Faafoi to challenge Mana selection

Written By: - Date published: 11:37 am, August 25th, 2010 - 15 comments
Categories: labour - Tags:

I see Kris Faafoi’s been given the nod from the Goffice to have a crack at Mana. He’s always struck me as a decent and hardworking bloke, so I wouldn’t want anyone to take this as an attack on him personally, but isn’t it a little worrying how many of Labour’s new recruits are being parachuted in from the leader’s office?

Danyl at the Dim Post pretty much sums up my views on the issue:

So on the one hand I like and respect Kris and think he’d make a good MP for what will be a demanding electorate. He’ll certainly be a safe pair of hands during the campaign.

On the other hand, it seems like an awful lot of Labour’s new intake are professional political operatives who became MPs after working as staffers in the leaders office. When you’re trying to be a broad, community based social democratic party representing a wide variety of New Zealanders I think you need to cast the net a little wider than the end of the hallway when you’re looking for new talent.

Once your party membership’s been hollowed out and your MPs are largely recycled Parliamentary staffers you’ve got to start asking what’s left. I genuinely wish Kris all the best in challenging the selection, but if it carries on like this I think Labour risks becoming woefully, systemically out of touch with the real world.

15 comments on “Faafoi to challenge Mana selection ”

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  1. Tom 1
    25 August 2010 at 12:13 pm

    It strikes me that this post is written by someone with no real history in the labour movement. There was a time when political parties attracted mass membership and the trade unions had broad based membership. Those with political ambition cut their teeth and rose through the ranks toward selection for and election to parliament through years of activism. Those days are long gone. Rather than being ‘systematically out of touch’ a more contemporary view would suggest the opposite. In fact, dewy-eyed nostalgia for a more comfortable past is precisely what Labour does not need, in my opinion.

    • George.com 1.1
      25 August 2010 at 9:22 pm

      The party could also pick a local candidate who has strong community links and a good track record of working for the community. Such a person need not be a unionists. They could work in the voluntary sector, for a community group, social advocacy, community law, religious group etc. Grass roots & community stuff but not necessarily union based.

  2. pollywog 2
    25 August 2010 at 12:14 pm

    Well at least he’s not some coffee coloured hypochristian do goody ex-sports star wearing a loud shirt who can’t string two words together in a cohesive soundbite without coming off like a total freshie…

    …and having benefitted from spending time in the big house he’ll know where to put his snout in the right trough so the learning curve on parliamentary process won’t be so steep

    so yeah, all the best to him 😛

  3. george 3
    25 August 2010 at 1:11 pm

    I live in Mana and I’m pissed off about this. The leadership seem to have decided any brown face will do so it might as well be one they can control.

    Faafoi has never lived in the electorate and he’s only been in the labour party since he got a job with them. The party in Mana is full of community spirited people who have lived and worked there all their lives and know politics well. If Goff thinks he can just parachute in his man and the locals will do what they’re told then his political judgment is even worse than it seems.

  4. StephenR 4
    25 August 2010 at 2:33 pm

    “The Goffice” is probably the most clever play on Goff that i’ve heard so far 😀

  5. the pinkpostman 5
    25 August 2010 at 2:54 pm

    Oh dear what a lot of scary bullshit. The Labour Party has constitutional process to abide to . So far Faafoi has only been” given the nod” to put his name forward . A democratically elected selection panel will make the final binding decision.

  6. Santi 6
    25 August 2010 at 3:30 pm

    Farrar on Faafoi: “Kris is the favourite to win the nomination, and become the MP for Mana. He’s a nice guy, who will not alienate anyone.”

  7. swimmer 7
    25 August 2010 at 10:17 pm

    I wish Kris luck and think he’s a good candidate.

  8. Shane 8
    26 August 2010 at 12:25 am

    Found Kris on Facebook. I thought it was amusing that where his page says “Political views”, he has put “Neutral, honest!”

    • Inventory2 8.1
      26 August 2010 at 9:59 am

      Well, he WOULD have been neutral as a political journalist covering the 2008 election, wouldn’t he 😉

      Now, after two years working as Goff’s chief spin-doctor Kris Faafoi is sufficiently embedded in Labour Party values to potentially be a candidate in one of Labour’s safest seats. It certainly seems to be a very quick rise for Faafoi – or is it a fall?

      • pollywog 8.1.1
        27 August 2010 at 12:40 am

        Do we really need another safe smiling brownie in a suit playing spin the tale on the Jonkey ?

        I’d rather we had a Pasifikan Hone Harawira. Someone who’ll voice the concerns of the silent and invisible Pasifikan underclass from ground level, not from on high by some media trained Labour party indoctrinated zombie.

  9. Gordy 9
    26 August 2010 at 7:15 pm

    Hard working? Maybe but not up to the job of chief press sec. Maybe he’ll be better as a candidate/MP but surely a chief press sec should have basic spelling and grammar skills. Apparently not given this Labour press statement from 2 weeks ago. I know mistakes are made, but there’s almost always a correction. No correction on this one. Maybe he doesn’t even realise it’s wrong?

    10 August 2010
    Media Statement
    Come on -let the boy’s Haka

    Labour’s Associate Spokesperson for Maori Affairs, Kelvin Davis says the Rugby Union needs to let the boy’s Haka, blow the whistle and start the game.

    • sarah carter 9.1
      26 August 2010 at 7:49 pm

      I don’t think it’s a major problem. Ideally our MPs would understand basic spelling but this is too much to ask these days.

      • Gordy 9.1.1
        26 August 2010 at 9:00 pm

        Ok maybe in the ideal world. But surely it’s something that we can expect of a professional journalist turned press secretary?

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