maori party

Categories under maori party

  • No categories

Class and the Maori Party

Written By: - Date published: 12:10 pm, November 12th, 2008 - 71 comments

The New Zealand Herald has a telling story today about how the Maori Party’s decision over whether to prop up a right-wing National/ACT government “has exposed a schism between iwi elite views and ordinary Maori”. Ordinary working class Maori who’ve felt the brunt of right-wing policies in the past are, unsurprisingly, not keen to sacrifice […]

The distances between parties

Written By: - Date published: 12:53 pm, November 9th, 2008 - 5 comments

Just before the election They Work For You released some impressive work on the voting distances between parties based on:- There are 110 final bill reading votes included in the analysis. All the votes are from the 48th New Zealand Parliament which was in term between 7 November 2005 and 3 October 2008. The plot […]

Making the decision

Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, November 7th, 2008 - 56 comments

Have you still not decided who you’ll vote for? The final poll shows the race between a National/ACT/United Future or a Labour/Green/Progressive/Maori government is neck and neck, so your choice matters. Here is some advice and tools that may help: When choosing who to vote for there are three things you should consider: policy – […]

On moral mandates

Written By: - Date published: 7:01 am, October 26th, 2008 - 69 comments

So, let me get this straight. The Right says that the minor parties have to support a National-led government if National gets more votes than Labour. Even if a National government would go against everything a party stands for, even if it is a complete betrayal of the people who voted for them, minor parties […]

Here be dragons

Written By: - Date published: 10:02 pm, October 25th, 2008 - 20 comments

So, we can all make up dumb pictures and say ‘beware of many-headed monsters’. Let’s, instead, ask if National’s attack makes sense. First, any new government is going to need support from a number of parties. A Labour-led government is likely to be dependent on Labour, the Progressives, Greens, and the Maori Party (four parties). […]

Don’t dream, it’s over

Written By: - Date published: 3:58 pm, October 23rd, 2008 - 76 comments

I’ve always regarded the possibility of a National-Maori Party governing arrangement as absurd, even grotesque. The interests of the Maori people, who are predominantly working-class, are clearly best represented by the Left. Under National in the 1990s, Maori unemployment reached 25% and incomes plummeted. Today it is 7.7%, and Maori incomes are rising as fast […]

Guest post: The clever dealer?

Written By: - Date published: 5:58 am, October 18th, 2008 - 48 comments

Many people laud John Key’s experience in the business world, and say that the smiling assassin’s ability to play hard-ball when required means he will be an excellent prime minister. So why, during talks with the Maori Party, did Key drop a National ‘bottom line’ that would be a strong card to play? As evidenced […]

Video: 12 Flip Flops from Mr Key

Written By: - Date published: 4:25 pm, October 17th, 2008 - 33 comments

National policy on Maori seats (2007): “The Caucus today confirmed that the Maori seats will be abolished, which we anticipate will take place around the time of settlement of historic Treaty claims,” says National Party Leader John Key. National policy on Maori seats (Sept 2008); “National wants to scrap the Maori seats in Parliament once all […]

Tranzrail eyes

Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, October 17th, 2008 - 23 comments

It’s possible to win a battle but, in doing so, lose the war. Like most commentators, I thought Key came off best from the debate on Tuesday. It was a good format for him to parrot his lines, all he had to do is deliver them well. As he said himself, 2 years of training […]

Pita falls for the lines – but not for long

Written By: - Date published: 1:09 pm, October 16th, 2008 - 97 comments

I have some sympathy for Dr PIta Sharples over the fallout of Mr Key’s promises. He’s clearly been left high and dry by Mr Key, his would-be coalition partner. According to the Maori Party’s chief of staff we now find: …that Mr Key was clear in the meeting that National’s position could be put on the backburner. […]

Key vs Sharples, who do you believe?

Written By: - Date published: 10:18 am, October 16th, 2008 - 71 comments

On September 28, Key released National’s policy on the Maori seats. It is unequivocal (if light on the details): “At the conclusion of the settlement of historic Treaty claims, National will begin a constitutional process to abolish the Maori seats. National wishes to see all New Zealanders on the same electoral roll.” Pretty clear. The […]

Make-work don’t work

Written By: - Date published: 2:15 pm, October 15th, 2008 - 24 comments

The Maori Party wants the dole abolished to be replaced by work schemes. It’s a bad idea but it’s not too far from being a good one. Make work schemes are bad in several ways. They distort the market for low-skill work. The State with an army of cheap, semi-involuntary labour ends up undercutting the […]

Note to self – Mr Key will say what you want to hear

Written By: - Date published: 2:39 pm, October 7th, 2008 - 18 comments

Mr Key will tell you what you want to hear. That’s the message that Pita Sharples has taken from his encounter with Mr Key over the future of the Maori seats: Dr Sharples told Sky TV on Sunday night Mr Key had assured him the seven Maori seats would not be abolished till Maori agreed […]

Will Labour back $15 minimum wage?

Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, October 7th, 2008 - 45 comments

The unions want the minimum wage lifted to $15 an hour, two thirds of the average hourly rate, restoring the historic ratio. The Greens, New Zealand First, The Progressives (I think), the Maori Party* and, oddly, the Kiwi Party are also calling for $15 an hour. Will Labour join them? Labour has an excellent record on the […]

When did lying become OK?

Written By: - Date published: 2:40 pm, September 30th, 2008 - 43 comments

On Breakfast this morning, failed National party candidate Paul Henry and Guyon Espiner discussed the possibility of the Maori Party and National working together in a government. Henry: Do you get the feeling National would do anything for power, they would cut almost any deal at all with the Maori Party to get in? Espiner: […]

The Kingmaker but only one potential King

Written By: - Date published: 11:59 am, September 30th, 2008 - 51 comments

Let’s get serious about the idea of the Maori Party working with National. Yes, they want to play up the possibility to enhance their bargaining position, just as the Greens were last month, but it’s not going to happen. National and the Maori Party voted together in only a third of votes in the last […]

Attack on democracy

Written By: - Date published: 5:02 pm, September 28th, 2008 - 53 comments

National have quietly released their policy on electoral law and have promised to abolish the Maori seats once treaty claims are finished, repeal the Electoral Finance Act and run a referendum on MMP. These all represent substantial changes to the way our democracy operates. I’ll be very interested to see what the Maori Party make […]

“It’s not okay” today either

Written By: - Date published: 11:45 pm, July 10th, 2008 - 37 comments

The other day Dancer made some good points about the campaign “It’s Not Okay” and the role that organisations like the Families Commission play, as we strive for a caring and compassionate society. And Russell Brown who participated in the ads shared his view through the comments, that it had “helped focus minds” and dedicated his […]

Old man’s law

Written By: - Date published: 12:19 pm, June 20th, 2008 - 62 comments

Frogblog has footage of Nandor Tanczos blasting the Government’s anti-tagging legislation and noting that “Judith Collins would be screaming about the nanny state if we tried to tell her that she had to keep her Chardonnay under lock and key.” Sounds like Hone Harawira was in fine form too: “Tagging is ugly and offensive and […]

Monte Ohia

Written By: - Date published: 10:17 am, June 13th, 2008 - Comments Off on Monte Ohia

It’s sad to learn of the sudden death of Monte Ohia, the Maori Party candidate for Te Tai Tonga. Ohia was a prominent educationalist and would have been an enourmous asset as an MP. He had been tipped to pose a major challenge this election to Labour’s Mahara Okeroa, to whom he polled a respectable […]

Tariana Turia answers your questions

Written By: - Date published: 7:42 am, May 7th, 2008 - 41 comments

We’re very pleased to have Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia respond to your questions as part of our Interview the Leaders series. Question to all leaders: Of which of your achievements in politics are you most proud? I am most proud of having played a part in the creation of a movement which has given […]

Interview the leaders V: Maori Party

Written By: - Date published: 2:10 pm, April 21st, 2008 - 41 comments

Even amateur, part-time bloggers sometimes make mistakes, and last week we didn’t send Clark her questions until Wednesday, rather than Monday, due to a miscommunication between ourselves. So, we extended her deadline to this Wednesday. We’ll post her replies when we get them. In the meantime, here are the questions to ACT’s Rodney Hide that […]

If I were the Maori Party’s campaign strategist

Written By: - Date published: 12:02 pm, April 17th, 2008 - 27 comments

The Maori Party is in an enviable position going into this year’s election. It is likely Kingmaker, and the more seats it gets the more likely it will occupy that ground. Polls project the Maori Party to possibly win all seven Maori roll seats while obtaining around 2% of the party vote. That will create […]

Hone Te Nākahi

Written By: - Date published: 1:09 pm, March 6th, 2008 - 14 comments

The Maori Party has reacted angrily to Key’s unilateral decision that National would abolish the Maori seats some time around 2014. Newsroom reports (not online): ‘The Maori Party is threatening protest and strike action on a scale never seen before in New Zealand if any political party moves to abolish the Maori seats without consultation […]

The Maori party and a deal with National

Written By: - Date published: 1:51 pm, March 4th, 2008 - 7 comments

We’ve all seen the polls with National leaping out in front – and over that magical 50% mark. Helen Clark may be saying the poll gap will close once National’s policies are known but there’s another more mundane reason to expect those heady highs to fall. Kiwis don’t like to see a party head toward […]

Maori play it smart

Written By: - Date published: 11:27 am, March 3rd, 2008 - 13 comments

The Marae-Digipoll has the political commentators all excited over what has been accepted fact in the blogosphere for some time: the Maori party will win all the Maori seats and will probably be Kingmaker. The poll shows that Maori voters overwhelmingly favour Maori Party candidates and are evenly split on giving their party vote to […]

Greens/Maori Party cooperation good for the Left

Written By: - Date published: 4:05 pm, February 7th, 2008 - 31 comments

The Maori Party and the Greens are discussing an informal alliance ahead of the election. This makes a lot of sense. The two parties vote together on most issues (more than they vote with any other parties) and have fundamental principles in common. Either major party will probably need the support of one or both […]

Turia weighs in

Written By: - Date published: 5:05 pm, October 26th, 2007 - 13 comments

So now Tariana is calling for a police probe into the Mallard/Henare incident. Mallard came clean yesteday about his role in the incident but we still haven’t heard much in the way of detail from Tau bar this kind of thing: “He just said to me ‘come outside’, and I went outside and, in the […]