto target, which simply required it not to increase its emissions between 1990 and 2010. But the latest UN statistics show its emissions of greenhouse gases up by 22%, or a whopping 39% if you look at emissions from fuel burning alone…

To rub our noses in it, last year New Zealand signed up to the UN’s Climate Neutral Network, a list of nations that are “laying out strategies to become carbon neutral”.

But if you read the small print of what New Zealand has actually promised, it is a measly 50% in emissions by 2050 – something even the US can trump….

This is not just political spin. It is also commercial greenwash. New Zealand trades on its greenness to promote its two big industries: tourism and dairy exports. Groser says his country’s access to American markets for its produce is based on its positive environmental image. The government’s national marketing strategy is underpinned by a survey showing that tourism would be reduced by 68% if the country lost its prized “clean, green image”, and even international purchases of its dairy products could halve.

The trouble is, on the climate change front at least, that green image increasingly defies reality.

James Coe’s Editing the Herald

I think James Coe pens the best blog in New Zealand. Just in case any Life and Politics readers have missed it, I thought i’d remind them where it lay. It’s this one: Editing the Herald.

His posts in the last few weeks have been particularly great. Today he writes on the Herald’s coverage of the Hone stuff. Last week’s best was this little gem on the BNZ’s “closed for good” PR sideshow and the paper’s lackluster coverage of the big-banks fraud cases in general.

He also has a Sunday radio slot on BFM but i haven’t heard it.

Judgement Day

There is a lot of talk about what is going to happen to Hone Harawera today. He is giving his first public interview since he revealed that he took a side trip to Paris with his wife when he was supposed to be at an EU meeting in Brussels, and then didn’t mince his words when responding to an email question from a high-profile Maori Party supporter.

Will Hone simply apologise, or will he go down in a screaming heap? Will he jump parties, force a by-election, or flip the bird at his critics? But, perhaps more importantly…

There’s Something About Hone

I quite like Hone Harawira, and I honestly didn’t expect to when he entered Parliament in 2005. I tarred him with the antics of his mother, but was pleasantly surprised. His ability to engage with and advocate for his constituency, his ‘call a spade a spade’ attitude, and his ability to cut through the crap that politics tends to generate would generally make him a successful politician.

And this week he doesn’t fail to disappoint.

First,  he went off on a Richard Worth camel ride trip to Paris instead of attending official meetings in Brussels, then he responded to an email questioning his actions in less than poetic language. This has really got under the skin of Stuff.co.nz commentors, who are almost unanimously calling on him to be sacked. The Prime Minister has called Harawira’s comments “deeply offensive”, while Tarina Turia has waded into the fold claiming that Harawira’s actions were damaging to the Maori Party’s reputation.

Now, the trip to Paris wasn’t a great idea (worth noting that Labour MP Rajen Prasad stated at the time “what goes on tour, stays on tour”, while Harawira went right ahead and outed the trip in his own newsletter), and an MP responding to correspondence from a member of the public with abuse isn’t a good look. But the thing is, Harawira doesn’t need to appeal to commentors on Stuff.co.nz. Or John Key. Or even Tariana Turia. Harawira has to appeal to the voters in the Te Tai Tokorau electorate. As Harawira said, his own people will judge him – he’s a straight shooter, doesn’t hide a thing, and I think his constituents respect him immensely for that.

Brendan Burns has blogged that Hone looks likely to go. As much as Labour would like to see the Maori Party cull their most effective highest profile MP, I don’t think it’s very likely. Harawira has a huge majority in his electorate – 32% over Labour’s Kelvin Davis – while Labour won the Party Vote. While Turia and Shapples are bullshiting about their “mana enhancing relationship” with John Key and Rodney Hide, Harawira is saying it how it is, and because of that, I’d say he’s staying right where he is.

***

On a related note, I’m informed that Hone turned up to Sue Bradford’s valedictory, but sat in the public gallery wearing a Hawaiian shirt. You got to hand it to him – the man’s got style.

[EDIT: Oh snap, Mr Quinn]

Hone Harawira for Foreign Affairs Minister

My favourite MP has got himself into a little pickle with the Prime Minister calling his comments about white folk “deeply offensive”.

Stuff reports:

In an email exchange released to Radio New Zealand, Mr Harawira accused “white motherf***ers” of “puritanical bullshit” for expecting him to follow the rules.

Most politicians try to be so damn polite all the time, but not Hone, oh no.  He calls a spade a god-damn honkey son of a bitch.

Hone continues:

“White motherf***ers have been raping our lands and ripping us off for centuries and all of a sudden you want me to play along with their puritanical bullshit.”

Well, I’m no historian, but a casual reading of Michael King’s History of New Zealand has me thinking “the man has a point”.

Mr Harawira then went on to say how much time and energy he put into fighting for Maori and what a big role his wife Hilda played in that.

“And quite frankly I don’t give a shit what you or anyone else thinks about it. OK?”

Then he added a postscript saying he should feel free to go to the media.

“I answer to my people, not to them or to anybody else.”

It’s true, he doesn’t care what the mainstream media, or frankly Pakeha New Zealand, think of him.  He’s been battling this lot his whole life.  He has one target audience and that is far-north Maori of his electorate, Te Tai Tokerau, and they love him.

Unfortunately for him (and those of us who like to hear reports of what he gets up to while overseas) the Speaker and his party leaders probably won’t be signing off on any more overseas trips, which is a bummer.  This kind of political story is much more interesting than constant chitchat of raising GST and all the other waffle coming out of the likes of the Tax Working Group and the Treasury.

Hone for Foreign Affairs Minister? Hell, Winston managed it..

Updates:  [And if i were Tariana i'd be a little bit careful about how I handled Hone on this one, it's not like he was the biggest fan of going into government with the Nats in the first place.]

[Do check out Hone’s press release about his trip to Paris which the standard describes as "a hilarious send up of the medium, including a section starting 'here are your questions' spoofing the slightly sinister habit of governments including Q+As in their press releases on new policies, where they decide not only the answers but the questions too."  Fantastic.]

Bill English’s press secretary deserves a DB

So Bill English’s office changed the words of the dodgy promo ad.  That sounds like ‘political interference’ doesn’t it?  That is, untill you read the embarrassing original script, where it turns out it was more like some well timed ass-saving.

BK Drinkwater is on the mark here saying: “The initial TVNZ script was bad. How bad? I’ve walked in on people having really weird sex and the result was less embarrassing than this ad would have been had it gone to air as drafted.”

He outlines the changes:

• SCRIPT: We can beat those Aussies. Time to back ourselves – kick for the corner then muscle over the line.
• REWRITE: You know, we can beat those Aussies. It’s time to back ourselves. With a bit of old-fashioned Kiwi can-do, we’ll get there.

• SCRIPT: It’s time to give the snip snap to the zip zap plastic fantastic (make finger scissors gesture).
• REWRITE: Lets get investing and back our exporters. That’s where the jobs will come and that’s how we can boost our incomes.

• SCRIPT: Keep a few bob in the bank and Bob will be your uncle. We’ll get there. Bottom line: it’s your economy too.
• REWRITE: We’re nearly through the tough times and things are looking up. We have plenty of work to do. But I’m confident New Zealanders are up for it and together we’ll do it.  (Changed by TVNZ for final cut to: We’re nearly through the tough times and things are looking up. Together us Kiwis can do it.)

The mind-numbing rugby analogies creeping into political discourse are irritating at best (“rolling mauls” and all that) and as Mr BK rightly points out, “In my experience, New Zealanders generally can grasp a point without it first being converted into a rugby metaphor. Besides that, the metaphor’s crap: usually, kicks to the corner result in a try more due to the speed of the wingers than the muscle of the front row.”

I can only assume TVNZ’s “writers” were trying to make him sound like the odd-smelling sheep-farming uncle from the bay that no one wants to sit next to at family functions, who speaks in old-timer quips and that nobody thinks is funny.  ”Bob will be your uncle!”  Jesus.  Thank goodness his office got to run their pencils over this thing.

Putting aside that this promo video achieved two things, neither of which helped Mr English – it embarrassed the government and its finance minister because it walked and quacked like a political advert, and that it probably quadrupled the ratings of the TVNZ7 economy show – Bill would have sounded like an utter moron had he spoken the original lines.

So while he shouldn’t have done the bloody thing in the first place, top marks must go to his press secretary for saving his/her boss further embarrassment.

Key relaxed about accusations of relaxation

NZPA reports:

At the breakfast a reporter heard Mr Hide tell guests that Mr Key received public acclaim while doing little.

All Mr Key had done was the cycleway, Mr Hide said. “It’s amazing.”

He was also amazed at how much he could get through Cabinet, because “you turn up with your papers” and “they are too busy with their own stuff they’re not bothered”.

Approached by the reporter, Mr Hide said the comments were off the record and it would be unethical to report them.

A spokeswoman for Mr Key said the comments were “a bit of light-hearted political banter”.

Mr Hide had spoken to Mr Key who was relaxed about the comments, she said.

So little time, so much to be relaxed about.

Democracy in the Unions

If you ever wanted proof that Unions were democratic beasts, here it is:

Bus drivers reject NZ Bus’s pay offer.

Basically, following negotiations with NZ Bus, leaders of the combined unions agreed to take an offer back to their members with the recommendation that it be accepted and ratified. Despite the recommendation, the members of the combined unions decided to reject the offer.

Asked if he was disappointed by the rejection, Mr Andersen said: “No, that’s democracy”.

Exactly. Doesn’t stop Zane Fulljames of NZ Bus from slagging off the union for doing their job:

“It is immensely disappointing to our customers, our people and the business. The unions agreed to take and recommend the offer to their members. This did not happen,” Mr Fulljames said.

Wrong, Mr Fulljames – that’s exactly what happened. Except the union members disagreed with the union leaders.

NZ Bus deserves to be slapped around after locking workers out for ‘theatening’ work-to-rule industrial action. Any disruption to services will be because of the actions of NZ Bus, not because of underpaid busdrivers.