Jarbury is live blogging from backbenchers tonight đ
We are here at the Neighbourhood Bar in Kingsland for a Mt Albert by-election debate. I have not seen any of the candidates here yet, but it certainly seems like half the rest of the world is here. Seen DPF, Whaleoil, Guyon Espiner from TV1 and Duncan Garner from TV3.
Lots of Act supporters and Labour supporters. The Nats are a bit thin on the ground and havenât seen any Greens yet.
The guys from the Legalise Cannabis Party were very friendly though â with their âCannabusâ.
Weâre all kind of hoping that Melissa Lee says something stupid â again! Word in that sheâs arrived.
I havenât yet seen anyone from the Green Party â but there is a beer jug with the Green Party logo on it at the bar â thatâs pretty cool I think!
Weâre sitting next to a very well dressed guy in a suit holding a âEnd the Drug Warâ sign. I am guessing heâs a supporter of the Legalise Cannabis Party â not quite the stereotypical member though.
I am hoping that we get a good discussion going about the Super City and the Waterview Connection, and that it doesnât get sidetracked by Richard Worth. David Shearer is miles ahead in the polls so itâs hard not to think that itâs a battle between Russel Norman and Melissa Lee for second place now. Certainly, if Greens voters were worried about having to vote Labour to keep Lee out and not split the centre-left vote they donât really have that worry anymore. Although, perhaps similarly National leaning voters who were thinking about voting for Russel Norman just to annoy Labour might have been a bit disheartened by his 15% result and could go back to voting Lee to at least make sure she doesnât come third.
Seen a couple of Greens people here now.
Wow, just spotted Melissa Lee. She turned up to a debate for a change!
OK weâre about to get started here I think. There are a tonne of people around waving signs and chanting. Rocky has just chatted to Roger Douglas about pig farming (as heâs Mr Pig Farmer himself) and concludes that: âheâs a dickâ. Not that we didnât know that already.
We have five candidates talking tonight: David Shearer from Labour, Melissa Lee of National, Russel Norman of the Greens, John âlemingtonâ Boscawen from Act and Judy Turner from United Future. I must admit I had not idea she was the United Future candidate.
National supporters are holding their placards upside down. LOL.
Poor David Shearer looks like he has a cold, although I imagine he will be able to handle it better than John Key in the last week and a bit.
A few good chants going around about Russel Norman: âshow us your muscles Russelâ, âRuss the Mussâ, John âlemingtonâ Boscawen.
Getting started here now. Introductions â huge noise for Melissa Lee (both cheers and boos). Clearly THE polarising MP here tonight.
Talking about online poll results showing Melissa Lee at 31% to Shearerâs 40%. We all know how âscientificâ online polls are, so canât really read much into that.
Boscawen giving a quick run-down on why to vote for him. Basically âheâs part of the governmentâ. UmmmmâŚ. yeah so why should we vote for you? Norman talking about public transport, poverty, keeping kids safeâŚ. well at least he said something. Melissa Lee getting a lot of laughs âtalking about views of Mt Albertâ. Clearly not if you live in Waterview. David Shearer wants to support communities of Mt Albert, talking about his great personal history, wants to support & stand up for the people of Mt Albert. Talked well! Now I could say what Judy Turner says⌠but really, who cares?
Video playing about how awesome Mt Albert is. I grew up here, so I KNOW đ (as did Rocky). The idea of Melissa Lee as our MP makes us both feel a bit sick (but looks like we wonât have to worry about that). Quiz going on now â people donât seem to know the answers (though doing a bit better now). Good to quiz the candidates about their local knowledge â quite telling how bad all the candidates are doing.
OK bit of a technical problem there.
Some interesting discussion about the Waterview Connection (with predictable responses) and the Super City. John Boscawen is good at hogging the microphone talking about Rodneyâs reforms for local government (someone should tell him that people donât want councils cut back to only providing roads and rubbish though). Melissa Lee seems a bit shell-shocked by the whole atmosphere, which isnât that surprising as things are pretty intense here.
Judy Turner actually talked some sense about local government though. She points out that over the last decade more and more functions have been decentralised onto local government from central government, so itâs actually no surprise that rates have gone up over that time.
It has been a tad difficult to hear anything here, with the crowd. Melissa Lee gets either a giant cheer or a giant boo everytime she says anything, and it would have been interesting to actually see what she has to say about the Super City (for example).
An interesting question from the floor about what Melissa Lee might actually do as the MP for Mt Albef that sheâs not doing now. A pretty good question really, as sheâs backbench MP either way.
Whaleâs given up on his twittering and instead is interrupting non-National speakers. I must say itâs bloody hard to hear anything from where I am, but the atmosphere is certainly fun and exiciting!
Good words from Russel Norman summing up â that Mt Albert would have a front-bench MP representing them. Melissa Lee saying âsheâs doing her very best for Mt Albertâ. Ummm⌠not that good. David Shearer saying that he has a history of standing up for the rights of those who need it, and will do so for Auckland. Judy Turner saying that itâs pointless voting for Russel, Melissa or John as theyâre already in parliament. People should therefore choose between either her or David.
And it all ends with a big round of applause. That was certainly interesting, though I canât say I heard much more than 10% of what was said.
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