CTU Secretary selected for Maungakiekie

49 comments on “CTU Secretary selected for Maungakiekie ”

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1. Santi 1

   3 May 2008 at 10:09 am

   What a surprise! Another unionist running for office under the wings of the socialist Labour Party.

   For all to see here the growing influence of future party president and stalwart unionist, Andrew Little?
2. Ted 2

   3 May 2008 at 10:12 am

   Even you guys must admit this is going to be an interesting race. National has selected a great candidate, Sam Lotu-liga (he’s definitely an improvement on Paul Goldsmith) who could put Maungakiekie in contention.
3. Robinsod 3

   3 May 2008 at 10:15 am

   Santi – I’ve just done a quick count and I can only think of one EPMU official who has entered parliament in the last 20 years. I lost count of the number of lawyers though. I guess that means the law society is pushing its covert socialist agenda…
4. AncientGeek 4

   3 May 2008 at 10:18 am

   Great! Another unionist running for office under the wings of the worker friendly Labour Party.

   Another predictable line from Santi. A balanced perspective on life and politics. Yawn.

   From what I know of her, Carol will make a great MP
5. AncientGeek 5

   3 May 2008 at 10:23 am

   Ted: From what I remember Carol is a pretty good organiser. I don’t think she will be idle. It is a sizeable majority to cut for the opposition.
6. Tane 6

   3 May 2008 at 10:59 am

   Carol is an excellent operator who will be a great addition to the Labour team, and to Parliament.

   Just last week she wiped the floor with poor old Phil O’Reilly on Morning Report, and it was painful. Definitely future cabinet material there.

   And Santi, just so you’re not so surprised next time a Labour candidate comes out of the organised labour, here’s a hint – that word ‘labour’, it’s in the name.
7. Whaleoil 7

   3 May 2008 at 11:17 am

   Clearly Labour has fallen below the mandatory 85% quota for union based candidates. Pretty embarrassing for Carol to just a token unionist filling up the quota.
8. redbus 8

   3 May 2008 at 11:26 am

   Carol will be an excellent addition to Labours fourth term in government. Congrats!
9. redbus 9

   3 May 2008 at 11:29 am

   oh, shut up, Whaleoil. It was a selection – she didn’t breeze in and suddenly get confirmed as the candidate. She was selected by the Labour members within the Maungakiekie electorate. Two members stood for that seat, the other wasn’t a union memeber.
10. higherstandard 10

    3 May 2008 at 11:29 am

    Both Whale and red are incorrect – each to their own though
11. Tane 11

    3 May 2008 at 11:38 am

    redbus, I wouldn’t bother with Whale. He’s too thick to make intelligent contributions, that’s why he has to rely on abuse, slander and photoshopping children’s heads onto gay porn.

    It’s worth noting though the hostility the right has to candidates who come from the union movement. This is after all New Zealand’s largest democratic organisation with 370,000 members – for the right to think that workers and their representatives should have no voice in our democracy says a lot about their lack of respect for ordinary people.

    Of course, I don’t think running union candidates for Labour or any other party is always the best way to improve conditions for workers. But Carol is a good candidate in her own right and she’ll make a valuable contribution.
12. AncientGeek 12

    3 May 2008 at 11:56 am

    Tane: You’re right. That was a good interview.

    Radio NZ interview with Carol Beaumont and Phil O’Rielly
13. Robinsod 13

    3 May 2008 at 12:51 pm

    Hey Cameron. I was just having a look the liquidator’s report and it looks like a good part of the reason your company went under was failing to pay your GST. Oh and trading while insolvent? That’s pretty stupid. Just as well someone pulled you out of the shit. Was it daddy?

    I’ve got a few more things to look into Cameron and then I’ll be doing a post about you and your dealings. Failed businessman, failed campaigner, failed, failed, failed. Failure.
14. East Wellington Superhero 14

    3 May 2008 at 1:28 pm

    Tane,
    I just listed to the Radio NZ interview.
    Even if you use your imagination you can’t say she ‘wiped the floor’ with Phil O’Reily and that it was ‘painful’. Gimme a break.
    I find it funny that she was rattling off numbers about how bad things are in the economy and at the same time she’s a candidate for who…? The Party that’s been in government for the last decade. Hilarious.
15. Policy Parrot 15

    3 May 2008 at 1:33 pm

    Well done, Carol will make an excellent addition to Labour’s caucus. Its important to refresh the team with people straight from the coal face, so that caucus doesn’t become simply the arena for professional political operatives as it did in the 1980s/early 1990s.
16. James Sleep 16

    3 May 2008 at 4:11 pm

    Yay for Labour, Yay for Carol!

    She will be a fantastic electorate MP for the good people of Maungakiekie as well as a fantastic addition to the Labour caucus.

    Congrats!
17. rjs131 17

    3 May 2008 at 5:15 pm

    I am sure that she will live up to the excellence that previous high flying candidates with union backgrounds like Sue maroney, lesley soper, darien fenton and Taito Philip Field have made to parliament
18. dad4justice 18

    3 May 2008 at 5:18 pm

    Taito Phillip Field might go from a Labour MP to a large prison cell.
    Hardly something to be proud about.
19. redbus 19

    3 May 2008 at 6:25 pm

    Why did you add Taito to that list? He’s no good.
20. Ted 20

    3 May 2008 at 7:49 pm

    Neither is Soper or Fenton. Moroney seems reasonably competent though.

    AncientGeek, she might be a hard worker but the Nats have a great candidate and are taking the seat more seriously than a lot of seats with sub6000 majorities. They’re also taking it far more seriously than they did in 2005 when they stood Paul Goldsmith of all people.
21. Tane 21

    3 May 2008 at 8:03 pm

    Ted, I don’t rate Soper but I think Fenton’s seriously underrated. She does a lot of good work and is very active, but doesn’t always get the credit she deserves.
22. Ted 22

    3 May 2008 at 8:11 pm

    Really? I must admit my experience of her is pretty limited. She took over the ‘LabourNorth’ office that was meant to cover everything north of the bridge (I live in Murray McCully’s electorate so this includes me) when Street and Hartley left.

    Since then she hasn’t really appeared at many events and hasn’t gotten any coverage in the local paper. It’s hard to do get invites and coverage as a list MP but her profile is lower than that of the two list MPs that preceded her.

    I hope you’re right when you say she does good work at a national level – I don’t really know, but in terms of I’ve found her local presence pretty weak.
23. Tane 23

    3 May 2008 at 8:56 pm

    Ted, all I’ve seen from Darien is the good work she’s done for workers’ rights behind the scenes. She’s not a high-flyer, but she puts her head down and gets a lot of work done, and whenever I’ve dealt with her I’ve been impressed. The same can’t always be said for other Labour union MPs.

    It’s only a guess on my part, but given she’s standing in the unwinnable seat of Helensville I’d say it’s probably not her top priority.
24. burt 24

    4 May 2008 at 10:44 am

    Matt McCarten: Junior doctors deserve support from CTU – not back-stabbing

    Oh well, they sold their souls for political power and look – the real believers in workers rights are scoffing at them.

    I’m with Matt McCarten on this one.
25. Tane 25

    4 May 2008 at 12:56 pm

    So am I, as I said the other day.
26. randal 26

    4 May 2008 at 1:12 pm

    great thread for the contarians and the ‘angry’ people to have their say….go Carol!
27. Santi 27

    4 May 2008 at 4:49 pm

    A change of topic, if I’m allowed. You guys gloated and celebrated when the Liberals were soundly defeated in Australia, and lambasted John Howard all the way during the campaign.

    Any comments on the catastrophic defeat inflicted on the Labour Party in England this weekend?

    Or is it that left-wing losses do no count? 🙂
28. burt 28

    4 May 2008 at 5:20 pm

    Santi

    Labour NZ played up the trend when UK Labour won pre the NZ 1999 election. I bet they can’t see any thing worthy of comparison now… it’s the other side of the world yada yada yada. Laughable.
29. r0b 29

    4 May 2008 at 6:08 pm

    Santi, Burt, I’ll tell you what’s “laughable” – critiquing posts before they’re written. Just how desperate is that?

    My 2c. The UK Labour party is currently Labour in name only and richly deserved the thrashing it just got. I only hope they read this as a great big wakeup call and get back to their roots.

    Whatever the similarities 9 years ago, today (especially post Iraq) the relevance to the NZ situation is zero.
30. higherstandard 30

    4 May 2008 at 7:23 pm

    rOb

    While I broadly agree with you the one striking similarity I see between the UK and NZ is both Labour’s seem to have lost touch with their constituency and seem to viewed by a large sector of the population as somewhat arrogant and dismissive of the general public.
31. randal 31

    4 May 2008 at 7:25 pm

    santi; another change of topic…whats shonkey johnkey going to do when he gets drubbed at this election?
32. r0b 32

    4 May 2008 at 7:28 pm

    striking similarity I see between the UK and NZ is both Labour’s seem to have lost touch with their constituency

    Spin spin spin. On what evidence (re the NZ case) would you base such a claim?
33. higherstandard 33

    4 May 2008 at 7:33 pm

    The PMs comment on this very site about being unaware of any change in personal freedom under her watch – she could have at least acknowledged the publics concerns regarding the EFB and the repeal of Sect 59 and spoken to peoples concerns.

    The you have the MP for Auckland Central arriving in the new BMW listening to her Ipod at a recent meeting – appearances are everything when many of the public are hurting.

    The are many many more examples
34. r0b 34

    4 May 2008 at 7:50 pm

    she could have at least acknowledged the publics concerns regarding the EFB and the repeal of Sect 59

    Well I must be as out of touch as the PM. Re the EFB – what concerns? Outside of Kiwiblog and the Herald, who really seemed to give a damn? (I walked past the EFA protesters at the Labour Party congress last month – all 8 of them I think). Re Sect 59 there might indeed be more genuine and more widespread concern, but if that is the case it belongs equally to Key and national, who voted for it as well. Is Key also out of touch?

    Re other minor examples, well puhlease. Are you seriously wanting to argue any equivalence with the extent to which the UK Labour Party has lost it’s way?
35. higherstandard 35

    4 May 2008 at 8:05 pm

    r0B

    I’m honestly not trying to wind you up but as a Labour party member you’ve just mirrored the exact behaviour I suggested or are you unaware of the 500 or so who just recently again turned out to protest the EFA in the Hawkes bay.
36. randal 36

    4 May 2008 at 8:32 pm

    the pubic dont give a damn about the EFB…they want to see the parties play fair and so far the Nats are the only ones squealing because they know they cant buy any more elections…mind you the public voted against them last time for their crooked dealings (the nats) with the eb’s.
37. randal 37

    4 May 2008 at 8:35 pm

    hs the hawke bay is a great place to be if you are a sheep…baaaaaaaaaah
38. Anita 38

    4 May 2008 at 8:54 pm

    Higherstandard,

    Is there any post match media coverage around? All I can find is a press release by Boscawen and a short piece by NewsTalkZB (which doesn’t seem to have any actual coverage of the march).

    I guess maybe the local rag on Monday?
39. AncientGeek 39

    4 May 2008 at 9:17 pm

    hs: I’m known as a Labour supporter so I usually get all of the moaning that people have about the government, especially at my rather right orientated workplace.

    I get discussion on s59, the northern busway, doctors strikes, health access, schools, petrol taxes, biofuels, tibet, etc. I get absolutely NOTHING on the EFA except on the blogs. It is a non-issue, as far as I can tell, even amongst the right-wing voters.

    When I’ve raised it, I get the distinct impression that people have no idea what the Herald is making such a fuss about.

    As much as I despise the polls as being inaccurate, you’d expect it to actually register there. Again it is way down in the list of things that people are concerned about.

    Why is it that I only hear about it on the blogs when people are talking?
40. r0b 40

    4 May 2008 at 9:20 pm

    I’m honestly not trying to wind you up but as a Labour party member you’ve just mirrored the exact behaviour I suggested

    Perhaps I would have, if there was significant public concern about this issue that I was callously ignoring. But there isn’t.

    or are you unaware of the 500 or so who just recently again turned out to protest the EFA in the Hawkes bay

    I was unaware actually, I guess I must have missed the extensive nation wide media coverage. I see that much was expected:
    http://www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3771254

    Thousands of people are expected to march in central Tauranga on Saturday to protest a controversial law that they believe crushes the right to free speech and democracy in New Zealand.

    The Sensible Sentencing Trust is rallying its 3500 Tauranga members and the community to pound the footpaths in opposition to the law that restricts the campaign spending of electoral parties and supporters.

    I see that very little was achieved – “500 or so”? – even in this National heartland (with how much spent by Boscawan spend on advertising for this one?).

    I see that the same weekend 10,000 or so turned out to the Bay of Plenty Times Home Show. I guess to the good people of BOP gracious living is 20 times more important than democracy.

    Sorry, I’m being a little facetious. I have been in real protest marches. I’ve marched with tens of thousands in Christchurch. I’ve marched with hundreds of thousands in London. I marched in one the 20 nation wide protests about the Iraq war on February 15 2003. I know what a protest that represents the voice of the people looks like. And they look rather busier than Boscawen’s events. I’m sorry, less than 20 people turning out at the premier opportunity to protest, the Labour Congress in Wellington? Voice of the people? Ummm, no.
41. burt 41

    4 May 2008 at 9:44 pm

    randal

    hs the hawke bay is a great place to be if you are a sheep baaaaaaaaaah

    It also seems to be a great place if you are friends with a minister and own a company that can take uncontested tenders from a DHB. Move on!
42. Occasional Observer 42

    4 May 2008 at 9:58 pm

    Carol Beaumont is going to have her clock wiped by Sam Lotu-Iiga. Hard for a carpet-bagging union hack to even come close to making it a competition.
43. AncientGeek 43

    4 May 2008 at 10:22 pm

    There was a good set of interviews on Focus on Politics on the national program (that bastion of propaganda according to Dean).

    Once we got past the predicable whinging by Bill English, and defense by Annette King. It started to get down to people at the coalfaces. Helena Catt in particular was talking about the effect on her office at the Electoral Commission.

    What it highlighted for me again was the problems with doing legislation in our short electoral cycle.

    From what I understand work was started on the EFB about the middle of 2006 because of the grey areas that had been found in the existing law. Helen Clark announced that Labour would be putting forward a bill in October 2006. That was when the Auditor Generals final report on the 2005 election spending was released. Nicky Hager highlighted further problems with the existing act when he released his book in November 2006. The bill was presented to parliament in July 2007 and passed in mid-December.

    Bearing in mind that the AG’s final report was probably required before the bill was really started to be worked on, it just shows that the timeline was tight. The act recognises that the election campaigns do start well before that ridiculous 90 days that the old act stipulated.

    The EFA is an extreme example because clearly the rules had to be changed to get rid of the deficiencies of the 1993 act, as Peter Dunne pointed out in the interviews. It needed to be put in before the election year. But that merely highlights the underlying problem.

    The effective legislative period is probably less than 2 years between elections. As a government, who’d want to put forward legislation that required heated debate during an election year.

    Assuming that you were putting forward a bill that you campaigned on during the election. There is barely enough time to get bills drafted, get the required support from other parties, get proper consideration by the house and select committee, get required amendments, and get passed before you’re in election year again.

    I think that we need to start looking at shifting to a 4 year term. One of MMP’s effects has been to lengthen the campaign period. It is seriously cutting into the time required for the work of government of any persuasion.
44. AncientGeek 44

    4 May 2008 at 10:28 pm

    I’d add that if national gets their wish, manages to form a coalition, and scraps the act. It is going to have exactly the same kind of problems getting it’s replacement through the legislative program.

    The time lines are just too tight
45. AncientGeek 45

    4 May 2008 at 10:31 pm

    OO: ‘carpet-bagging’?. From memory that is her electorate, certainly it is the one she has been active in for a number of years.
46. Dean 46

    4 May 2008 at 11:41 pm

    “There was a good set of interviews on Focus on Politics on the national program (that bastion of propaganda according to Dean).”

    I’m not the one who called elections where you could choose anyone you liked so long as they were from the ruling party “vibrant” Ancient.

    Perhaps you might want to examine your own statements before you judge mine.

    You do like democracy, don’t you? Please enlighten me.
47. Occasional Observer 47

    5 May 2008 at 1:32 am

    It’s funny you should claim that she’s a local girl, Ancient Geek, because the CTU directory, online, notes her office is in Wellington. Of the 30+ full-time employees of the CTU, a big chunk of them are based in Wellington, and Carol Beaumont appears to be one of them.

    She’s Australian originally, though, isn’t she? Along with that other fine, upstanding, voice for moderation and general communism, Brenden Sheehan.
48. AncientGeek 48

    5 May 2008 at 2:08 am

    OO: I didn’t claim she was local (as in born and raised there). I claimed she had been active there, and maybe lived there. As I said “from memory”.

    Maungakiekie is out of my usual range. I’m running back in memory over the last decade or so. But it is not uncommon for people to relocate to where their job or education takes them. For instance a union organiser in Auckland might be expected to move to Wellington when they start working for the CTU head office. Sometimes they do it permanently, sometimes they rent out their house here.

    If that is your definition of a carpet-bagger (that they have to have grown up in the electorate), then most MP’s are. For instance John Key grew up in Christchurch, not Helensville. Helen Clark grew up in the Waikato, not Mt Albert.

    Side-issue: Damn- that was crazy. Had captcha present something unreadable, and when I asked for another one, it just froze on the page. Reloading the page didn’t help – captcha didn’t display. Then all of a sudden a refresh worked. Guess something went offline somewhere.
49. jafapete 49

    5 May 2008 at 10:14 am

    No, not a carpet-bagger. While Carol has been working in Wellington in recent years, she has continued to spend a lot of her time in Auckland, to the point that you could say she has been living here as much as in Wellington. And she lived here for some years before her CTU role. So can we leave the petty stuff about carpet-bagging.

    She is very competent and will be a great addition to caucus. (This is not something that I’ve said about all the candidates from the “industrial wing” of the labour movement.)

    I’m not sure about her timing, but wish her all the best.

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