Sell-outs

Written By: - Date published: 12:26 pm, June 24th, 2009 - 61 comments
Categories: maori party - Tags:

johnturiaTariana Turia has put out a press release today having a bit of a cry that Labour MPs have been calling ‘sell-out’ when she and Pita Sharples speak in Parliament. Clearly it’s hit a nerve.

Well, Tariana, if you don’t like to be labeled a sell-out, simple solution: don’t be a member of a government that’s cutting workers’ rights, doing nothing to protect jobs, gutting environment standards, taking away democracy in Auckland, cutting communities out of development decisions, and slashing education.

Resign in protest rather than support such decisions if you’re not a sell out. But no, you don’t do that. Instead all you can do is put out a press release* slavishly thanking John Key for donating two bottles of wine to your mates.

Sell-out.

Seemingly alone among the Maori Party MPs, Hone Harawira remains connected to his and his party’s values, unwilling to sell-out for power:

I reckon that unless there is a balancing of the corporate action with the need to fight for social justice, that at some point in the very near future, some iwi are going to start copping flak from within their own ranks.

Mind you I also think the Maori Party is going through a very similar problem at the moment – but more on that story another time.

Hone clearly sees that the rank and file of the Maori Party are unhappy about their leaders’ corporate sell-out. Don’t expect Hone to continue burning his family’s mana for Turia’s ego forever.

Maybe Turia was confused. Perhaps it was Hone yelling “sell out” after all.

* [only on Newsroom, Scoop hasn’t bothered with it]

61 comments on “Sell-outs ”

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  1. Tim Ellis 1
    24 June 2009 at 12:33 pm

    I think there’s a certain irony that Labour labelled the Maori Party the “last cab off the rank” for coalition negotiations, and then criticises the Maori Party for getting the best possible deal for itself.

    If there are any raw nerves there, it is the Labour Party that is still smarting that the Maori Party has ended Labour’s domination of the Maori seats, and that this looks likely to continue.

    • gobsmacked 1.1
      24 June 2009 at 12:39 pm

      and then criticises the Maori Party for getting the best possible deal for itself.

      Where have they done this, Tim?

      Surely the criticism is the opposite – that the deal is so poor. Oh, unless you do mean the Maori Party, as opposed to Maori. Yes, they got a nice funding boost, and a couple of baubles.

      Maori, not so much.

    • Pat 1.2
      24 June 2009 at 1:17 pm

      Hey Tim I see Trevor has removed your last post on Red Alert.

      Please only post messages of support.

      • gobsmacked 1.2.1
        24 June 2009 at 1:28 pm

        Pat, I’d like to have a blog debate with Paula Bennett, Anne Tolley, Gerry Brownlee … and so on. I’ve got a few things I’d like to discuss with them online. Without being censored.

        Where can I do this?

  2. Duncan 2
    24 June 2009 at 12:40 pm

    I think you’ll find criticism of the Maori Party’s sell out to right wing politics is shared right across the left spectrum Tim.

    It’s not just the deal with National, it’s the complete lack of critical distance from Turia and Sharples. They sound like they’re in love with National the way they talk. That’s not how their people voted.

    • Craig Glen Eden 2.1
      24 June 2009 at 12:53 pm

      Bang on, Duncan and Gobsmacked

    • craig 2.2
      24 June 2009 at 1:34 pm

      I thought their people voted for the Maori Party???

      If they’d wanted Labour they would have voted for them…

      • gobsmacked 2.2.1
        24 June 2009 at 1:38 pm

        They did.

      • Pascal's bookie 2.2.2
        24 June 2009 at 1:47 pm

        Look at the list votes,

        http://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2008/e9/html/e9_part4.html

        Maori electorate list votes:

        Labour 69172

        mP 39883

        National 10279

        What sort of government would you say those electorates voted for?

        The mP can do what it likes of course, but it doesn’t have a monopoly on support in those electorates yet.

      • lprent 2.2.3
        24 June 2009 at 1:52 pm

        They did vote overwhelmingly for Labour. Look at the party vote from the Maori rolls, the vast majority went to Labour. The Maori Party have been given their chance to show themselves through the electorate vote. Be interesting to see if they manage to use it wisely enough to satisfy the people that voted for them on electorate vote, and voted for Labour on the party vote.

    • James Barber 2.3
      30 June 2009 at 12:06 pm

      I think forming a confidence and supply agreement with the National party was a very good move for the Maori party.

      Atleast this way they can have some say on important issues.
      Unlike the labour party where the most they can do to impact on legislation is to filibuster and waste parliament’s time. 58+5=a majority.

      It’s better to have the Maori party in an arrangement with National and the Greens working with the Government on some areas than just National and ACT in government for the next three years.

  3. Daveski 3
    24 June 2009 at 12:55 pm

    You might have a point Duncan but the relationship between National and the MP is a fair reflection of the way Labour handled the MP.

    Funny that .. the bastion of the left treating the MP so badly.

    Anyway, let’s not matter what’s best for the country or Maori, let’s focus on what’s best for Labour because that’s really the point Eddie is making.

    • Eddie 3.1
      24 June 2009 at 1:01 pm

      I’m all for a Maori Party that represents the people who voted for it. I’ve already expressed my opposition to Labour’s handling of the foreshore and seabed and I had high hopes for the Maori Party. Sadly they’ve sold out their people and their principles to a right-wing government.

      That has real world consequences. Thousands of Maori have been thrown onto the dole queue while the government sleeps, Maori are being locked out of Auckland’s democracy which the government’s gerrymandering for the benefit of the rich, and education is being cut to help fund private schools for the parents of rich white kids. I want what’s best for the country, including Maori. I just don’t think National is doing it. By supporting this government, neither is the Maori Party.

      • Daveski 3.1.1
        24 June 2009 at 1:13 pm

        Explain in 10 words or less how Maori are being locked out of Auckland’s democracy. Even better, explain how things would be different for Maori under Labour.

        I know it’s a lot more fun being in opposition because you can oppose oppose oppose but at some stage you need to make decisions (something this govt is rightly criticised for not doing!).

        Happily accept that this is no perfect union. Yet it may be for all the imperfections, the MP will still believe they are better off with this than what they got under Labour.

        In any case, this is about politics. Labour needs those seats back which is my point – the faux outrage is simply self serving politics to benefit the Labour party.

        I’m not really grumpy today … just the remnants of the flu!

        • lprent 3.1.1.1
          24 June 2009 at 1:24 pm

          You obviously don’t know your recent history.

          Maori in Auckland have had a long history of being screwed by the local and national government grabbing land – the last attempt was less than 30 years ago at Bastion Point by the national government, enthusiastically supported by C&R on the council. Anyone who thinks that property law covers the land rights of iwi obviously hasn’t looked at the history of how it has been used against them in the past. There is a whole separate branch of NZ property law to cover the type of communal ownership that iwi and hapu use. Politicians acn and have dicked about with it for the benefit of the majority of their constituents.

          Politicians like John Key, Rodney Hide, John Banks, or Brash give no-one any confidence that they won’t use a ‘majority’ position to screw them over again and ‘consultation’ is in fact a word that means the same as ‘position yourself to be raped’ (eg Auckland super-city).

          The iwi in Auckland have managed to regain some of the land that was thieved from them previously over the last 20 years. They would prefer talking to confrontation. But they don’t trust political positions that amount to ‘she’ll be right’ – they would prefer to be in a position where they can affect the outcomes. The ccouncil structure of the super-city is likely to give NO representation to Maori apart from what the majority hands out. It is a FPP system.

          I think that is an accurate representation of the views of my Maori friends and family in Auckland. That is the attitude shared almost regardless of political position. I share that view.

          • Daveski 3.1.1.1.1
            24 June 2009 at 1:56 pm

            Best attack what I say Lynn in response to the original post. Read the About section 😉

            Eddie is claiming that the Nats are “taking away democracy [from Maori] in Auckland”. I simply asked what rights are being taken away.

            The issue is that additional rights are being given but that is completely separate.

            The points you raise, while clearly valid, don’t relate to the post or the comments I made in response to that.

            Perhaps you could tell me Lynn what Labour’s position is on Maori representation. I may be wrong but it seems to me that while many Labour supporters are happy to foster discontent, in this case Labour hasn’t committed to anything different. But I may be wrong!

            • lprent 3.1.1.1.1.1
              24 June 2009 at 2:13 pm

              Well you asked how Maori were being locked out of Auckland local democracy. I answered with my view. It was something that should have been formalized in the last major review of the local government act. It wasn’t. This is another major change to the local government act – so it should go in now.

              The basic problem is that because of the difference between property rights allows politicians of the more disgusting variety (like Banks or Hide) a way of screwing one portion of the population without affecting majority.

              Hide doesn’t care because in his view there should be no recognition of the differing property rights in the law anyway.

          • Eddie 3.1.1.1.2
            24 June 2009 at 2:33 pm

            There is currently Maori representation in at least some Auckland councils. The supercity would do away with all guaranteed Maori representation. Given the FPP system they’re trying to install the chances of any genuine Maori representation are slim indeed. That’s what’s being taken away.

      • James Barber 3.1.2
        30 June 2009 at 12:09 pm

        Eddie
        The maori party voted against the auckland supercity legislation.
        Infact they’ve voted against pretty much all Nat amendments and legislation apart from the confidence and supply ones.

    • James Barber 3.2
      30 June 2009 at 12:07 pm

      I didn’t realise Labour was the bastion of the left?????

  4. IrishBill 4
    24 June 2009 at 12:58 pm

    Just because it’s so bad it needs posting, here’s the sycophantic media release Eddie was talking about:

    PM can’t dine but provides wine

    Tariana Turia has thanked Prime Minister John Key for donating two bottles of wine signed by him to help keep the momentum going on her and Brendon Pongia’s Trade Me auction.

    The proceeds of the auction will go toward helping three outstanding sports playing brothers continue playing sports.

    The $1 reserve auction, in which the highest bidder will win dinner with the Maori Party co-leader and Government Minister and Brendon (a former Tall Black and TV presenter), went online yesterday and the highest bid so far is $400.

    The newly donated wine is expected to be served at the dinner.

    The brothers (age 18, 17 and 16) are Wellington-based. One brothers is a Junior Tall Black, another is an Emerging Junior Tall Black and the other plays rugby for a provincial team.

    Turia and Pongia both advocate that the potential of our country’s youth must be realised whatever the costs. They both acknowledge the huge and extraordinary sacrifices the family of these boys have made to nurture their sons’ outstanding sports talent.

    Through their mother, the brothers hail from Te Ati Haunui-a-Paparangi, Ngati Whatua and Ngapuhi. Through their father, they are Pakeha.

    The auction will close on Thursday July 2 at noon.

    For people not wanting to bid but considering making a donation for the boys, please contact Pahia Turia on email taipak@xtra.co.nz or mobile 027 223 9393.

    To check out the auction go to http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Lifestyle/Event-tickets/auction-225872959.htm Tune into TV One’s Good Morning show tomorrow (June 24) at 11.30am to watch Tariana and Brendon talk about the auction. One of the brothers will also be appearing.

    ENDS

    • gobsmacked 4.1
      24 June 2009 at 1:04 pm

      Tariana Turia has thanked Prime Minister John Key for donating two bottles of wine signed by him

      Did he make the wine himself? If not, can we call this forgery?

      • Daveski 4.1.1
        24 June 2009 at 1:08 pm

        Doh … it was originally water but he turned it into wine!

        • Bill 4.1.1.1
          24 June 2009 at 1:58 pm

          Nah. Just more piss policies being bottled for the punters. Proceeds constituting 100% of this governments economic recovery investments.

  5. Abbie's Ghost 5
    24 June 2009 at 1:00 pm

    While the Labour party really messed up with their relationship with the Greens and the Maori party, it is beyond the pale to betray the tacit mandate of your supporters and do deals with National, especially the Maori party

    I think the sellout call is not powerful enough, they should be crying “KUPAPA!” when they get up to speak.

    • Pat 5.1
      24 June 2009 at 1:26 pm

      I think anyone would be dreaming to think Maori are going to reject the Maori party in 2011 and “come home” to Labour.

      Thanks to taking up an active role in Government, the profile of Turia and Sharples is huge. I also think their mana with Maori has also grown, and I expect this will translate into more votes in 2011.

      Remember the Maori Party are a safe vote since they are likely to always be in Government to represent their voters. Unless Labour have a grand plan that once again exludes Maori from sharing power with them.

    • George D 5.2
      24 June 2009 at 2:20 pm

      The belief that Maori belong to the New Zealand Labour Party is what lost Labour the Maori seats in 1996, the by-election in 2004, and the general elections in 2005 and 2008.

      Get rid of it, please.

  6. exbrethren 6
    24 June 2009 at 1:42 pm

    At present it does seem that the MP is being taken for granted. ACT have been given quite a lot of bits and pieces, the Greens have had a few policies picked up.

    I think quite a bit depends on the Foreshore Seabed and if this is resolved to the MPs satisfaction. If it is then Turia / Sharples will have delivered. If they don’t get anything more than John Key being nice to them the MP will be in trouble next election.

  7. Tom Semmens 7
    24 June 2009 at 2:01 pm

    Tariana Turia doesn’t give a fuck about “her people”. She always was a reactionary brown Tory and her experience of being in the presence of a stronger and more capable leader just confirmed her inclination to being a miserable tall poppyist with enormous chip on her shoulder. After her leaving Labour her prime political goal in life was to get the last laugh on Helen Clark.

    Now she is on the gravy train till 2011, when she will piss off into a retirement of ongoing posturing about her noble suffering.

    • Tim Ellis 7.1
      24 June 2009 at 2:19 pm

      She always was a reactionary brown Tory

      Shocking and racist.

      • George D 7.1.1
        24 June 2009 at 2:22 pm

        Tariana Turia doesn’t give a fuck about “her people’.

        She may support some of the wrong policies, but to make that claim is absurd.

      • Duncan 7.1.2
        24 June 2009 at 2:29 pm

        Oh give up the fake outrage Tim. Since when has “brown tory” been a racist term? The term “browntable” has been in mainstream usage for more than a decade.

  8. Bill 8
    24 June 2009 at 2:02 pm

    Maybe the Labour ministers in question had been reading propaganda from when the Labour Party was formed; looked at the disconnect between that ideology and the present reality of the party and were ‘fessing up?

  9. George D 9
    24 June 2009 at 2:13 pm

    I really thought that Labour were smarter than this – if the MP is being shafted, then the best strategy isn’t to make them their enemies. I thought that the arrogance towards Turia was a personal thing from Clark. Apparently it infects the whole party.

    As long as the Labour Party refuses to treat the representatives of Maori (5/7 seats) with any respect, they’ll continue to widen the gulf.

    I disagree with many things Turia has done in the last 6 months. But this isn’t the way to solve things.

    • Eddie 9.1
      24 June 2009 at 2:28 pm

      This post doesn’t comment on the wisdom of Labour taking this approach to the Maori Party. You may well have a point there.

      This post simply reacts to Turia’s tears over being called a sellout, because that’s exactly what she is. Don’t you agree?

  10. Tom Semmens 10
    24 June 2009 at 2:35 pm

    George D, she is a backward looking, provincialist representative of a tribal elite grown fat on unearned treaty compensation. Having joined the white oligarchy, Tariana’s base has busily shown us that money trumps colour when it comes to who you look out for. Maori are not monolithic. Urban, poor Maori – that is, most of them – are being shafted by the people Turia identifies with.

    Tim Ellis, don’t be a fucking idiot. Or rather, try not to be a bigger one than you already demonstrably are.

    The Maori Party are another dead end for the vast majority of Maori, only this time the betrayal won’t be the fault of the settlers.

    • Tim Ellis 10.1
      24 June 2009 at 4:02 pm

      Tom, when you resort to racism like you did above, I don’t think you will be effective in winning back votes from the Maori Party.

      Given the number of commenters who got shocked and outraged when Melissa Lee referred to criminals from South Auckland and yelled racism, despite Ms Lee never mentioning race, it is telling that so many are so silent when you play the race card against Ms Turia, by calling her a “brown Tory” Tom.

      • travellerev 10.1.1
        25 June 2009 at 11:08 am

        Well let’s just call her a Tory then, shall we?
        She is a sell out and firmly stuck up John Key’s arsehole. Money indeed trumps colour in the Maori Party leadership.

  11. marty mars 11
    24 June 2009 at 2:43 pm

    I don’t think she’s a sellout eddie. The maori party’s constituents are maori – not labourists or nationalites – they don’t care what you think – thank goodness for that.

    • Eddie 11.1
      24 June 2009 at 2:53 pm

      Sure, but they have economic interests don’t they? Like Tom says, Maori are not monolithic. The vast majority are urban working class and they’re being shafted by the people that Turia is siding with.

  12. marty mars 12
    24 June 2009 at 3:05 pm

    And they were shafted by labour before that. maori always get shafted they know it and so does anyone else with a mind. The maori party is a response to that. You seem to want to equate a race issue with a class issue – similar to ctrotter. When colonisation is sorted, then you can make it all into class issues, until then, it’s all race issues… in my mind anyway.

    • Eddie 12.1
      24 June 2009 at 3:11 pm

      Was Sealord a class issue or a race issue marty mars?

    • Pascal's bookie 12.2
      24 June 2009 at 3:13 pm

      That’s fair enough. You’re free to think that. Turia is free to think that. Anyone can think that.

      The Labour party doesn’t have to think that though, and they got 70 000 list votes from the Maori electorates. How should they represent those voters? Who is that up to?

  13. Craig Glen Eden 13
    24 June 2009 at 3:19 pm

    Tariana is a sellout because she is not acting in the best interests of Maori. She formed the Maori party out of spite for Clark in the exact same way Bob Jones did with Muldoon. She used the foreshore and see bed issue to do it, if that didn’t come along it would have been some other issue in my view. Tariana has looked after her own personal interests a head of Maori and the evidence is there for all to see.
    Try and get her to have a position on anything and its like sailing in constant wind shifts. Much like Key she says one thing then she says the opposite then she clarifies then when people say “what the hell are you on about” she plays the cultural card. Contrast this with the likes of Parakura who tells it straight first time every time. Sounds like the other Maori Party MP’s are just starting to see the wood for the trees. No surprises for me.

  14. marty mars 14
    24 June 2009 at 3:36 pm

    You cannot fix any class issue until the race issue is sorted and that won’t be sorted while you are still working everything from the class angle.

    eddie – Is the gap in equal pay for women and men a gender or class issue?

    • Eddie 14.1
      24 June 2009 at 4:48 pm

      It’s both.

      • Anita 14.1.1
        24 June 2009 at 5:14 pm

        How are you analysing it as a class issue?

        • Eddie 14.1.1.1
          24 June 2009 at 5:32 pm

          I’m no expert on the gender pay gap, it’s never really been an area of interest for me. But I find it hard to see how gender discrimination in pay rates within the context of an employment relationship in a capitalist economy could be analysed without reference to class.

          • Anita 14.1.1.1.1
            24 June 2009 at 5:48 pm

            Why/how/when would you reference class? You also didn’t say you would reference class, you said it was a class issue, and I’m curious as to how you construct the gender pay gap to make it a class issue.

            If I was going to do a quick analysis of a the gender pay gap I wouldn’t mention it. If I was doing a medium-length one I might mention that that gender gap exists across all classes. If I was doing a longer one I might right about the fact that it shows that working class men are part of the oppression of working class women (and middle class men of middle class women) and that should be as challenging for a purely class based analysis of oppression as it is when a purely feminist analysis of oppression has to address the fact that middle class women are part of the oppression of working class women.

            As you can see I can build a link, but the link is never that the gender pay gap is a class issue.

    • Anita 14.2
      24 June 2009 at 5:52 pm

      marty mars,

      You cannot fix any class issue until the race issue is sorted and that won’t be sorted while you are still working everything from the class angle.

      That’s a bit absolutist 🙂 One could equally argue that one can’t fix any race issue unless the class issues are resolved.

      I would argue they have to be resolved in parallel, while we allow oppression and exploitation of any group by any other group it legitimises all other oppression and exploitation.

  15. Truth 15
    24 June 2009 at 4:00 pm

    Why do you post under the pseudonym [deleted] rather than you real name [deleted]?

    [lprent: Read the about and the policy. We neither confirm nor deny, but we do ban. You’re banned for being a fuckwit who hasn’t bothered to check house rules. Those state that I prefer people use psuedonyms, and I strongly discourage dweebs who want to out people. ]

  16. Tim Ellis 16
    24 June 2009 at 4:03 pm

    LP, as I understand it, Labour doesn’t support the Royal Commission’s view of mana whenua seats, either.

    • lprent 16.1
      24 June 2009 at 4:16 pm

      So? I disagree with their policy as well.

      I suspect that in a few years it will become a moot point anyway. The type of ‘commercial’ model used by the iwi is potentially one of the most effective for accretion of assets long term. At the rate they are going it is likely that Bastion point will over the next 40-50 years wind up owning a significant part of Auckland.

      Just as a side issue, I have never read anyone’s policies since I was a teenager. I also seldom bother to go to political meetings (frankly they’re boring) apart from drinking liberally and organizational meetings with less than 10 people. These days I do read labour and green press releases because they wind up on the mail on my iphone.

      You can assume that if I say something should be… Then any coincidence with someones policy is accidental. Much of my ‘policy’ comes from arguing with people who are having fun tearing my ideas apart. I like arguing…

  17. marty mars 17
    24 June 2009 at 4:06 pm

    The point about the maori party vote for labour and labour’s responsibility to provide representation to it’s constituents, from PB, is a good one. I wonder how many of those voters would agree with the term ‘sellout’, and believe that they are being represented well, by having labour MPs abusing maori MPs in that way.

  18. Tom Semmens 18
    24 June 2009 at 5:28 pm

    Tim Ellis, from your previous posts I’ve assumed you are either a shared login used for pushing National party talking points or, less generously, a complete idiot. However, I shall suffer the fool this one time. Attaching a descriptor to something which is unusual is not racist. For example, “a white rapper”.

    K?

    Thnx.

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